Sonoma Valley Children Dance Their Cultural Heritage

By Anna Pier 

At their June concert, Así Danzan Los Niños – This Is the Way the Children Dance – Sonoma Valley’s folkloric dance group Quetzalén celebrated its accomplishments for the 2024-25 school year. The group comprises almost 100 Sonoma Valley Unified School district students, from kinder through graduating seniors.

Director Víctor Ferrer made the decision in 2019 to make children the focus of the Quetzalén dance group, which had begun as a senior project at Sonoma High, and had continued as a young adult group. Ferrer says his decision “has been very successful, with so many children and young people performing dances from all over México – places I lived while growing up. They are learning about their cultural heritage.”

Funds from the Quetzalén annual family food and activities fundraiser in April, run by parents of the group, had made possible the purchase of new costumes. The costumes represent the typical folkloric dance costume for the states or regions of Mexico whose dances the students were learning and performing for the first time. 

Tamaulipas 

These images feature the eight to twelve year old dancers performing traditional dances from a large cultural area, Huasteca Tamaulipeca, which spans six states of Mexico –  Tamaulipas, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla and Querétaro.  Huasteca is known for its music and unique sounds of the violin, the jarana and the huapanguera guitar. For this performance, the dancers wore the ranchero-style outfits from the state of Tamaulipas: girls in wide colorful skirts, embroidered blouses. This lively style reflects the joy and traditions of rural celebrations in the region.

Aztecas

The four-to-seven year-old dancers did a powerful presentation of Danza Azteca, one of the oldest and most spiritual dance traditions in Mexico. Originating in the central region of the country – especially what is now Mexico City and the State of Mexico – Aztec dance has deep roots in pre-Hispanic ceremonies that honored the gods, the earth and the cosmos. This dance style is known for its rhythmic drumbeats, energetic footwork and the symbolic movement, all performed in a circle to represent unity and the cycle of life. 

Zacatecas 

During this year’s concert the older group presented “sones and jarables” of Zacatecas, a northern border state where a traditional type of dance was born from the pride of a people with deep revolutionary roots, and a strong history of mining. The outfits tell a story too. The girls wear wide, colorful skirts in bold tones like red or magenta, with embroidered blouses and ribbons in their hair. The boys wear charro-style suits, sombreros and boots, ready to stomp the rhythm.