Alma de Mexico, a ballet folklorico group out of Oxnard, is joining Santa Maria High School students on stage for a Feb. 28 performance in the Ethel Pope Auditorium.
Angel Hoyos, who teaches ballet folklorico at the high school, is playing host to his friend and fellow teacher Nino Carrillo’s group for the first ever Tradiciones Unidos Ballet Folklorico Show. Hoyos said the way Carillo teaches folklorico to students aligns with his teaching practices: steeped in traditional pieces rather than made-up contemporary ones.
“Students get to preserve and take part in cultural experiences they might never [get] a chance to experience if it were not for my class,” Hoyos wrote in an email. “Most importantly, students are taught history behind the dances they are performing. Folklorico, for me, is not solely performing for an audience, but for keeping traditions alive that are not seen as actively anymore.”
The performance will include pieces from the Nuevo Leon, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Jalisco. The show will take place at the Ethel Pope Auditorium on Broadway; doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10.
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 5, 2015.