As we explore a permanent space on our new website for this genre, we will create a temporary space here to stage this growing media gallery of Danzantes Unidos film throughout the years. Enjoy! DUF 2019 - 40th Anniversary! Every Palm Sunday Weekend, since 1979, the Danzantes Unidos Festival has brought together the largest (on either side of the border) gathering of Mexican Folk Dancers in a united celebration. The event features dance &...
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...
Marco Antonio Sánchez began his training at the age of four in his home town of Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico. At age six, he was recruited by award winning dance group Grupo Folclorico Magisterial del Estado de Jalisco children’s performing company. In 1989, he joined Grupo Folclorico Alma de Nuestro Pueblo and also Ballet Folclorico de Jalisco before returning to Grupo Magisterial where he served as Assistant Instructor under the direction of Jose...
Sara Moguel was born in Villaflores, Chiapas and moved to California in 1992. She graduated with a Master degree in the Arts of Teaching in 2011. Sara Moguel has been dancing with Ballet Folklorico Aztlan de CSUN for over ten years. BFA de CSUN instilled in her the love for Mexican folklorico dance. She has been teaching folklorico for five years in Ventura County and is now the director of her own group,...
Alexander Manzanares, a son of Mexican immigrants from the state of Chihuahua, was born in Dodge City, Kansas and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a teenager his love for dance began with his high school folklórico dance group. Upon graduation, he dedicated his time attending festivals, conferences and focusing his attention on traveling across Mexico, visiting maestros in their homes and learning folklórico at its roots. He has been an active member...
Jose Vences is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and director with decades of experience in Mexican folk dance. He began his dance training at sixteen while studying at the Universidad Autonoma de Morelos. In 1985, he relocated to Mexico City to begin training at the distinguished Instituto National de Bellas Artes. In 1986 he was accepted into the touring company of the world-renowned Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez. In 1990, Jose came...
Alfredo “El Godo” Herrera, originario del puerto de Veracruz, inicia desde muy pequeño sus incursiones en el son jarocho en fandangos y fiestas populares. En 1989 se incorpora a los talleres de son jarocho impartidos por el grupo Mono Blanco, y es precisamente de esos talleres donde surge, en el año de 1990, el grupo Son la Plaga del cual es miembro y fundador. En 1996 apenas contando con trece años, fue nombrado...
Mr. Vizcarra’s passion for dance began at the age of eight when he joined "Ballet Folklorico Xochiquetzal". Throughout the years he became interested in other dance disciplines, jazz & ballet; while continuing his study of folk dances of Mexico. As he gained more experience in dance, he became so inspired by all of the different dance forms that it led him to create his own choreographies. He then decided it was time...