Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Though this year\u2019s Puerto Rican Day Parade was rained out, Philadelphia\u2019s Boricua community has another opportunity to celebrate their culture in the streets this Saturday: a four-mile-long artistic procession culminating with music and dancing in Norris Square Park.<\/p>\n
Vamonos Pa\u2019l Monte<\/a>, meaning \u201clet\u2019s go to the mountain,\u201d is a mobile performance that starts at City Hall and includes stops at Independence Mall and Cruz Playground before its finale in the Puerto Rican neighborhood of Norris Square. The colorful, music-filled procession invites people to join the walk north to the metaphorical \u201cmonte\u201d as performers pass out props, like banners, flags, and signs about local Puerto Rican history. <\/p>\n Artist Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, a Bronx-raised Nuyorican now based in Virginia, has spent two years developing the project with Mural Arts<\/a>, Taller Puertorrique\u00f1o, and Norris Square Neighborhood Project as a response to America\u2019s Semiquincentennial<\/a>. When Mural Arts approached her to commission a performance piece in the nation\u2019s founding city, she immediately thought of Puerto Rico\u2019s current political status as a territory of the United States; it\u2019s considered one of the oldest colonies in the world<\/a> as Puerto Ricans are American citizens who receive limited congressional representation and cannot vote for president. <\/p>\n \u201cMy knee-jerk response was, \u2018Whose independence? Who you talkin\u2019 about?\u2019,\u201d said Raimundi-Ortiz, an art professor at George Mason University. \u201cIf you\u2019re talking about the Semiquincentennial, that means a lot of energy is directed towards the Liberty Bell, towards this, towards that. You\u2019re putting all your energy and tourism there. But there\u2019s a whole other bunch of Americans actively getting pushed [out of their communities] and they\u2019re here [in Norris Square]. So ya\u2019ll gonna walk this way, I\u2019m gonna walk that way.\u201d <\/p>\n She aims to bring audiences from the imposing buildings and historical sites that idolize American values in Center City<\/a> to the working-class neighborhoods in North Philadelphia<\/a>, where Boricua communities have made a home despite decades of neglect<\/a> and encroaching gentrification<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cHow do we tell the story of walking away from colonialism and heading towards this green space that, to me, becomes a \u2018monte?\u2019,\u201d Raimundi-Ortiz said. \u201cThe \u2018monte\u2019 itself is like home.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking her performance through the streets of Philadelphia is also an effort to \u201cdemocratize the work\u201d and reach community members where they are. It\u2019s part of her goal \u201cto make sure that our folks are being seen\u201d and raise awareness of the presence and power of the Puerto Rican diaspora in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n The artist leads the procession as a ceremonial host wearing a different elaborate dress for the five chapters of the performance: revolucionario urbano (urban revolution), resistencia (resistance), traves\u00eda oce\u00e1nica (ocean crossing), el monte (the mountain), and bombazo (a performance of the Afro Puerto Rican folkloric music, Bomba).<\/p>\n Raimundi-Ortiz will change costumes \u2014 designed by Kristina Tollefson \u2014 during each chapter, beginning with a 45-pound patchwork denim dress that she will wear while ringing a bell as she walks down Market Street, before removing it to reveal another dress underneath.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m violently shedding [and] peeling off this colonial silhouette right in front of the Liberty Bell,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Vamonos Pa\u2019l Monte \u2014 which references late salsa legend Eddie Palmieri\u2019s 1971 hit of the same name \u2014 received a $360,000 grant in 2024 from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage<\/a>, in addition to funds from William Penn Foundation and Pennsylvania Creative Industries. <\/p>\n