Started in 2005, Grupo Folklórico Juan Colorado offers free Mexican folkórico (folk dance) instruction to students of Planada Elementary School in Planada, California. The group is voluntarily taught and directed by committed community member Carolina Arceo. A grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2015…
Pangalay dancer and culture bearer
The descendants of the Yoruba people of Nigeria continue to preserve their connection to their ancestral traditions and art forms through ritual song, dance, and drumming. The nuances of these traditional elements are available only to those initiated, allowing for a robust spiritual knowledge and deeper understanding of the religious…
Odissi is the oldest of the eight classical dance forms of India, dating back to the 1st century BCE. A devotional dance typically performed by temple dancers in the east Indian state of Odisha, Odissi was suppressed under British rule (the colonial rulers considered it immoral). It was revived in…
While there are many styles of Balkan Romani (“Gypsy”) women’s dance, perhaps the most popular, uniquely Romani dance is the kyuchek. Of Turkish origin, kyuchek can be danced either as a communal line dance with synchronized steps or as a solo improvisation. Line dances tend to have more contained repetitive…
Proyecto Purépecha was created with the mission to create an extensive and vibrant Purépecha (a native people of Michoacán, Mexico) community in the San Joaquin Valley and California at large. Proyecto Purépecha works to restore and flourish Purépecha food, language, music, and dance in the Mexicano/Michoacano community residing in the San Joaquin…
SUKAY, which means to open the earth and prepare it for planting, is an internationally touring musical group that for four decades has performed the music of the Andean regions of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Founded in 1975 by executive director Quentin Howard (pan-pipes, flutes, and…
About the Organization Raices Cultura’s mission is to create a space for artistic and cultural expression, to promote healthy communities, and to strengthen the voice of the Eastern Coachella Valley. Since 2005, in an effort to build community through the traditional arts, Raices has held an annual…
The Thai Community Arts and Cultural Center was founded in 1992, for the purpose of preserving and promoting Thai arts and culture in the United States. The organization is based in Los Angeles, whose population of Thai and Thai-descended people is the largest one of outside…
Oaxacan arts and culture
