May 24, 2023
This Convivio was the culminating event for the school year and it was the collaboration between Ballet Nepantla, the elementary school, and the Senior Ladies. At this event, students and the Senior Ladies performed the song they had learned about since 16 de Septiembre, Chiapanecas. The Senior Ladies also performed an additional solo piece, Guadalajara. They were then able to perform alongside Ballet Nepantla during actual selections of the ballet performance in front of a live audience. This event captured the intergenerational exchange of knowledge through dance between professionally trained dancers, senior ladies, and youth which captured the essence of the entire year of work towards uplifting familial capital through ancestral knowledge (Sandoval, et al. 2016) and abuelita epistemologies (Gonzalez, 2019). The focus of Valentina is the Mexican Revolution and all curriculum material that was provided to the teachers connected to that. This included the students making their own family nopal, similar to the April convivio activity, learning about the historical background of the Mexican Revolution, and reading and reflecting on Friends from the Other Side / Amigos del Otro Lado, by Gloria E. Anzaldúa.
