Abundant Colors
Carmen Davis, Special to In Motion
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An abundance of colors representing their national flag swirled across the Theatre Center stage as young men and women of the Ballet Folklorico "Zentzontle" roused the audience with their intricate dance steps from regions throughout Mexico.
The mid-April, evening performance featured women in traditional dancing costumes with long multilayered skirts, while the men wore button-down shirts of light linen. A dozen dancers, ages 17 to 23, from Universidad Autonoma de Mexico in Campeche performed for an audience of over 300 people on the Daytona State main campus.
Having danced together for 10 years, these performers take regional folk dances from Campeche, Veracruz, Nuevo Leon and Jalisco and recreate them for audiences who might not otherwise be exposed to the culture. The various Folklorico dances represent the different geographical regions in Mexico from which they originate. The state of Jalisco - whose capital city is Guadalajara on the West Coast of Mexico - is considered to be the land of beautiful women, "charros" or Mexican cowboys and the birthplace of Mariachi music. Jalisco dances are those of courtship, while, Veracruz, the oldest city along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, mixes Spanish, African and Caribbean rhythms. Its dances contain various steps or "zapateados" with flamenco characteristics.
The troupe's tour of Central Florida was made possible by the Daytona based Sister Cities organization. The organization was established by President Eisenhower in the 1950s to further citizen diplomacy between countries, as a complement to official international interaction between governments.
Dixie Blake, president of the Volusia County Sister Cities chapter, explained that their mission is to promote international exchanges in the arts, music, business and education. "We want to work with the local youth," she said.
Another sponsor of the dance group was Daytona State's History Club, which provided the event's posters and beverages for the visitors during their performance. History Club and Sister Cities members were able to chit-chat with many of the dancers during a reception where meal boxes were provided in the faculty dining room.
"They are wonderful, an amazing group. Really fun to see and very high quality. The costumes are gorgeous. Sister Cities brought them here for the community and county and we helped with the manpower. Campeche is the Sister City of Daytona and this is our gift to the community," said History Club adviser and professor Leonard Lempel.
In all, Ballet Folklorico performed locally for a week, including other stops such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and at area high schools and middle and elementary schools.
Although some may have missed the performance, they can still join the groups that sponsored them. The Sister City organization can be contacted on the Web at HYPERLINK "http://www.sistercitiesofvolusia.org/" \t "_blank" www.sistercitiesofvolusia.org and the History Club meets at 4 p.m. Wednesdays in Building 330, room 227. Len Lempel can be reached at 506-3497.
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