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At Hostos Center, Monarcas Tells Overlooked Stories of Mexican American Contributions
- Damian Ali
- 25 minutes ago
- 4 min read
On a Bronx stage, little-known immigrant stories will come alive through dance and music.
Mexican Bracero workers arriving by train in the 1940s and later harvesting crops in California fields, reflecting the journey from migration to agricultural labor under the Bracero Program. Image Courtesy of (Left): Dorothea Lange, Library of Congress, public domain. (Right): OSU Special Collections & Archives.
The Calpulli Mexican Dance Company will bring two often overlooked chapters of American history to The Bronx this month with Monarcas at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture. Scheduled for April 17 and April 19, the production uses folkloric dance and live music to tell stories that do not always make it into textbooks. The performance centers on two narratives: Company E and Viñedos.
Founding Executive Director Juan Castaño said in a behind-the-scenes interview with Hostos that the production aims to do more than entertain. "People should come to see Monarcas on April 17th and 19th to be inspired by the beauty of dance and immigrant history," Castaño said. "I think what will surprise people the most about seeing a show like Monarcas with Calpulli is how we harness the power of folklorico, of folk dance, to tell a contemporary story."
Often, these important facts survive only through shared stories within families, passed down from one generation to the next. Without intentional efforts to bring these communities into public view, their contributions risk being overlooked. By focusing on real families and lived experiences, the dance company brings those histories into the open.
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Calpulli Mexican Dance Company performers portray a soldier, a folkloric dancer, and vineyard workers holding grapes in Monarcas at Hostos Center. Photo by Julieta Cervantes, courtesy of Calpulli Mexican Dance Company and Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture
The first story, Company E, draws from the history of the 141st Infantry, the only all Mexican American unit to serve in World War II, following laborers from the Texas-Mexico border as they are recruited into military service and carry that shared experience from training to the battlefield and back home.
The second story, Viñedos, meaning vineyards, shifts the focus to agricultural life in California, following a family's journey shaped by migration during the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican laborers to the United States for farm work.
Guided by a family matriarch and the recurring image of a monarch butterfly, the performance blends memory and migration as the family builds a new life through vineyard labor, facing hardship and rebuilding across generations.
Author Dave Gutierrez, who documented the history of Company E in Patriots from the Barrio, has pointed to gaps in how these contributions are remembered. In an interview with the National WWII Museum, he noted that The War, a 14-hour documentary on World War II by Ken Burns, did not include coverage of Hispanic American contributions.
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company dancer in a horned costume performs in Monarcas at Hostos Center, showcasing folkloric movement and design. Image courtesy of Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture
Performer Criis Vega said, “Representation matters. La representación importa. Sobre todo, el arte te puede representar en el escenario, de muchas maneras diferentes.” (Representation matters. Above all, art can represent you on stage in many different ways.)
Vanessa Verduga, founder of Broadway Sin Barreras, said this kind of storytelling is essential for the community. "Work like this matters because it actively challenges the erasure of our communities from the historical narrative. When stories like Company E and the contributions of Mexican laborers are left out of major cultural works, it sends a message about whose histories are valued. Bringing them to the stage is not just representation. It is a necessary act of recognition and correction," she said.
Hostos Center will offer two ways to see the production. A 50-minute daytime performance of Viñedos is scheduled for Friday, April 17, at 10:30 a.m., with free admission. The full-length performance of Monarcas, featuring both Company E and Viñedos, will take place on Sunday, April 19, at 3:00 p.m. Reserved seating is $40 for VIP, $30 for regular admission, and $5 for students and children.
Dancer Daniela Romero invites the community to experience that mix firsthand. "Que se animen en un show como el que nunca antes han visto. Música en vivo, bailarines, dancers, historias reales que vamos a contar y no se lo pueden perder," she said. (I encourage you to come experience a show as you've never seen before. Live music, dancers, we're telling real stories, and you can't miss it.)
As a community, we do not always see our full history reflected back to us right away. Monarcas shows what it looks like when those stories are told on their own terms. Showing up this month is a chance to sit with history that has always been there, even when it was not widely seen.