{"id":2563,"date":"2014-11-20T19:07:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T19:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/166.62.41.2\/~holaamericanews\/2014\/11\/20\/quad-city-ballet-folklorico-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary\/"},"modified":"2014-11-20T19:07:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T19:07:01","slug":"quad-city-ballet-folklorico-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/quad-city-ballet-folklorico-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Quad City Ballet Folklorico Celebrates its 30th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, November 29th, The Quad City Ballet Folklorico, the area\u2019s largest traditional Hispanic folk dance group will be celebrating their 30th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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That is quite a bit longer than founder, Arnulfo Camarillo thought it would last. \u00a0\u201cIt was originally a group for the YWCA that was supposed to last six weeks,\u201d explained Camarillo. \u00a0\u201cThen they asked me to stay another six weeks and that happened four more times.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The mission of the QCBF is simple and to the point. \u00a0Teach the members the rich dance traditions of different states in Mexico while also instilling a strong work ethic in them. \u00a0After the YWCA decided to stop the group, Camarillo had to make a decision. \u00a0And with the help of The Quad City Arts, he was able to keep the program going. \u00a0Thirty years and hundreds of dancers later, that original goal has not changed and with the \"\"help of the Bettendorf Children\u2019s Museum, Augustana College, Moline High School and Moline Township, the QCBF is still standing and continues to educate and entertain the community with its rich dance culture and traditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former member and current Director, Ray Terronez reflects back on some memories of when he was just starting out in the group. \u00a0\u201cI wanted to join when I was just five,\u201d said Terronez. \u00a0\u201cBut Arnulfo said I was too young.\u201d \u00a0It was with a little trickery from his mother a few years later that got Ray re-interested in dancing and to this day is still one of the most talented dancers to represent the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a little older I thought it was girly,\u201d explained Terronez. \u00a0\u201cSo my Mom would buy me a toy for each practice I went too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Terronez danced for the next eleven years and had all the intentions of retiring after high school as most do, but during his junior year in college was asked to come back and be an assistant teacher under Camarillo\u2019s daughter, Karina. \u00a0After five years, Terronez was asked to be Director.\u00a0<\/p>

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\u201cRay always had the most energy of all the dancers,\u201d said Camarillo. \u00a0\u201cHe is a natural teacher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When hearing the word Ballet, most instantly think of tutus and twirling. \u00a0But let me assure you, having been a member of the QCBF, hours upon hours of mastering choreographed dance moves rivals any traditional sport practice I have participated in.\u00a0<\/p>

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\u201cWe not only teach our students the dance moves,\u201d said Terronez. \u201cBut to perform in life to the best of their abilities.\u201d \u00a0Groups like the Quad City Ballet Folklorico do not survive as long as they do if not for the passion and generosity of people like Arnulfo Camarillo. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve asked myself many times, \u201cwhy am I doing this\u201d,\u201d said Camarillo. \u00a0\u201cYou do it because you love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last thirty years are in the books. \u00a0And naturally, as any good teachers do, Camarillo and Terronez are already putting things in place for the next thirty years. \u00a0\u201cWe are looking into teaching some new states of Mexico and maybe even bringing a teacher in from Mexico,\u201d said Terronez. And thirty years later, Camarillo\u2019s goal is the same as it was after his first seven weeks with the group. \u00a0\u201cWe are a family,\u201d said Camarillo. \u00a0\u201cWe just need to keep going.\u201d<\/p>

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Top photos by Phil Cunningham<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bottom photo by Tar Macias<\/strong><\/p>

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On Saturday, November 29th, The Quad City Ballet Folklorico, the area\u2019s largest traditional Hispanic folk dance group will be celebrating their 30th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}