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Centeotl, Grupo de Danza y Baile
"Story Telling Through Dance"
Sunday, September 27th 2009
Feria del Mariachi
"Centeotl," a Youth-Centered, Folkloric Dance Group, provides rich, positive, cultural, experience for all the members of the group, their families and the community. The goals of Centeotl Danza Folklorica are: to provide positive interactions across all ages, esteem building opportunities, team building, physical fitness activities, personal growth experiences, positive interaction with group members, family and community. All members volunteer their time and energy. Fund-raising and donations help with expenses.
As a group, we are proud of the young people who in addition to all their commitments attend Cabrillo College. A unique satisfaction is to see parents and families recognizing that their children are gaining self-confidence on themselves. As parents, and members of the community that are involved in education we want to see children not to fall into the cracks, monotorizing their attendance and their grades through their parents.
Students who wish to participate in the group, are asked and reminded to do their homework before coming to practices, in order to earn good grades in school. Some of the organizations that support our group is: Santa Cruz City School District, Vive Oaxaca Organization, Club de Oriundos Laxopa Seis Hojas, Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Somos el LGBT of Watsonville, Cabrillo College"s Senate Group, Santa Cruz City Council, San Jose Mexican Consulate, Migrant Program Region1, La Raza Radio Station 99.1, and Instituto Oaxaqueño de Atención al Migrante.
Centeotl has a diverse population that range between the ages of seven years through nineteen years old that directly participate in performances. Diverse arts projects and dance lessons run smooth due to parent involvement. Advanced students tutor members in the beginning group so they can catch up with lessons.
Centeolt"s main goals are to persuade our high school students to go into college, having them become good role models for our young members. We want to be able to advocate students that are being under peer pressure in schools. We are offering an opportunity to have an after school program, a place where they can meet people their age, and enjoy a cultural activity.
Some young people suffer depression, others feel like they don"t belong to any group, but the dancing classes and the atmosphere changes this around as if they feel belong, sharing something in common with others.
Centeotl requirement to become a member is to respect every single one of the members, attend regularly to our practices and o listen carefully the instructor. The practices are divided into two groups: Advanced and Intermediate- Beginners. Both groups practice two times a week, and they are put together for a couple of hours, during this time the advanced students tutor the beginners in hard step dances.
Our group has performed for the Santa Cruz Community for seven consecutive years at the Santa Cruz Night Out Event, Santa Cruz City Schools, Live Oak School District, Watsonville Head Start Program, ESL Globalization Village at Cabrillo College, The Seaside Company, Retirement Homes, First Night and Holiday parades, Local Churches, Private Parties and Events, San Jose City College, Abraham Lincoln High School, in San Jose City, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, for the UNICEF program at Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company, and for the Santa Clara County Fair at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Our members are always ready and eager to participate in social, cultural activities. New lessons are introduced every other week to maintain the interest and willingness to learn something new from the students. Our head dance instructors teach the advanced students techniques that help them with their self-confidence, and respect towards the new students. Fe Silva, Jenny Robles, Manuel Florean, and Isai Pazos, are our head dance instructors. They have meetings with our advanced students and endorse methods, exercises, and "warm ups." Isai Pazos introduces new dances by breaking the steps in an easier way for the new students.
Centeotl, Grupo de Danza y Baile in collaboration with the Santa Cruz City School District had presented for four years the event Guelaguetza in Santa Cruz.
Centeotl, Grupo de Danza y Baile: Titles and roles of key.
Genene Oviatt - Group Board Director and an English teacher at Santa Cruz City Schools. She highly motivates students towards college, drives them to workshops, encourages and helps them to take college classes. Genene is constantly teaching students to live with tolerance towards one another.
Nereida Robles - Board Group Director that believes the result of family separation in the Latino Community is due the struggle to survive, lack of motivation, self-esteem. Some young people can"t handle to be in between two cultures; they lose their identity and are easy target of drugs and alcohol. She drives children to practices and high school students to College, attends every single practice, tutor students after school and has helped students to fill their applications for college.
Josefina Zamarripa - Group Parent Leader and Group"s Treasurer, full time working mother that is concerned about after school recreational programs in which the students can learn from other cultures, learn from it and have fun. Josefina is proud of her three sons and the self-esteem they have accomplished while joining the group.
Benigno Silva - Board Group Member, responsible of fundraising activities. Benigno is a young man that has been through pressure during his high school years and was able to survive on the streets. Benigno says: "I owe my teachers, people that believed in me, and the Santa Cruz Community a lot. Now I want to help young people like I was helped."
Ramon Morones - Ex-Group Dance Director- currently advisor, he is one of the co-founder of "los Lupenos de San Jose" Ramon has been a dance teacher for about 45 years, he taught at San Jose City College, Grupo Folklorico Esperanza del Valle from Watsonville, Tribu "T" of San Jose, and various elementary schools in San Jose. He teaches culture, along with dancing. Parents and alumnos benefited from his classes. These classes were in Spanish- English. Ramon passed on the story and origin of every dance he knows. He brought a guest teacher occasionally whom shared with the alumnos the richness of the Mexican Folklor. He recently moved to Jalisco, his native homeland and still advises the current dance instructors.
Fe Silva - Group Dance Instructor, one of Fe"s many jobs is to work as a School Community Coordinator at Branciforte Middle School. She works directly with low income students, aware of the necessities of after school programs for families, or the cost of them unavailable for these families. She combines Physical, as well as cultural activities. Fe organizes local field trips where parent involvement is required.
Jenny Robles - Group Dance Instructor. A student at Cabrillo College, majoring in Early Childhood Development. Jenny moved from her native state of Oaxaca, Mexico to the United States. When Jenny moved to Santa Cruz, she didn"t come alone, she brought her love and passion for dancing. Jenny didn"t realize or she still doesn"t know the cultural richness that she has learned through her dances in Mexico. Teachers that have helped her achieved her knowledge are: Ramon Morones, Atilano Lopez, Andres Saenz, Blanca Viloria, Jesus Luna, Silvina Robles, Edgar Pacheco, and Juan Roman Viloria. When people see her dancing they have said "This girl dances with her heart, to see her dancing is to hear her heart talking."
Isai Pazos is a student at the University of Los Angeles, he travels once a month to come and teach young Centeotl members, dances from Oaxaca and/or regional dances from Mexico. Isai is majoring in Biology and has finished his minor studies in Dance at this university. In addition, Isai is an active member of his Yalalag Community in Los Angeles.
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