SAN ANTONIO – Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month through the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s “Rio Bravo” performance that features twenty folklorico dancers and ten mariachi musicians showcasing the history of South Texas Tejano roots.
“We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month year-round,” said Christina Balli, executive director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. “That’s all we do all the time, but we know that this period marks a time when people give special attention to our culture. So we save some of our most dazzling and special showcases for this time of year, and that’s why we are presenting it now.”
Balli said this performance celebrates the fusion of Texan and Mexican influences, highlighting both cultures visually and emotionally.
“The dance company does an interpretive dance of their way of life and culture,” Balli said. “And then going all the way through the Spanish conquest, the colonial period, the music of South Texas and northern Mexico going all the way to current day, they handle music.”
She said that, like children and families who see the Nutcracker every year, Mexican-American children should experience this performance as well, which is why it is being recorded live and eventually shared with classrooms across Texas along with a curriculum.
“Every Mexican-American child in the state of Texas should see this show because this will help them understand who they are and, where we come from and why we live the way we live today.”
You can enjoy “Rio Bravo” this Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Buena Vista Theater located at UTSA’s downtown campus.
Tickets are $30 each. For ticket information, visit https://guadalupeculturalarts.org/.