Festivities honor the dead<\/p>\n
[portfolio_slideshow id=8904]<\/p>\n
Students packed into the Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Center at San Jose City College for the Dia de los Muertos, otherwise known as Day of the Dead, celebration Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
Artists and students collaborated on creating a lineup of events including Aztec dancing, face painting, swinging and a pinata and art viewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe raise ourselves up when we make time for these events,\u201d said Lee Onista, 27, fine arts major.<\/p>\n
The event kicked off with a group of Aztec dancers and musicians called Calpulli Tonalehqueh, which translates to the Nahuatl phrase \u201cwarriors accompanying the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two dancers, one male and one female, wore 5-foot-long feathers on their heads and noise-making shells on their legs. The choreography consisted of many kicks and spins to the beat of the drums.<\/p>\n
Two more men from Calpulli Tonalehqueh gave speeches and played instruments, including the maracas, drums, flute and gong.<\/p>\n
The final dance was inspired by fire, water, earth and air. A member of the dance group said, \u201cWe have gods for each of element and we dance to show respect for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event died down after the dancers left, but visitors continued to come in and out of the gallery throughout the day.
\nColorful and festive art work, displayed in the gallery since Oct. 11, lit up the room.<\/p>\n
Espino feels she made great decisions by putting no limits on the artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s all different types of art shown here including contemporary, traditional, and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
After serving a 21-year prison sentence, Santa Cruz\u2019s Chris Wimer decided to get involved by contributing a whole wall of art pieces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good to be a part of this,\u201d said Wimer, 40. \u00a0He hopes to work more with youth.<\/p>\n
Wimer just launched a clothing line called \u201cNatal\u201d and plans to release music after recently working with famous producers.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay of the Dead isn\u2019t just a Mexican holiday,\u201d Wimer said \u201cit was actually started by native Indians and indigenous groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
A handful of students and faculty participated in breaking a pi\u00f1ata, which was postponed from the Oct. 24 poetry reading event due to the overwhelming amount of poetry.<\/p>\n
Some students even had their faces painted in a black-and-white skeleton design.<\/p>\n
Tribal-like music played from a computer speaker and free snacks were provided to the crowd.<\/p>\n
The costume contest, as advertised on the flier, never occurred because no one dressed up, said Carolann Espino, art student and coordinator of the event.<\/p>\n
Espino said, \u201cThis year\u2019s Dia De Los Muertos event was better than last year\u2019s because we involved more of the student body and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish there were more students dedicated as Carolann to bring the community together,\u201d Onista said.<\/p>\n
Many of the organizers are already preparing to raise the bar for the Dia de los Muertos gallery next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can improve by getting more students involved,\u201d said Jesus Cavarrobias, faculty of ethnic and Chicano studies.
\nEspino also shared her feelings that the school needs to bring more attention to campus events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was trouble getting money, there was no budget and I only had two weeks to pull everything together,\u201d said Espino. \u201cI hope the school gets more money for the art department by having events like Dia de los Muertos that gain a lot of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turnout was really good,\u201d said Lucy Ghelfi, 60, student artist. \u201cWe had a dynamic couple of weeks to educate people of Day of the Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall the event was a success seeing as how it accomplished the goals of bringing people together and showcasing culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Festivities honor the dead [portfolio_slideshow id=8904] Students packed into the Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Center at San Jose City College for the Dia de los Muertos, otherwise known as Day of the Dead, celebration Oct. 30. Artists and students collaborated on creating a lineup of events including Aztec dancing, face painting, swinging and a pinata…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88904,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"staff_name":[629],"class_list":["post-8904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-life","staff_name-justin-san-diego"],"yoast_head":"\n