“I’m totally swept away. Please come back to perform in Miami soon. I want to invite my friends. I wish there were classes to learn to dance Folklorico in Miami. It’s a dream! It’s an experience to remember forever,” wrote Susan in Coral Gables, Florida on ticketsnow.com.
The experience she is talking about is Ballet Folklorico, a world famous ballet company that has traveled all over the world and will perform at next year’s Olympics in China. The company will perform this Friday at the Quick Center. The Mirror got a chance to interview Salvador Diaz, the director of the company, about dance, world travel and politics.
The Mirror: How did you get started with ballet?
Salvador Diaz: My first year with the company was in 1983 when we toured mainly in Japan. I also perform with the company. I performed for 15 years, and then I became an instructor.
TM: How was Ballet Folklorico formed? SD: This company started in 1952 as a very small company. By 1959, it had about 60 company dancers. Then, the group began to get more successful by going on tours around the world after we won a prestigious dancing award. We have a very specific style. We created a very spectacular and stylish way of presenting Mexican culture to people, and I think that’s what made the company so successful. Now, we have 600 company dancers.
TM: What major types of dance influence the performance?
SD: We incorporate modern dance, European styles, but mostly Mexican dances like the Mariachi, Miramba. We even incorporate African influences. Our choreographer is a very experienced dancer, and always is creating something novel for us, but she is very diligent about making sure that we concentrate on promoting Mexican culture.
We’ve been to many special places in the world, like the Pyramids in Egypt, Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Japan, South America. WE just finished being in Australia for a month. We do 150 performances a year. Usually, 3-4 times a week in different parts of the world.
TM: Where are the dancers from?
SD: We have one dancer from the U.S., most of them are native to Mexico City. We created a school where we teach the dancers for four years and then they will audition for the company.
TM: Where do you get the costumes?
SD: We have a workshop in Mexico City. A designer and a group of people working on our costumes. We design the costumes ourselves. It is a very special part of the performance.
TM: Why did you decide to come to Fairfield?
SD: We knew we wanted to come to the East Coast because we don’t go there as often as the West Coast. It will be very interesting to perform primarily for students.
TM: What plans do you have for the future?
SD: We have many projects for next year. We’re performing at the Olympic Games next year in China, so that’s exciting. We’re also going to Australia, Europe, and Japan. We’re always creating new pieces and planning new projects. The company is still moving ahead by finding different things. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
TM: Worst touring experience?
SD: Recently, we were in Puerto Rico and horrible weather suddenly came to the island. We didn’t stop the performance. Everybody was falling down and it was a complete mess. The audience tried to help the dancers get back up. Things like that have to happen sometimes. It’s part of show business.
TM: What is your favorite part of touring?
SD: Promoting the culture of Mexico all over the world is very important to the whole company and you can see that when we perform. Knowing that the audience loves what we do is very rewarding.
TM: When how do you feel with politics between Mexico and the United States being tense? Does it affect the company?
SD: It is really important to represent a positive view of Mexico at this time. The feelings of immigration are very strong in the U.S. When you talk about a good company representing a good culture, usually people are very appreciative.
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