Día de Los Muertos
Community invited to CALA 2012 Encore Celebration
CALA and Cultural Coalition celebrate Día de Los Muertos with heavy metal mariachi, Aztec dancers, and arts mercado.
The 1st CALA Día de los Muertos Festival/Phx features the traditional Latino/Indigenous artistic expressions of Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, as well as innovative musical experiences of Metalachi, a heavy metal mariachi group from Los Angeles, in its line-up of exciting entertainment for the whole family.
Cultural Coalition, a Mesa-based arts organization, is producing Festival/Phx on Oct. 28, 12:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. at Margaret Hance Park in downtown Phoenix. The festival site is located at 1202 N. 3rd St., next to the Phoenix Burton Barr Library in central Phoenix.
Cultural Coalition and the CALA (Celebración Artística de las Américas) Alliance’s goals for the CALA 2012 Encore Celebration are to continue the artistic success it started with the inaugural 2011 CALA festival of Latino arts.
The Día de los Muertos Festival/Phxis free and open to the public, and will feature local Latino artists selling their artwork, children’s art and crafts activities, crafts and ethnic food booths, and folklore dance troupes performing in the heart of Phoenix.
Festival attendees can participate in a colorful procession with “Las Flacas” 8-foot-tall animated puppets, and a “hands -on” mask-making workshop led by award-winning artist Zarco Guerrero.
In the Día de los Muertos customs, Death and the dead are represented through altars, food, drink, photos, art, music and literature. The calavera, or skull, is the symbol of the day, its grinning image depicted in windows, sweet bread, candy and masks.
“This tradition has cross-cultural appeal. Its philosophy of celebrating life and not fearing death is comforting to many other cultures. American society has embraced and assimilated the beautiful aspects of Day of the Dead,” says Carmen de Novais, executive director of Cultural Coalition.
For more information on ongoing CALA 2012 Encore Celebration Activities visit its website at
calaalliance.org or Facebook/CALA Alliance.
ABOUT CULTURAL COALITION, INC.
Founded in 1996 by Zarco and his wife Carmen, Cultural Coalition has been the producing organization for festivals, theater, music concerts, and community events in Guadalupe, Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, and the west Valley. For more information, visit www.culturalcoalition.com .
Festival Schedule:
12:30 Opening Ceremony and Performance Ehecatl Aztec Dancers
1:15 La Visita, Las Calaquitas, La Mascarada Primera Ballet Folklorico
2:00 Music Jaleo
2:45 Start the Children’s Parade Las Flacas, Las Calacotas
3:00 Meet the Phoenix Library participants Ehecatl Aztec Dancers
3:15 La Llorona, Guadalupe/Tonantzin OpendanceAZ
3:45 The Flight of Quetzalcoatl Ballet Folklorico OllinYoliztli
4:00 Music featuring Quetzal Guerrero Metalachi heavy metal mariachi
5:00 Closing Ehecatl, all dancers and performers
Follow Us
