Patricia Bonito never considered herself a dancer.

But when a group planning to put on a contemporary opera in Tijuana showed up at the migrant shelter where she lived to offer auditions, the 35-year-old Honduran woman decided to give it a shot.

Since then, she has gone from constantly crying as she struggles to process the trauma of having to flee her home to feeling empowered and rejuvenated, which she describes as a whole new version of herself.

“I never imagined that I would do something like this, something so beautiful,” Bonito said in Spanish. “When I dance, when I concentrate, it’s something that makes me feel free. I feel like I’m in the air. I have no words to tell you how happy I feel.

Bonito and the rest of the cast of the newly written opera “Stay in Mexico” will perform the approximately 45-minute piece before an audience in a plaza outside the CEART Tijuana theater on Saturday at noon. This performance, along with one inside CEART’s Caja Negra and another near the border fence, will be filmed with a 360-degree camera to create a virtual reality experience that puts viewers at the center of the action. . The show will also be available on YouTube.

The show was born out of creator and artistic director Yuriria Fanjul’s frustration at seeing racist and xenophobic attitudes towards migrants spread in Mexico as US policies forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait prolonged and often indefinite south of the border.

She first traveled to Tijuana in February 2020 to learn about the experiences of asylum seekers and whether a contemporary opera about their lives might be helpful.

“I noticed that they really wanted to talk about their stories,” Fanjul recalled. “I decided a piece like this was needed to express all of these stories.”

She designed the libretto, or opera text, based on the lives of several Central American teenagers she met. The resulting protagonist, a fictional 15-year-old girl who searches for music and dance as she tries to get to safety in the United States, follows the traditional hero’s journey, Fanjul explained.

An orchestra from Mexico recorded the music for the show.

Fanjul intentionally pitted a mixture of dance styles, including breaking and krump, against traditional baroque orchestra to critique the way society views these class-based art forms.

“This project is a statement to challenge these associations, which for me are wrong,” Fanjul said. “All forms of art should be equally accessible to everyone.”

About a month ago, Fanjul recruited 24 migrants from shelters around Tijuana as well as six Tijuana-based professional dancers through auditions.

The migrants, from Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico and Haiti, were not required to have prior dance experience.

The youngest participants are 9 years old and the oldest 67 years old.

A Haitian rehearses for “Stay in Mexico”, a contemporary opera about the lives of migrants stuck in Tijuana.

(Carlos Moreno/For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

During the choreography of the piece, the migrants were given movement exercises to express parts of their own stories which were then incorporated into the dance sequence.

“Most of the movement is created by them. They are co-creators,” Fanjul said. “It’s very exciting to see.”

Migrants were paid for their time and given clothes and, if needed, sneakers. If the project film makes money, they will each receive a percentage.

(Carlos Moreno/For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

They held rehearsals for about three weeks before the public performance. The timeline had to be quick, Fanjul said, because migrants often move abruptly as they try to figure out where they can be safe.

The production paid the migrants for their time. They also received clothing and, if needed, sneakers, as well as meals and transportation for rehearsals. If the project film makes money, they will each get a percentage, Fanjul said.

On Wednesday, the cast rehearsed a scene that culminated in a cypher, or circle of dancers, featuring elements of various styles ranging from contemporary to breaking, popping and krumping.

The cast members shouted encouragement to each other as they took turns soloing in the middle, often playing off each other’s energy as they moved from one to the other. For Bonito, who performs one of the solos, this is his favorite part of the piece.

“That energy from them goes to my heart,” Bonito said. “This is my moment, and I appreciate it very much.”

The cast of “Stay in Mexico” reunites to form a root during a rehearsal for the new opera’s dance sequence.

(Carlos Moreno/For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

For several other cast members, the climax of the scene is a little earlier, when they all collectively form a root, holding each other to connect all of their bodies together.

“When we are all united, when we are all entwined, we feel the strength of one in the strength of the other,” said Mirian Valladares in Spanish. “We feel like family at that time.”

Valladares, who fled Honduras about three years ago and spent the last year in Tijuana, is involved in the production with her husband and 9-year-old son.

She is especially grateful for the change the experience has brought to the boy, who has otherwise isolated himself out of fear because of the trauma the family has experienced. He has become very close to the other 9-year-old in the room, who is from Tijuana.

“He’s afraid to have friendships,” Valladares said. “Inside the theatre, it works differently. He feels more free because he is with his family.

Migrants and professional dancers prepare together for the Opera 360 “Stay in Mexico” which will take place this Saturday at the CEART theater in Tijuana.

(Carlos Moreno/For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

The closeness between cast members, choreographers and directors had a similar impact on many adults.

“It changed everything,” said José, a Mexican who asked to be identified only by his first name. “I see things differently. Not everyone is bad.”

Kate Nuñez, a 28-year-old Honduran, said the show helped her feel useful and hopeful.

The last three weeks of rehearsals have also had a profound impact on the professional dancers who perform alongside the migrants.

Fanjul interviewed each of the dancers to ensure they had the necessary empathy for the job. Still, Jackie Rodríguez was surprised by the depth of emotion and thought aroused by her classmates’ stories.

The Tijuana native, 29, specializes in contemporary dance with the company Lux Boreal, with whom Fanjul has partnered for the piece.

Jackie Rodríguez rocks with one of his castmates during a rehearsal for “Stay in Mexico” to transition between solos in the figure at the end of the dance scene.

(Carlos Moreno/For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

“The phenomenon of migration is very normalized for us Tijuanenses, and we are used to meeting people from other places who come to look for work, who come to cross the border. We are very used to meeting people from all over,” Rodríguez said in Spanish. “Reconnecting with that inspired me.”

Her own family emigrated from Mexico City in the 1980s, she said, and her father spent some time in the United States before the family decided to stay in Tijuana.

“I hadn’t forgotten, but it was something that I didn’t have so present in my life,” she said.

She hopes their audience will feel drawn to the same kinds of thoughts she’s been working on for the past three weeks.

“Sometimes we take it for granted that there are a lot of migrants here in Tijuana waiting,” Rodríguez said. “They have stories to tell us, and those stories they have to tell need to be heard.”