Translating Rosario Castellanos: A Dance and Literary Tribute

Date: Friday, May 9, 2025
Time: 12 pm – 1 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch – Grand Staircase, Level 8 (350 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6B 6B1)

This is a FREE event, but registration is required.
Please use the following link to save your spot: https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/67f84587d41c64603166840d

How does literature transform into movement, sound, and imagery? How do words written decades ago continue to resonate today?

Join us at the VPL Central Branch for a special lunchtime event to celebrate the centennial of Rosario Castellanos, one of Mexico’s most influential writers, poets, and intellectuals. Acclaimed translator Nancy Ross will share insights from her two decades of bringing Rosario’s voice into English and read translations of her letters.

Also, artists from TEMPO Dance & Visual Arts and Ome Dance will present a preview of a performance inspired by Rosario’s work, premiering on May 15 at the Roundhouse: dance artists Carla Alcántara and Marco Esccer will discuss their creative process, while Judith Colibrí and Silene Razo will perform excerpts.

Come witness the intersection of literature and performance—to see, hear, and feel Castellanos’ words brought to life in a contemporary context!

About the Artists

Marco Esccer (he/him) is a queer Mexican dance artist and interdisciplinary creator exploring migration, resilience, and belonging through choreography, storytelling, and cross-cultural collaborations in Vancouver.

Carla Alcántara is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, photographer, videographer, and educator who has been based in Vancouver since 2021. Her work focuses on building community through creative collaborations, performance, and education in contemporary dance and visual arts.

Founder and co-director of TEMPO Dance & Visual Art, Carla has performed internationally and worked with choreographers like Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Alina Sotskova, Jennifer Aoki, and Rachel Maddock. She currently teaches at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, choreographs for Youth in Motion Dance Company, and facilitates workshops across Metro Vancouver.

Ome Dance Collective is a contemporary dance duet based in Vancouver. It was formed in 2024 by Mexican dancers Silene Razo and Judith Colibrí. The group arises from the need to create new works from the perspective of two Mexican female artists and how they sense the world through their own cultural baggage.

Nancy Jean Ross lives in Vancouver, B.C. She completed her MA in Hispanic Studies at UBC (2023). Her master’s thesis is: “Negotiating the Feminine: Travel, Writing and Identity in Rosario Castellanos’s Nonfiction from Spain, the United States and Israel. Her poetry and translations of Rosario Castellanos’s letters and fiction have been published in Latin American Literature Today, The Georgia Review, Asymptote, The Malahat Review, The Paterson Literary Review and And Then. She currently teaches creative writing workshops.

In Partnership with VPL and TEMPO Dance & Visual Arts, Ome Dance