When it comes to learning about our Hispanic heritage, school system does a pretty good job at breezing through something that is very precious to many Hispanic families who eventually end up forgetting the richness of the culture that was left behind when they came to the United States. As the generational and cultural gap widens between these parents and their American children,
there are few things that can help to strengthen the ties between culture and family.
Today, approximately 45 children and young adults gather 2 to 3 times a week with Karina Camarillo to learn traditional Mexican dances originated from different places of Mexico they probably have never known that existed. They all are members of the Quad Cities Ballet Folclórico, a dance group created by Karina’s parents, Arnulfo and Beatriz Camarillo, after a family friend asking them to help to put together a performance for Mother’s Day in 1984.
Both Arnulfo and Beatriz Camarillo danced for the University of Guadalajara in Mexico and throughout years they have been able to bring instructors from Guadalajara, Veracruz and other states of Mexico to teach new dances to new generations of dancers.
“The Mother’s Day performance was a success and more and more people became interested and it just went from there,” explains instructor and choreographer Karina Camarillo. “It’s probably gone from seven different groups since 1984 up to the present.”
With every different group, a new generation of young people learns about Mexican dances, while they provide spectators with a glimpse of what a celebration in any given state of the republic would be like. The outfits worn by the dancers give an insight to what people of a certain region wear. Some performances have their own histories behind them that tell stories of love while others tell stories of war. But whenever they perform, families from all backgrounds sit and watch and learn but, most importantly, they are entertained.
Not only does this group teach people about Mexican culture, it is also a good opportunity for Hispanic youth in the area to be involved in an extra-curricular activity. The various groups have performed around the country in university auditoriums in Minnesota, Indiana, and Arizona as well as at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
One highlight of the group is the Moline High School performance that features a complete program that showcases the newest dances and the best of the QCBF dancers. The dancers spend up to 5 days a week in preparation for this performance that brings the whole community together in support of this staple of the community. “If we didn’t mean anything to this community, then nobody would be there to support us, nobody would show up,” says Karina.
But in the past 3 years the Moline performance was not possible due in part to the lack of involvement from teen boys. Ideally, to pull off the Moline performance the group of younger kids would alternate dances with the older group which consists of dancers from about 12 years old and up. Currently there are no boys that fall in that age group, which means that girls in the older group don’t have a male partner to perform with.
But the show must go on and the group continues with Karina as instructor and her father Arnulfo who is now working as General Director. They currently have more new members and are hoping they can be ready for another Moline performance this year.
You can catch them performing at St. Ambrose University’s Cultural Diversity Festival on Feb. 17th at 3 p.m. in the Rogalski Center, 518 W. Locust St. Davenport, Iowa. If you or someone you know is interested in joining, please call President of the QCBF, Art Muñoz or his wife, Secretary Jessica Muñoz at (309)792-8947. Or in Spanish please call Arnulfo Camarillo at (309)762-0949.
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