Quick Take
Estrellas de Esperanza, founded by Ruby Vasquez in 2007, teaches kids in Watsonville how to embrace their Mexican heritage through ballet folklórico. For Vasquez and her students, folklórico is more than just the fancy outfits and learning the difficult footwork — it’s about connecting with those cultural traditions.
The young dancers of Estrellas de Esperanza snake through the crowd in Watsonville High School’s cafeteria on a Friday night in early December. At the front of the procession, a dancer carries a large branch, decorated with fairy lights and colorful ornaments as those trailing behind him encourage people in the audience to clap along to the lively tempo of “La Rama.”
“La Rama” is a traditional Christmas song from the Mexican state of Veracruz, where dancers and musicians walk in a procession spreading the holiday joy to their neighbors. At the end of the procession, a fandango, or party, would ensue. This Veracruz tradition set the tone for a performance honoring the country’s culture and traditions.
For Valeria Rodriguez, 17, hearing an immediate response from the audience during each performance is an amazing, almost indescribable feeling. “It’s one of a kind. I feel like a lot of us Mexicans, and even other people that are not from our culture, could probably feel it,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez began dancing ballet folklórico, or Mexican folk dance, with Estrellas de Esperanza at 8 years old. She was inspired to learn folklórico after watching one of her cousins perform and wanted to learn more about her culture through the form of dance.
Estrellas de Esperanza is a dance group for kids and teens, aged 5-18, that teaches ballet folklórico. The group performs almost year-round at community events, like the Dia de Muertos celebration at the city’s plaza and the Watsonville Strawberry Festival.
Estrellas de Esperanza started in Ruby Vasquez’s garage in Watsonville in 2007. Her then-4-year-old son wanted to dance folklórico just like her, said Vasquez. “I remember saying, ‘If we start a dance group, it’s not something we can do short term. It’s a long-term commitment,’” she said.
The first class had only five students; Vasquez’s son, her niece and nephew, and two of her neighbor’s kids. Three weeks later, her class grew to 15 students as other parents began to find out about the dance group.
Vasquez, a parent education trainer for Pajaro Valley Unified School District, began dancing folklórico at 5 years old. The dance style was new territory to her, and she had never seen a folklórico performance before taking classes with her teacher, Florencia Chavoya. She credits Chavoya for introducing her to folklórico and teaching her how to embrace her cultural roots.
Vasquez and her teaching assistant, Priscilla Quintero, teach children and teens up to 10 different styles of ballet folklórico. Styles differ across regions and states in Mexico. Some of the styles Estrellas de Esperanza perform represent Jalisco, Oaxaca, Michoacan and Veracruz, said Vasquez.
Folklórico dances in Veracruz are heavily inspired by flamenco; female dancers in this style typically wear white lace dresses and the men also wear all-white outfits. In Michoacan, meanwhile, the style — from the attire to steps — is influenced by the Indigenous people in the area.
While ballet folklórico is known for its percussive — and difficult — footwork, colorful attire decorated with ribbons and floral headpieces, and voluminous skirts, it’s much more than that, Vasquez said. She makes sure to discuss the cultural context of each style before students learn the choreography.
“A lot of people will just teach the steps and buy the pretty outfits,” Vasquez said. “But, it’s really understanding the cultural context of where these dances and traditions come from, and why they’ve existed for so long.”
Last year, Vasquez invited Daniel Del Valle Hernandez — an instructor from Veracruz — to teach her students to dance various styles from the region and also talk about the history behind dances and traditions like “La Rama,” she said.
One of the styles within the region Del Valle Hernandez taught Estrellas de Esperanza was Son Jarocho. The dance and style of music have a fusion of African, Spanish and Indigenous influences that can be traced back to Mexico’s colonial period. Son Jarocho is one of the harder styles to master, according to Rodriguez, because of the music’s lively rhythms and energetic melodies.
It feels so special to learn these dances “straight from the source,” said Alex Morales. He and Luis Cruz, both 17, have been dancing with Estrellas de Esperanza — and folklórico in general — for only a little over a year, and have grown to love performing in front of crowds. As a member of Estrellas de Esperanza, Cruz feels as though he’s a part of the community and enjoys being able to learn from Vasquez and guest instructors from Mexico, too, he said.
The art form and tradition are able to carry on, at least in Watsonville, because there are students like Rodriguez who want to learn more about their cultural heritage, said Vasquez.
It’s amazing to see people enjoy watching them perform, especially in Watsonville, where a majority of residents are of Mexican descent, Cruz said. “People really enjoy that we are representing [the culture] and keeping traditions alive,” he said.
The performance part is so important for the kids, said Vasquez. Any time her students perform in front of a large audience — especially one filled with their peers — it helps increase their self-confidence. The performance aspect also helps Vasquez’s students recognize they are providing nourishment for the souls of the people watching them, she said.
The first time Estrellas de Esperanza danced “Las Aguadoras,” a dance from Michoacan where girls balance vases on their heads while doing a simple two-step, people in the audience started to dance along with the performers, said Vasquez. After the performance, she remembers three of her students ran up to her, excited that people knew what they were doing.
“I tell them, ‘You never know where you’re transporting that person back to,'” Vasquez said. “You may be transporting them back to when they were a kid and they saw their mom or grandma dance.”
The dancers invited the audience to join in on the fun during the group’s performance of another Veracruz tradition called “El Viejo” (“The Old Man”) at Watsonville High School earlier this month. One of the dancers dressed up as an old man to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, said Vasquez.
The energetic dancer — fully committed to the performance with a grey beard and a walking cane — pulled audience members from their seats to dance in the center of the cafeteria. Other dancers, including Cruz and Morales, followed suit, creating a party-like atmosphere — as a way to mark the end of the year and celebrate traditions.
Vasquez hopes her students feel the same pride she felt as a young dancer. Dancing folkórico helped Vasquez to connect with her culture and gave her a sense of pride as a person of Mexican heritage.
The students’ faces beam with pride during their performance. The boys cheer on the girls as they perform in synchronicity and vice versa — Morales even tipped his hat in appreciation of his fellow dancers.
As a dancer, Rodriguez hopes that younger children watching her perform feel inspired to try ballet folklórico, the same way her cousins inspired her at 8 years old.
Her favorite part about ballet folklórico is the connection she’s able to have with her culture and seeing people smile from watching the dancers perform, she said. “A lot of people are blind from it. They don’t really see how beautiful [our culture] is.”
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