Tell Me a Story w/ Annie Lanzillotto, Ofelia Esparza, Rosanna Esparza Ahrens, and Michael Manswell

Ritual, Resistance, and Remembrance: Ofrendas from Liminal Spaces
About this event
Get comfortable with the unknown. We asked: How does ritual and devotional practice sustain communities, aid in resistance to oppression, act as expressions of emancipation, and carry ancestral medicine? How do we adapt public rituals and spiritual festivals during this pandemic? How can we sustain traditional practices in the fight against gentrification cultural erasure? Our guest artists inhabit the liminal spaces, in shadows, the world in between: light & dark, clear & unclear, life & death, pandemic isolation & public community. Together through the magic of Zoom, we opened portals of love, healing and protection, and connecting.
Audience members were invited to participate in our virtual collective altarmaking by bringing a photo of an ancestor, a fruit, flower, or talisman, candle, or piece of orange tissue paper to fold into a marigold.
About the Stars
Ofelia Esparza, mother of nine, artist, Chicana altarista, NEA National Heritage Fellow, grew up making home altars with her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and turned private devotional practice into large scale community social healing action. She’s transformed communities and taught the art of altar making and walking altars to generations.
Rosanna Esparza Ahrens, artist, daughter of Ofelia Esparza, Chicana altarista, defines altars as “bridges for generations.” Rosanna is the Director of Tonalli Studio: a place of creative wellness in East L.A. Rosanna carries ancestral stories, links devotional practice to the Chicana Movement for social justice, healing, shares sacred, ancient, and indigenous practices.
Michael Manswell is a Dancer, Choreographer, Teaching Artist, Director, and Singer. Mr. Manswell presents lectures, workshops and residencies in dance, music, theater, and traditional religious practice.