FLAGSTAFF — Advance purchase tickets ($15) for the 7th annual “Dancing Across Borders” fundraiser are now available at www.latindancecollective.com Tickets are $20 at the door.
The event benefits No More Deaths / No Más Muertes, which provides families and individuals crossing the perilous Arizona desert with medical supplies, water and food, organizers reported in a media release.
Dancing Across Borders is sponsored by Flagstaff Latin Dance Collective, NAU Latin American Studies Department and Flagstaff NMD, NMD-NAU.
The event, to be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at Tranzend Studio, 417 W Santa Fe Ave, Flagstaff, features:
- Dance Lessons by Flagstaff Latin Dance Collective
- Dance Performances by Flagstaff Latin Dance Collective, Rueda en la Montaña and more
- Raffle and Silent auction items from local businesses (Picazzo’s Gourmet Pizza & Salads, Vino Loco, Red 115, Bookmans, Campus Coffee Bean & Grill, Grand Canyon Salsa Festival, Christa Sadler and more)
- Music: Everything from Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Zouk, Kizomba and Cha Cha by DJ Skoolboy.
Founded in 2003 No More Deaths is a coalition of individuals, faith communities, human rights advocates and grassroots organizers who unite through direct and symbolic efforts to stop migrant deaths in the Arizona desert. No More Deaths advocates for immigration reform; engages the public in the present-day crisis of migrant deaths; and staffs and supports medical aid and abuse documentation in the desert and migrant centers in Agua Prieta and Nogales, Sonora.
Retired Tucson Border Patrol sector chief Ron Sanders stated that “‘By every measure, the strategy (of deterrence) is a failure. All it’s accomplished is killing people.’
In 1994, at the beginning of U.S. border militarization, 14 people died in the desert. By 2000, deaths increased to 90, then to 163 in 2001. From 2002 to 2012 there were 2,167 documented deaths. October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 there were 183 documented deaths. We hope you will attend, support and / or cover this essential event.
Contact Kati Pantsosnik at 928-814-2650 or via email at latindancecollective@gmail.com for more information.