27
April
2021
|
10:15 AM
America/Chicago

Virtual ‘Tradiciones’ begins May 1

Summary

STC’s Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) presents its 9th annual Tradicones Ballet Folklorico performance streaming on Facebook Live on May 1 at 7 p.m.

STC’s Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) presents its 9th annual Tradicones Ballet Folklorico performance streaming on Facebook Live on May 1 at 7 p.m.

This year because of the pandemic, Tradiciones will be virtual across Ballet Folklorico’s social media platforms. Visitors will not need a Facebook account to view the annual event.

The performance will take place at www.facebook.com/BalletFolkloricoSouthTexasCollege

More than 40 performers are slated to participate in Tradiciones 2021, which will stream live from the McAllen Performing Arts Center. The event will include musicians, students from STC, UTRGV, dual enrollment, community members, and dance teachers from various high schools and middle schools.

The performance is being organized by the Center for Mexican American Studies at STC. The mission of the center is to help students engage in cultural activities on campus, which in turn has been proven to improve their studies at the college.

“Tradiciones is our student dancers' way of sharing their talents and what they learned throughout the academic year with our community and student body,” said Victor Gomez, Assistant Professor of history at South Texas College. “As generations pass, we lose those simple things that we often take for granted. These include community events and celebrations that we used to celebrate with our families as kids. As a dance company, we are trying to keep this alive and show how these are still beautiful traditions that our culture embraces and should embrace.”

Ballet folklorico is comprised of Mexican traditional dances. The dances derive from the various cultures in México including those from indigenous tribes and communities.

 “These dances are a part of customs passed along from generation to generation in communities across México. However with globalization, these dances are dying off,” Gomez said. “The researchers we support seek to rescue and recover these traditions by documenting the dancing, costuming and the music. The way they do this is they learn from the communities where these dances belong, and teach them to performing groups.”