Our group has just taken their final bow at our annual concert. They shine in the beauty of their traditional, brightly colored costumes.
I am onstage with them, and we perform a rhythmic zapateado as the curtain closes slowly before us. The music of the mariachi band fades, and we turn to each other — smiling, cheering loudly, and exchanging congratulatory hugs. We are la familia folklórica, a folklórico family.
I have learned and studied dance since childhood. When I teach, I carry the bodily histories of my own dance instructors, including Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter, Roy Lozano, Pedro Serna, Michael Carmona, and Salvador Ibarra.
My first dance teacher was my aunt, Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter. She is my inspiration, and I continue teaching in her footsteps to share the dances of our ancestors.
I have taught folklórico for about thirty years, founding the Texas A&M International Ballet Folklórico and the TAMIU Ballet Folklórico Juvenil in 1996.
Today I teach the traditional Mexican dances of folklórico to children and adults of all ages at the academy and studio I established on McPherson Road in 2013. These are the dances passed through centuries from one generation to the next. Dancers in garments of the time-period of the dance learn the intricate percussive footwork movements of the zapateado.
Our folklórico group includes mothers and daughters dancing together, cousins, brothers and sisters, and even entire families, including parents.
Something amazing happens as we dance together with a binding affection, affinity, and closeness. Dancing folklórico is a team effort requiring everyone to work in unison. We learn to dance with partners, which entails close communication. We also learn detailed choreographic patterns involving quick thinking and collaboration. All these aspects of our work together have helped us bond to form la familia folklórica.
As we dance folklórico, we embody the histories of our ancestors telling stories of love, loss, triumphs, and survival. Everyone in our folklórico group has an important contribution to share. At times we may dance alongside a partner who has a disability, someone much older or younger than ourselves, or a person with a completely different outlook on life. Despite our differences, however, we learn to love the members of our familia folklórica.
We understand we are more alike than different as we share the invaluable purpose of continuing for the next generation the dance history, customs, and traditions passed to us.
We dance folklórico for the sheer love of dance, paying close attention to the music of our dances, listening to the voices sung in lyrics, and focusing on melodies played by the traditional beats of the jarana, guitarrón, and bajo sexto.
We dress proudly in traditional attire, remembering how many layers of clothing our ancestors wore and the types of accessories that were once fashionable. Our costumes are hand-crafted by artisans in Mexico.
We dance the zapateados with strength, energy, precision, and skills that have taken weeks, months, and even years of rehearsals to refine. Our love of dance unifies us — binds us — to work to the height of our abilities. That love of dance underscores every rehearsal and performance of la familia folklórica.
We dance to the common purpose of remembering, acknowledging, and inspiring, our steps resounding resolutely as conservators, cultural keepers continuing and evoking the grace and rhythms of the dances of nuestros antepasados.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I use the English spelling of the word folklórico to acknowledge my Tejana heritage.
(Folklorista, artist, scholar, and writer Gabriela Mendoza-García teaches dance at her state-of-the-art academy and studio on McPherson Road. She earned a Bachelor and Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. To learn more of her extensive endeavors and accolades visit https://gabrielamendozagarciafolklorico.com)
