‘Alegría’ in its 50th year

The UTRGV Ballet Folklórico company will perform the first show of “Alegría” to celebrate its 50th anniversary  at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex in Edinburg.

“‘Alegría’ is just a journey through Mexico, and we present several regions of the … country of Mexico,” said Miguel Peña, director of the UTRGV Ballet Folklórico.

Pena is a lecturer in the UTRGV dance program. He became the director of the Ballet Folklórico company in Fall 2015.

The company will focus on six Mexican regions and several dances within each region: Mexikatl, Jalisco, Yucatán, Veracruz, Baja California Norte and Nayarit.

“Some of these pieces are choreographed by … teachers in Mexico, so we bring people every year … and they work with the students and set up new pieces,” Peña said. “The other half … are choreographed by me.”

The dancers participate in workshops in which guest choreographers come to UTRGV to teach them different cuadros, or routines, for their new performances.

Victoria Ceballos taught them Jaranas Yucatecas, from the region of Yucatán. Merrina Nuñez choreographed the dances from the region of Nayarit.

The Ballet Folklórico started preparing for “Alegría” last summer. They finished preparing the show by the end of summer and practiced it during the fall semester.

“It’s a very good way for the people in the Rio Grande Valley to identify themselves and to keep a connection with Mexico because we don’t only show the dancers, we try to represent the best way possible all traditions, all culture and music from Mexico,” Peña said.

The costumes are brought from Mexico. The dancers wear different costumes for each dance. The women usually wear dresses with adelitas (boots) and their hair styled in braids. Men use charro suits, guayaberas, handkerchiefs, vests and botines (boots) and sombreros.

The ballet will dance to the Mariachi Juvenil Aztlán’s live music, along with an ensemble that performs pre-Hispanic music and a conjunto created by UTRGV students.

“As a dancer, one’s always used to using recordings,” said UTRGV dance and psychology senior Elizabeth Stamatio. “So, the fact that we are able to have the opportunity to [dance] with live music, it’s one of the special things our production has.”

The first performance will be a pre-Hispanic dance depicting the Aztec civilization and warriors such as Cuauhtémoc. A battle scene depicts when the Spaniards conquered Mexico. At the end of the dance, a voice-over will explain the story.

The closing dance, Calabaceados, will bring many surprises for the audience. It is a piece from Baja California Norte.

“It’s a beautiful performance that has been going on for many, many years,” said Dahlia Guerra, assistant vice president for Public Art. “It’s a beautiful way to engage our community and to promote our culture as well.”

“‘Alegría’ is actually, like, a pretty big thing … to me because I’ve seen [the Ballet Folklórico dance] since my freshman year [in high school],” UTRGV dance performance freshman Raul Passamentt said.

Passamentt joined the Ballet Folklórico last semester. He auditioned for the company in May 2019 and was  accepted during the summer.

“It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do ever since, so … I look forward to it,” Passamentt said.

Ballet Folklórico will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Additional performances of “Alegría” on the Edinburg campus will take place at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 and 15 and 2 p.m. Feb. 16.

In Brownsville, the show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. March 22 in the Texas Southmost College Performing Arts Center.

Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and UTRGV students with a valid ID, and $5 for children.