The Guadalupe Dance Company is marking 35 years of folklórico and flamenco performance in San Antonio with a new production, Celebrando Tradiciones: Corazón y Raíz, running Thursday through Friday at the Jo Long Theatre inside the Carver Cultural Center. The show arrives during National Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins Tuesday and runs through October 15, and it recalls two of the company's original 1991 dancers, Jeannette Chavez and Denise Rios, who are both celebrating 35 years with the ensemble.
According to the San Antonio Current, the production title translates to “heart and roots” and will feature original choreography built on Mexican dance traditions, exploring the cycle of life and how community and culture bring people together. The show is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Jo Long Theatre, located at the Carver Cultural Center, 228 N. Hackberry St., with tickets ranging from $20 to $60 through the Carver box office and Ticketmaster, the outlet reports. Live music will come courtesy of Mariachi Azteca de América, described as an award-winning mariachi group, alongside traditional costumes and dance forms.
Mariachi Azteca de América was founded in 2006 by San Antonio native Gino Rivera, a third-generation mariachi musician who also serves as traditional music program director at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Rivera began performing mariachi music at age 10 alongside family members, per that report, giving the ensemble deep institutional roots at the Guadalupe long before this weekend's anniversary show.
From a West Side Collective to a National Stage
The Guadalupe Dance Company traces its roots to the Performance Artists' Nucleus, a collective of local artists, per the Current. The company made its inaugural public performance on September 15, 1991, at San Antonio's Lila Cockrell Theatre for a Dieciséis de Septiembre celebration under founding director Pedro Rodriguez, who created the group to tell local community stories through folklórico dance, according to the San Antonio Report. The ensemble originally operated in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute before joining the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center campus.
The company's parent organization, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, was established in 1980 on San Antonio's West Side out of that same Performance Artists Nucleus, later restoring the historic 1940 Teatro Guadalupe as its anchor facility in 1984, per the Texas State Historical Association. The company has also staged collaborative productions with international recording artists like Lila Downs, per that same account.
Why the Show Landed on the East Side
Jeannette Chavez, an original member who has taught for 25 years, is listed on the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center staff page. Denise Rios is identified as an instructor and original member. That connection to the troupe's founding cast gives this weekend's anniversary show a direct link back to its beginnings.
The Guadalupe Theater is undergoing renovations that are expected to continue until fall 2028, according to KENS 5. The report says the renovation timeline has been delayed.
In the meantime, the company is staging its milestone production at the Carver Cultural Center, a historic African American community center on the city's East Side dating to 1918. The Carver was saved from municipal demolition in 1973 when community activists formed human shields against bulldozers, and it reopened under city management in 1977, according to the Carver Community Cultural Center. Former executive director Jo Long led the center for 21 years, and the main venue now bears her name. The pairing places a West Side Mexican American cultural touchstone on stage at an East Side African American landmark for the anniversary run.
A Company Built to Outlast Any One Stage
Beyond Celebrando Tradiciones, the Guadalupe Dance Company's repertoire includes Rio Bravo, an original multi-suite production exploring Texas-Mexico borderland cultural history from pre-Columbian times to modern Tejano and cumbia music, according to the Texas Commission on the Arts. The company collaborates with guest choreographers and master artists from Mexico and Spain, per that source. It also teaches and performs traditional Mexican dance year-round, offering community classes and scholarships intended to make its programs accessible, the Current notes.
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has a West Side campus for community arts programming.
The anniversary production is scheduled at the Carver Theater, according to AARP.
