Step by step
Kofa Folkloric Dance Club set to debut
Some students at Kofa High School are getting reacquainted with their roots, while learning traditional Mexican dance.
They’re members of the Kofa Folkloric Dance Club, formed late last year through the initiative of several of the high school’s faculty members.
They aren’t just learning and practicing dance step. The club is also exposing them to the different style of folkloric dance in Mexico and, by extension, to a slice of Mexican culture.
“I think that, generally, the club is an extracurricular activity that supports their studies,” said Denise Lopez, a Kofa counselor who helps supervise the club. “But I think, personally, the club offers (each student) the opportunity to get together with other students who enjoy the same thing, as well as the opportunity to participate in some activity that is teaching them about their heritage.”
She foresees the day when the club will stage performances at block parties and other activities in Yuma and even around Yuma County.
“Our goal is for the club to grow, have more members and for the club to take part in a lot of community events.”
The club will make a debut of sorts on May 4 at 7 p.m. when it will present folkloric dances from regions around Mexico in a show at Kofa’s auditorium, 3100 S. Avenue A, that is open to the public.
Then on May 7, the dancers will perform with Flor del Desierto, the student mariachi group from the Gadsden Elementary School District, in a Mother’s Day program tentatively scheduled at 6 p.m. at the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center, 1015 N. Main St.
The idea of forming the club came up about two years ago when Martina Eldridge, a paraprofessional at Kofa, sought out other Kofa faculty members to form a folkloric dance group to compete in a school talent show. Lopez took up the invitation, and the experience of performing in the one-time show motivated Eldridge and Lopez to form a permanent student club, with the help of Leonor Castanos, also a paraprofessional at the school.
Fortunately for the new club, it could fall back on the experience and knowledge Eldridge had gained having directed a folkloric dance group for students in the Gadsden school district, where she previously worked.
In October, the Kofa Folkloric Dance Club earned official status on campus. Since then, the club’s nearly 15 members, most of them girls, have been learning and practicing the varied folkloric dances of the Mexican states of Chiapas, Michoacan, Nayarit, Yucatan and Jalisco.
Eldridge, who has
“Our goal is for the club to grow, have more members and for the club to take part in a lot of community events.”
years of experience in folkloric dance, choreographs the dances the students practice, as well as designs costumes that accurately reflect the regional dance styles being performed, Lopez says.
“While we teach them, we talk about where the different dances came from,” said Lopez, who likewise has a background in dance. “We want to make sure that all our performances are accurate.”
Club members have been meeting every Tuesday and Thursday to learn about folkloric dance and costumes and, above all, the cultures of the states and regions portrayed or reflected in the dances.
Some of the students are recent immigrants to the United States, and are enrolled in English immersion classes. And while they are adapting to life in this country, Eldridge said, the club offers them the chance to stay connected to their roots.
Apart from that, she added, participating in the club helps build selfesteem in the students.
“Many of these students come from Mexico and they have a lot of talent,” Eldridge said. “I like to shine a light on them so they can show off their talent.”
But some of the club members are taking up folkloric dance for the first time in their lives, such as Eric Silva, a Kofa senior.
“One of my friends invited me to one of the club meetings, and I thought, “Why not?’” he said. “I had never been involved in school clubs before, and so I decided to try something new.”
Another member is Luz Rojo, also a Kofa senior.
“A friend told me about the club and encouraged me to get involved in it, because, she said, it was a really cool dance club.”
Lopez said one goal of the club is to add dances of more states of Mexico to its repertoire. But to do that, the club must obtain the traditional dress reflective of those regions.
“Right now, we are practicing the dances of five regions or states, and that number is based on the costumes that we have available to us,” Lopez said.
In some cases, the costumes are loaned to the club, while in others the club buys the dress from vendors. In some instances, the club makes the clothing from scratch.
But whether it buys the clothing or makes it itself, Lopez said, the club relies on donations, either of money or material, as well as fundraisers such as the May 4 performance.
Tickets for the Kofa performance can be purchased in advance by calling Lopez, (928) 502-5554, or at the door.