Sunday, April 19, Calpulli Mexican Dance Company’s “Monarcas,”

 

On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., the Main Theater at Hostos Community College in the Bronx will host Calpulli Mexican Dance Company’s “Monarcas,” a full-length dance work honoring the resilience, service, and perseverance of Mexican immigrants in the United States. It’s part of Freedom 250—a national celebration of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence—, and it lands in exactly the right place: a CUNY campus in the South Bronx, one of the country’s clearest examples of what immigrant labor and culture actually build.

“Monarcas” is named after the monarch butterfly, one of nature’s most tireless migrants, whose journey across North America ignores the borders humans obsess over. Calpulli turns that symbol into two very concrete stories. The first is Company E, honoring the Mexican American soldiers of the 141st Infantry—the first and only all–Mexican American unit in World War II—who fought for a country that both embraced and rejected them. The second is Viñedos (“Vineyards”), following Mexican laborers in California who started out toiling in the fields and, led by fierce family matriarchs, rose over generations to become vineyard owners and masters of California wine.

This performance also spotlights a specific hero: Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, selected from the national “Garden of Heroes” for his connection to the Mexican American community and the military service depicted in Company E. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Calpulli and Hostos are using this moment not just to perform but to share information about Benavidez’s life and the broader, often erased history of military service by Latine men and women. That’s the Freedom 250 angle most official celebrations won’t touch: the fact that Mexico’s sons and daughters have been bleeding for this country while being treated as permanent outsiders.

Tickets are deliberately accessible. Prices start at 35 dollars, with regular tickets at 35 and 45, and VIP seats in rows A to G at 55 dollars; discounts are offered for seniors 65 and over, children, students, and groups of ten or more. 

Tickets can be purchased online at www.hostos.cuny.edu/culturearts, by phone at 718-518-4455 (Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), in person at the Hostos Box Office Window (Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.), or starting at 1 p.m. on the day of the show. 

Hostos is easy to reach: IRT 2, 4, and 5 trains or BX1, BX2, and BX19 buses to 149th Street/Grand Concourse, and by car via Exit 3 off the Major Deegan (I‑87), just 15–20 minutes from Times Square or Grand Central.

The institutions behind it matter. Calpulli’s mission is to celebrate the rich diversity of Mexican and Mexican American cultural heritage through dance and live music, with professional touring productions, arts-in-education programs, and low-cost, high-quality classes across New York City, especially through its Calpulli Community program. The name “Calpulli,” from Nahuatl, means “family” and “big house,” a nod to the way dancers, musicians, and teaching artists operate as one community. Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, housed within Hostos Community College, has been a nationally recognized locus of Latinx and African-based programming since 1982, with state-of-the-art theaters and a museum-grade gallery; The New York Times has called it “the powerful locus for Latino art” in the Bronx.

All of that sits on top of another reality: Mexican and other immigrants are not just providing culture and stories; they are literally helping to fund the country, celebrating its 250th birthday. In 2022, immigrants in the United States earned about 2.1 trillion dollars, paid an estimated 383 billion in federal taxes and 196 billion in state and local taxes, and still had 1.6 trillion in spending power that flows into neighborhoods like the South Bronx. Undocumented immigrants alone paid close to 97 billion in combined federal, state, and local taxes that year—including tens of billions into Social Security and Medicare that they may never fully benefit from.

Over the last three decades, immigrants have generated about 24.2 trillion dollars in tax revenue while drawing 13.6 trillion in services, producing a net fiscal gain of 10.6 trillion, or roughly 14.5 trillion in deficit reduction once you factor in interest savings. So when Calpulli fills the Hostos stage with monarch butterflies, soldiers, matriarchs, and vineyard workers, they’re not asking for charity or sympathy. They’re saying, with music and movement instead of spreadsheets: we paid for this stage, too.