Ballet Folklórico more than Mariachi music

Mexico is a diverse country focused on maintaining traditions, and spreading the culture of each region equally. Ballet Folklórico is a practice that has been introducing the culture of Mexico while entertaining the masses.

Ballet Folklórico in English translates to folk dance. It was originally created in the 1950s by Amelia Hernandez, inspired by Mexican history and traditional dance, (dancespirit.com).

Shelby Township freshman Regina Araujo-Pedroza felt that Central Michigan university was missing out on the Ballet Folklórico experience. She took it upon herself to found the first Ballet Folklórico RSO on CMU’s campus.

“I think that with a campus that prides itself so much on diversity; this was something that was necessary for the campus,” Araujo-Pedroza said.

The RSO, Ballet Folklórico de la luz was established in March during the spring 2021 semester. It has accumulated 20 members within the first semester of it being established, with Araujo-Pedroza leading the team.“It’s a community of not just hispanics but people who can appreciate the culture,” Araujo-Pedroza said. 

Araujo-Pedroza has been dancing Ballet Folklórico since 2016, but wasn’t always involved in this style of dancing. 

“There’s a lot of Hispanic people who have done these kinds of dances since they were little. I actually learned about it seven years ago,” Araujo-Pedroza said. 

Araujo-Pedroza said she first learned about Ballet Folklórico from a talent show. She spoke with the girl after the show and has been involved with the dance since then. 

She became a member of the dance group Ballet Folklórico Moyocoyani Izel in the summer of 2020.

Ballet Folklórico highlights the different cultures of the regions based in Mexico. Each region has their own unique style of dance, clothing and music Araujo-Pedroza said. 

“It’s important promoting Mexican culture, but the important thing about Ballet Folklórico is how inclusive it is,” Araujo-Pedroza said.

Araujo-Pedroza goes into detail about the history and cultural importance of Ballet Folklórico in her interview.

Araujo-Pedroza said it’s important to have other people from different backgrounds involved with one another. With enough interaction they’ll realize that they could share similarities with another culture.

Araujo-Pedroza and the other members of the Ballet Folklórico held a performance on April 30th 2021, highlighting the northern region's style of dancing.

The future performances for Ballet Folklórico de la luz plan to be on a larger scale, and would like to feature more space for a larger audience. While focusing on creating a community for hispanic students, and students who support Mexican culture. 

“When Hispanic students come from different schools they can see that there’s a community, there's a place for them. Maybe something that they danced when they were little, they can become involved in this RSO,” Araujo-Pedroza said.

CMU’s campus has reacted positively with the new addition to the already large list of RSO’s. Araujo-Pedroza said she has had countless people reach out to her in promoting Ballet Folklórico de la luz in unison with other RSO’s.

“I think it’s important that everybody comes to see just how diverse Mexico is,” Araujo-Pedroza said. “It's not just Mariachi music, it’s not just Mexican hat dance. Everyone needs to recognize that.”

Social Media Strategies

Twitter: For the Twitter social media strategy I would include a post with a quote from the story and small clip of the interview video or unused b roll footage. I would highlight the dance and leave a link to the overall story at the end of the tweet. Making sure to tweet at a high traffic time for Twitter and hope it catches enough retweets to start trending.

Instagram: For the Instagram posts I would include a larger video clip since the limit on video is longer than Twitter. I would include a brief summary of the overall story and leave a link the story at the end of the post. I feel that Instagram is more visual than it is anything else, so I’d try to get the attention of users as quick as possible. I’d include the images used in the story for additional posts to maintain audience interest.