A Night of Culture, Dance, and Colors

In the many things that our Mexican culture offers, the art of dance is among one of the most beautiful. The traditional dances of Mexico, better known as ballet folklórico, capture the essence and grace of the culture that we like to call home. TAMIU's Ballet Folklórico has worked hard to preserve this art and present it to the students of the university.

On Saturday, February 6, 2010, TAMIU presented the "Festival Folklórico." The festival showcased familiar traditional dances of this genre. Sandra Leal, the director of the Ballet Folklórico, took charge of this event and brought it to the TAMIU audience.

Many returning members of the TAMIU Ballet Folklórico took the stage with many fresh faces making their debuts in full folklórico fashion. First timers, such as TAMIU junior Nahyeli Plasencia, claimed to be nervous about their first performance. "The last time I performed was when I was a kid, and at that time you don't really care about the nerves of performing," stated Plasencia. The first timers aren't the only ones feeling nervous. TAMIU senior, and Ballet Folklórico president, Nancy De La Fuente explains that the nerves don't go everywhere. As she puts it, "every performance feels like the first."

Other things contributed to the nerves, especially the difficulty dance that they had to master. "I had to work hard to learn and perform a dance, within a couple of weeks. But, then I also had to dance with a candle on my head, and that only added to the stress" explained Plasencia about her dance "La Bruja."

"La Bruja" was among many of the classical favorites presented at the festival. "Jarabe Tapatío," "Huasteca Veracruzana," and traditional huapangos also formed part of the lineup of dances performed. Even though they were the same classics, De La Fuente explains that, "every performance is different, and you have a different feeling for each one. But, they all help me fall in love with the dance, again." Dances may be the same, but every performance comes with a new emotion.

Another factor to the success of the festival was the open invitation to other folklórico programs. TAMIU's Ballet Folklórico welcomed schools from Laredo, Corpus Christi, and Nuevo Laredo to present their own version of the favorites that make up our colorful culture. "It was such an amazing experience, because I got to meet and get to know people who share the same love of folklórico," confessed De La Fuente. Young children, in their colorful costumes, took the stage and gave adorable performances. Teenagers showed their many years of hard work through their impeccable choreography. Everyone, from all shapes and sizes, came together to do something that equals passion for them.

For the performers and dancers, it was a lot of hard work. Plasencia could not stress how much practices they had to endure. "We practiced Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8 am to the middle of the middle of the day, and we would only take lunch breaks," confessed Plasencia, "I was completely exhausted after the performance."

It is safe to say that the hours taken to present this event completely paid off. The audience was pleased and it made a folklórico fan out of me. I will never miss another folklórico event again. It brought everything that it needed to bring and it was done beautifully. Congrats to TAMIU's Ballet Folklórico, you are extremely exceptional. You have brilliantly presented a night full of culture, dance, and colors.

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