THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER / WE WILL ANNOUNCE A NEW DATE SOON
How Do We Move in Public?
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 4:00–7:00 PM at The Hub, Bronx, NY
A public program by Social Practice CUNY in partnership with BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
Click HERE to view program
How Do We Move in Public? is the second program in Social Practice CUNY's 2026 series How Do We ___________ in Public?: a cycle of four free experimental events responding to contemporary crises shaping the cultural field, including the defunding and targeting of public institutions and the erosion of shared civic space.
This second program in the series is partnered with BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance during the Boogie Down Dance Series.
Organized by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel, this event brings together dancers/ choreographers with connections to the Bronx to generate movement-based actions in public spaces in the South Bronx: Argelia Arreola (with support from Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative), Ana 'Rokafella' García, Paloma McGregor/Angela's Pulse, and Alethea Pace. Responding to escalating surveillance, policing, and state violence, particularly the terrorization of Black and Brown communities under ongoing ICE raids, the program advances movement as a counter-response to neglect, with care, and shared imagination, asking how bodies navigate, reshape, and reclaim urban space under conditions of threat.
This event will activate several points along 3rd Avenue and 149th Street, a major cultural crossroads at the heart of the South Bronx called The Hub, and is funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Eugene M. Lang Foundation.
SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES:
Alethea Pace
Time and location: 4:00PM / Just south of Roberto Clemente Plaza (149th Street and 3rd Avenue)
An act of love: is an improvisational movement performance that invites audiences into a practice of deep listening. It explores interconnection—between people, land, and history—and asks how attention, care, and softness might open new possibilities for belonging.
Directed by Alethea Pace / Performed by Maria Bauman, Alethea Pace and Katrina Reid
Costumes by Mauricio Barrera / Masks by Katherine Miranda
Alethea Pace is a Bronx-based interdisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in social justice and community engagement. She has presented work at institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim, and is an adjunct professor at Lehman College.
Ana “Rokafella” García
Time and location: 4:30 & 5:30 PM / 149th Street & 3rd Avenue (The Hub)
This performance responds to the current hostile political climate, including the dismantling of DEI initiatives, ICE raids, lack of justice around sexual assault, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and racial violence. The dancers use hip-hop as a form of resistance and collective expression.
Dancers: Rokafella, Kwikstep, Fresh Frank, Tiffany NfiniT Craddock, ShamGod, and Rocka James
Ana “Rokafella” García is a NYC-based hip-hop pioneer of Puerto Rican descent. She co-founded Full Circle Productions, NYC’s only non-profit breakdance theater company. With over three decades of experience, she has performed, judged, and taught internationally, and is currently an adjunct professor at The New School and Sarah Lawrence College.
Paloma McGregor/Angela’s Pulse
Time and location: 5:00 PM / The Hub: at the small triangle park between 148 & 149 on 3rd Ave
A’we Monumental: “Monuments are what empires leave behind as evidence of their might. Culture—dances, stories, food, songs—is what communities keep alive as evidence of our love.” A’we Monumental is part of Building a Better Fishtrap, an iterative performance project rooted in the disappearing fishing tradition of McGregor’s father. The work is guided by three central questions: What do we take with us? What do we leave behind? What do we return to reclaim? Using the Fishtrap Method—a community-based collaborative practice—this iteration brings together Bronx-based dancers to transform an intergenerational duet into a collective performance that reflects on legacy, displacement, and possibility.
Creative Direction and Choreography: Paloma McGregor / Performers: Arthur Avilés, Kayla Hamilton, Michele Lee, and Roberto Ventura
Paloma McGregor is an award-winning choreographer, writer, and arts leader, and co-founder of Angela’s Pulse. Her work centers communities of color, merging choreography, journalism, and community organizing. She has received numerous awards including the Herb Alpert Award and the Bessie Award, and has presented work internationally.
Argelia Arreola
Time and location: 6:00 PM / The piece will begin at the corner near Candy Lotto, then gradually move along Willis Avenue
until reaching the opposite side on 148th Street, in front of the mural that says “We Are the Bronx.”
Sembrando Flores: This dance piece draws from traditional Mexican son jarocho and the rhythmic practice of zapateado to explore how the body navigates public space in a city like New York. Blending tradition with contemporary dance, the work reflects on migration, identity, and the experience of inhabiting shared urban environments.
Dancer: Argelia Arreola / Musician: Iván Contreras
Argelia Arreola is a Bronx-based Mexican dancer, choreographer, and musician. Her work bridges African, Afro-Caribbean, and Mexican traditions through contemporary practice. She has performed at major venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and is a recipient of the Bronx Dance Fund Fellowship.
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel has curated exhibitions/programs for El Museo del Barrio; Leslie Lohman Museum of Art; Franklin Furnace; Elizabeth Foundation Project Space; Artists Alliance Inc; Korea Art Forum; Longwood Arts Project/BCA; Bronx River Art Center (BRAC); BAAD!; Art in Odd Places; The Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary; as well as for the Filmoteca de Andalucía in Córdoba, Spain. Nicolás is the Teaching Scholar in Residence at SPCUNY. Born in the Dominican Republic, he was baptized as a Bronxite in 2011.
Special thanks to our supporting team for this event: Program assistant: Andrés Senra / Artists support on site: Ivana Larrosa, José Carlos Casado, Dara Ojugbele, Anisa Hodzic, and Kip Silva / Welcoming person: Kathleena Howie.
Supporting organizations: The Opera House Hotel, and BronxNet.
Thank you as well to: Argenis Apolinario, Geoffrey Jones, Alex Romania, and
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Jerome Robbins Dance Division for documenting the program.
With deep gratitude to the beloved South Bronx and its Neighbors
