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THE WALL BETWEEN US (2005 & 2017 & 2023) 

Conception: Rodrigo Esteva and Mirah Moriarty

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The Wall Between US  was first conceived as El Otro Lado: The Other Side/of the border in 2005 and commissioned by the Summer Language Institute of Middlebury College.  The love duet between Mirah (born in the United States) and Rodrigo Esteva (born in Mexico) was performed to recordings from a series of interviews (in Spanish and English) with people living on the Mexican side of the border and their vision of "the other side," a common phrase used to describe the US as a distant place. The interviews included firsthand memories of racial prejudice, childhood imaginings, and stories.    

 

DANCE MONKS reconstructed the duet in 2017 for D.I.R.T Fest in San Francisco.  The latter brought cross-cultural love to the forefront in response to the ongoing racism in immigration politics that has impacted their family as well as loving grandparents, parents, and children for generations. The sound score for the performance was a collection of stories of families living on either side of the US/Mexico border. 

 

In 2023, DANCE MONKS invited people worldwide to join us every year on January 28 at 7:30am CST to re-imagine borders and plant seeds of healing and possibility.  

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