Every dance has a story behind it, and every story has its roots.
For Grupo Folklorico de UCLA, a student group that seeks to preserve the Latino heritage through folklorico dancing, these roots cover the vast expanses of Mexico and now have made their way into the hearts of many Latin American students at UCLA.
As a testament to their heritage and a celebration of their culture, the members of Grupo Folklorico de UCLA held a dance show, titled “Nuestra Herencia Mexicana” ““ Our Mexican Heritage ““ Wednesday evening in the Northwest Campus Auditorium. Parents, friends and students cheered and saluted the performers, whose rhythmic, quick steps and bright smiles roused the crowd. The fusion of drum and accordion as musical melody to the dancers’ quick leaps, turns and stomps delivered to the audience the Mexican tradition and culture that the performers value so much.
Among the performers was Sara Arroyo, a fourth-year anthropology student who joined the group this year.
“Whenever I hear the music, something about me would want to perform,” Arroyo said.
She had performed folklorico in her hometown of Wilmington since the third grade and said she felt drawn to the group because she felt it was her responsibility to share with others the history behind the dances.
For Arroyo, the details and embroidery on a dress, the use of a fan, and a headpiece with a flower signify a merging of African and Spanish influences in the region of Veracruz, Mexico.
Ribbons and vibrant, multicolored costumes convey a festive mood. The death of a lover in war ignites a girl’s lament. Arroyo explained how this tragic end is narrated in the dance “Bolino Guerrero,” in which a man is shot in battle and is carried away while a girl cries for him.
By using dancing as a form of storytelling, students share their heritage with an audience and keep it alive, which is crucial for Arroyo.
“As a second-generation Mexican American, if you don’t do something to take part in your culture, it’ll go away. You want to keep it vibrant,” she said.
First established in 1966, in the midst of the Chicano movement, the group started out as a community organization as part of the United Mexican American Students, an organization that sought to empower the Latino youth in the United States, said Claudia Bautista, the coordinator for Grupo Folklorico de UCLA.
At its establishment, the group was comprised mostly of community members. It has only been in the last two years that the folklorico group has expanded to reach out to more students and become more of a student organization, Bautista said.
Another new development has been a new outreach program, launched earlier this year, to teach underrepresented students in Los Angeles aspects of cultural dancing and the Latino heritage, said Leonardo Rios Marquez, the campus-community liaison of Grupo Folklorico.
Group members visit Fremont High School every weekend and teach the students dances from different cultural regions. These students performed Wednesday and will perform again on May 24 in Royce Hall, which Rios Marquez said “will be one of the biggest milestones in UCLA for the Latino community.”
The program also draws high school students into the university’s learning environment so they can learn about the significance of education, Bautista said.
Like many of his fellow group members, Rios Marquez said he is impassioned about folklorico dancing and performing because it has allowed him to “find my own space among the UCLA crowds.”
More importantly, however, it has allowed him to stay connected to his roots and his traditions.
Distance from home, then, does not impede students’ efforts to celebrate their heritage and share it with the Los Angeles community. Grupo Folklorico will dance and tell stories for years to come.