"Where Did We Sit On The Bus" merges looping and LatinX culture at Denver Center for the Performing Arts
In one of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' most impressive performances of the year thus far, "Where Did We Sit On The Bus?" is bringing modern music and technology together with a story of culture and acceptance. The show, which is playing the Singleton Theatre in Denver, is gaining momentum with great reviews.
Satya Chavez, the featured artist of the show, has already spent weeks in Denver wowing audiences. Chavez uses looping to create the show's soundtrack every night.
"(The show) is an explosion of sound, it is an explosion of dance and movement and laughter and joy," Chavez said.
For those who have not heard of looping, it is a method of creating an entire song by one person. In this case, Chavez uses a computer to record sounds she makes with her hands or mouth with the sounds she plays on instruments. Then, she merges them all together and sings over it all.
"I'm the composer, I'm the performer. I am the whole orchestra, brother," Chavez told CBS News Colorado's Dillon Thomas.
Chavez is the only person who ever goes on stage during the performance. Without an intermission, Chavez commands the stage through both her acting and creativity with music.
"You are just building layers on layers. Before you know it you have a full fleshed out orchestra of music," Chavez said.
Only CBS News Colorado takes audiences up on stage at the DCPA, as Chavez took Thomas on an exclusive journey into her music.
She demonstrated how she creates her music and explained how the audience helps her make sure every night is a unique experience.
"This is all the arts put into one," Chavez said. "It is a concert. It is a mixtape. It is a spectacle. It is a light show. It is a story."
The story itself is the only thing about the show that outshines Chavez's talent.
"Where Did We Sit On The Bus?" is the story of a young Latina who is learning about the civil rights movement in an American school. Her teacher is trying to educate her class, made up mostly of white peers, about Rosa Parks. During her schooling, she raises a question of wanting to know where LatinX people sat on the bus, noting the courses only covered where Black and white people sat.
Quickly, the show turns from being an upbeat musical comedy to being a serious story about culture.
"It is a tearjerker when it wants to be," Chavez said.
When Thomas saw the show several people in the audience could be heard crying as they connected with the story.
"At the time it was a grey area, it wasn't really talked about," Chavez said of how many American schools taught about the civil rights movement. "That question opens a world of exploration of where do I fit in in society?"
Chavez said she hoped audiences would continue to make their way to the DCPA until the show closes on June 2. She said she hoped everyone who saw her show would leave reflecting on how to accept people with differences from them.
"That we are all important. That every single one of matters. That every single story matters. That every single life matters. We are all one shared species. We are all humanity," Chavez said.
Thomas, who has spent years covering the performances that show the DCPA, described this performance as one of the most captivating and moving performances to play in Denver in recent memory.
If you would like tickets to see the show visit DCPA's official website.
CBS News Colorado is a proud partner of the DCPA.
