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Tijuana Pa Bailar dance (Photo: Ruxandra Guidi)

Tijuana can’t catch a break. The Mexican border city has been plagued by drug-related murders and kidnappings but things were calming down. Then the violence started up again and now some in Tijuana want to show the rest of the world their city is more than a murder capital. They hope to demonstrate that on Thursday with a mass street performance on both sides of the border. It’s called Pa Bailar, or To Dance, Tijuana. Ruxandra Guidi of KPBS has the story. Download MP3

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. Looks like Tijuana just can’t catch a break. The Mexican border city’s been plagued by drug-related murders and kidnappings. Things were calming down. President Felipe Calderon even praised Tijuana as a success story in Mexico’s war on drugs. But then the violence started again, not to mention a massive seizure of marijuana at the border this week. Well, now some in Tijuana want to show the rest of the world that their city is more than just a crime headline. Tomorrow, they’ll have a mass street performance on the US-Mexican border. It’s called “Pa Bailar,” or “To Dance, Tijuana.” Ruxandra Guidi of station KPBS has the story.

RUXANDRA GUIDI:  About a dozen women in their forties are gathered in Playas de Tijuana, a place where the border wall meets the westernmost corner of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Renato Lopez stands in front of them. He’s a 21-year-old college student and one of the organizers of Pa’ Bailar Tijuana. Music blares from a pair of speakers, as Lopez demonstrates some dance steps. The women trail behind, a little off the beat. The song they’re dancing to is by Julieta Venegas, a Tijuana-born pop star, and the steps were choreographed by the Tijuana-based dance troupe, Lux Boreal.

SPEAKING SPANISH

GUIDI: Lopez says the dance moves shouldn’t be hard to learn, a simple four-step and hand motions that say “I love Tijuana.” Gloria Ledon is also practicing her moves at Playas de Tijuana. She’s a 75-year-old dance instructor. She’s one of hundreds of people in the city who say they’ll come out tomorrow, for three and a half minutes, to dance to this song in parks, shopping malls, and plazas. The idea is simple, to celebrate Tijuana.

SPEAKING SPANISH

GUIDI: Ledon says she would love to have Americans who regularly cross into Tijuana join in on the dance on their side of the border. And Norma Pennock agrees.

SPEAKING SPANISH

GUIDI: Pennock says it’s important that people keep coming to Tijuana, because the city has another side to it, a noble city, she says, that provides work, housing and food to anyone who works hard. That’s probably not the image that many Americans have of Tijuana these days. Even though Mexican officials say security is improving here, drug-related killings and kidnappings have captured attention. Speaking at a conference a couple of weeks ago, Mexican president Felipe Calderon championed the current push to clean up the city’s reputation.

SPEAKING SPANISH

FELIPE CALDERON: Tijuana’s efforts at self-improvement are especially important right now, at a time when the country faces a major security problem. Until recently, Tijuana had an image that was almost exclusively linked to crime.

GUIDI:  But that image is hard to shake. Just this week, Mexican authorities seized more than a 100 tons of marijuana at the Tijuana border crossing. And last week came word of seven drug-related killings in three separate incidents. College professor and human rights advocate Victor Clark Alfaro spends his time on both sides of the border. He says Tijuana could use some positive press. But he views a public performance like Pa’ Bailar Tijuana as part of a homegrown effort to take back the streets.

SPEAKING SPANISH

VICTOR CLARK ALFARO: Tijuana residents have seen the worst violence, the most outrageous killings, diminish in the last six months. That doesn’t mean the violence has gone away. But there are important efforts by artists, both as individuals and collectively, to look beyond that and reflect a broader reality.

GUIDI: The dancers in Playas de Tijuana are starting to get the hang of the steps. Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of others are practicing and getting ready for their public performance on October 21^st. In San Diego, people will be dancing at Plaza las Americas, an outlet mall right next to the Tijuana border crossing. No one really knows how many people will participate on either side of the border. The organizers say they’re just hoping to bring people together to celebrate something positive in Tijuana. For The World, I’m Ruxandra Guidi, Tijuana.

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