Maestro Miguel Ponce began his career as a Folklorico dancer in junior high school in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico under the direction of Maestro Jesus Trevino Gallegos. He continued to dance in Grupo Folklorico Mextli in the City of Nuevo Laredo. As a Folklorico maestro, he began his studies in the Academia de Danza Mizoc in the city of Mexico under the director Tizo Fuentes Yaco and the Maestra Mimi....
University Folklorico Summit UFS 2016: Leaders Today to Create Legacies Tomorrow UFS 2016 will take place at San Jose State University on February 19-21 and is being hosted by Grupo Folklorico Luna y Sol de San Jose State. The organizing committee is proud to announce the participation of Dr. Olga Nájera-Ramírez as the workshop presenter on "Channeling Your Folklórico Interest into a Career". Learn how you can carry folkloric traditions forward into your...
University Folklorico Summit UFS 2016: Leaders Today to Create Legacies Tomorrow UFS 2016 will take place at San Jose State University on February 19-21 and is being hosted by Grupo Folklorico Luna y Sol de San Jose State. The organizing committee is honored to announce the participation of Blanca L. Sánchez-Cruz as the workshop presenter for "Putting Technology to Use". Living in the Silicon Valley, technology is an integral part of life. This workshop will explore...
The University Folklorico Summit (UFS), an initiative of Danzantes Unidos, is a three-day leadership and cultural arts conference designed for collegiate folklorico groups. UFS provides a forum for university folklorico group leaders to meet, share their best practices, and strategize for their communities. UFS strives to educate the next generation of folklorico student leaders of the multiple facets and characteristics that make up an efficient and sustainable university folklorico group. REGISTRATION IS OPEN...
For the past two years, Christopher Sandoval has invested himself into the South Texas public school system as an educator and Founder and Co-Director of Alvarez Elementary Folklorico Dance Academy in McAllen, TX. In this role, he has continued to invoke innovation and imagination within traditional parameters to engage his students, staff, and audience; not just to preserve and promote danza Mexicana, but to use it as a proactive means to empower...
Dancer and musician, Rudy F. Garcia began his dance training while a student at Stanford University. His expansive career has been formed through his experience as a member of various San Francisco Bay Area performing art groups: Ballet Folklorico de Stanford, Flor de la Esperanza, Los Lupeños de San Jose, Xochipilli de San Jose and Jubilee American Dance Theater. He has served as Artistic Director for Alegria de San Jose and Los...
Cindy Padilla began her dance career at the age of eighteen with the Ballet Folklórico Aztlan de CSUN dance organization on the CSU Northridge campus. The need to re-charter the resident Northridge group, Ballet Folklórico Aztlan in fall of 1996 after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, was a goal for Cindy and other members who helped reinstate the forty-five year old student and community based dance troupe to what it is today. She...
Marcela Cardenas has been dancing folklorico for many years, practically all her life. She was introduced to dancing at a young age in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It then became her passion. This passion led her to join the Real Ballet Charro, Grupo Folklorico del H. Ayuntamiento de Guadalajara and later Grupo Folklorico de la Universidad de Guadalajara under the direction of Rafael Zamarripa. She earned her degree in dance from the University...
Maestro Erik Noel Diaz was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. He began his training in Mexican Folklorico with Compañia Estatal de Danza Folklorica, Danza Matlachines del Cerro de la Bufa, and Instituto Superior de Danza Folklorica in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico. Continuing his passion for Folklorico, in California, Maestro Erik has choreographed pieces for Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company, Ballet Folklorico las Estrellas, Ballet Folklorico Anahuac, Ballet Folklorico Nube de Oro, and Ballet Folklorico IMBA....
Yolanda Chacon Beniquez researched through Summer-long intensive courses at the Instituto de la Investigacion del Folklor y la Danza in Mexico, Artes y Ciencias in Tijuana, Mexico, and at Mazochoquim in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. These intensive Summer-long courses were comprised of instructors teaching at institutions across Mexico. Maestra Beniquez has been teaching at Chula Vista Park and Recreation Centers since 1983. She has taught Folklorico curriculum courses at Palomar College, Eastlake and Olympian High Schools...