Film/Stage
Half & Halves: Children of Sikh & Mexican Parentage
by DONALD MUNRO
The fathers were Sikh immigrants who came in the early part of the 20th century to work in California's fields.
The mothers were Mexican women, many of whom were shunned by their families and communities for marrying outside their race.
[Since immigration of females was restricted and prohibited during the early decades due to oppressive and exclusionary laws, many of the Sikh-American farmers married Mexican women.]
The children were often called "half and halves." They grew up speaking Spanish and English but remained fiercely proud of their Sikh and Punjabi heritage.
To mark this important but little-known artistic and cultural legacy, two San Francisco dance companies are collaborating in a special performance. The Duniya Dance and Drum Company and Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco join together in the premiere performance of "Half and Halves," a work featuring Mexican Folklorico dance and Bhangra, a high-energy harvest and celebration dance from Punjab.
The piece explores themes related to farming life, marriage, immigration, ethnicity, cultural identity and racial and ethnic discrimination. Organizers say the story of the Sikh- and Punjabi-Mexicans is "one of crossing ethnic borders and discrimination and injustice from the government, as well as from the Punjabi and Mexican communities, and is a historical phenomenon that can shed light on events of today as well."
The performance features 26 dancers and live music and was funded by the Creative Work Fund and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
At 7 p.m., Saturday, November 19, 2011, at Roosevelt High School, 4250 E. Tulare Ave., Fresno, California, U.S.A.
duniyadance.com / $15, $10 students, $7 children ages 6-13
Tickets can be reserved online at brownpapertickets.com/event/206285.
[Courtesy: Fresno Bee. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 19, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 19, 2011, 2:21 PM.
This is so moving ... Sikhs showing that a man is man and a woman is woman wherever you go on Earth ... well done, timeless, pioneering Sikhs.