Publication Date
2021
Collection
Capstones
Contributor
Ballet Folklórico de San Antonio (BFSA), Boni Ramos (Co-Creative Executive Director of the BFSA), Mark Molina, Nicolas Rodríguez, Cristóbal López
Advisor
Lindsey Wieck, Gerald E. Poyo, Claudia Guerra (Office of Historic Preservation)
Description
Since the mid 20th century, ballet folklórico has been a source of community, identity, and = celebration for Mexican Americans across the United States. Despite the popularity throughout Texas, its migration from Mexico to the United States is not well-documented nor widely known. Utilizing digital media, oral histories, personal artifacts, and archives this project is an effort to capture the development of ballet folklórico in San Antonio as a pillar of the city’s identity and reputation as culturally distinct. I share this history through the perspectives and experiences of the Ballet Folklórico de San Antonio (BFSA) dance company as they were the first accredited folklórico dance academy in San Antonio and the earliest folklórico groups to establish a relationship with the city government. Their journey as a cultural institution captures the evolution of the broader acceptance of Mexican dance and Mexican heritage in city-wide social, political, and economic initiatives. The Ballet Folklórico de San Antonio’s passion for their craft and their dedication to education is a symbol of resilience against white-washed notions of folk traditions and Mexican culture.
Keywords
ballet folklórico, migration, Mexican Americans, folklórico, heritage, Chicano, Ballet Folklórico de San Antonio, Ramos Family, Indigenismo
Document Type
Text
Medium
Manuscript
Format
Size or Duration
31 pages; One web article
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Publisher
Digital Commons at St. Mary's University
City
San Antonio, Texas