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Cedar Rapids area students celebrate their heritage through Dia de Los Muertos dances
Mexican folk dance group passes traditions to next generation
Nov. 9, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Nov. 11, 2024 8:09 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Over the last two years, a group dedicated to celebrating Mexico’s Day of the Dead has been getting more and more lively.
Since it started in 2022, Fuerzas Culturales Ballet Folklorico de Cedar Rapids (the Cultural Forces Folklore Ballet of Cedar Rapids) has doubled in size, from 15 to 31 dancers.
In Cedar Rapids, students have been honing a craft celebrated south of the border for Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) — one of Mexico’s biggest holidays. On Nov. 1, they incorporated new dances into their third performance at NewBo City Market, where hundreds crowded around to watch.
“It’s a holiday that is important for many families, because it’s the time when we can remember the ones who have passed away,” said Andrew Bribriesco, vice president of the growing group.
From choreography and fundraising sales of traditional sugar skulls to a family altar and costumes driven in from Mexico, the two-hour show is a year-round production.
“There’s no offseason,” Bribriesco said.
Each year, an altar dedicated to those who have died in the last year is traditionally decorated with photos from relatives. This year’s altar also was dedicated to painter Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist whose iconic style has long represented a quintessential sense of identity in the country’s folk art.
At the ofrenda, families use the moment of still art as a portal between generations — those passed and those present.
“What it does is it allows you to remember the good moments. If you’re remembering your loved ones, whether it’s putting a picture on the altar, putting out their favorite food, maybe their favorite drink — they’re alive and present,” Bribriesco said. “From a personal level, we have an altar at home, and my kids talk to their great grandparents. They’ve never met them before.”
And if the elaborately decorated table is a still art honoring those who have died, the dancing in front of it honors them in a living, breathing way.
For several hours every week, children and teens ranging from 5 to 18 years old practice choreography for both Dia de Los Muertos and Cinco de Mayo, the latter of which they’ve performed to packed crowds at CSPS for the last two years.
The group’s genesis, prompted by a Coe College graduate who wanted to teach folk dancing, has been embraced as a way to preserve tradition. As Iowa’s Latino community continues to grow, Bribriesco and others hope the celebration will grow into bigger forms with time. In the Quad Cities, for example, the holiday is celebrated with a parade.
Sam Hernandez, one of the group’s two dance instructors, said the hours of work pays off with dancers’ smiles in front of the crowd — not smiles they need to remember to put on, but joy prompted by the cheering of crowds that light up each dancer.
In intricate, traditional dress driven to Iowa from various parts of Mexico, this year’s dances represented traditions from the states of Nuevo Leon, Chiapas, Michoacan and Vera Cruz. Hernandez makes the rehearsals manageable for children of all ages by breaking it into digestible sections, teaching them the reason behind each move and making it fun.
“I really didn’t think too much about my own heritage until I started dancing,” she said. “It’s nice to see that passed down to them. I see them being more confident, understanding why they’re dancing.”
The beauty of their moves has fueled further growth, getting community buy-in for the young group, said Bribriesco. Since starting, parents have continually secured more community partners and sponsors to keep the tradition alive.
A son of first-generation immigrants, Bribriesco discovered the tradition while attending college.
“I cried the first time they performed,” he said. “This is something we’ve got to keep going.”
But the heritage isn’t just being passed down from the older generation — it’s being enthusiastically picked up by the younger one.
Dancers Pilar and Jocelin Lagunas said the hundreds of hours of dancing is worth it as a way to express themselves and connect to their family’s culture as they grow up over a thousand miles away from where their parents did.
Jocelin, who has lived in the United States her whole life, noticed her connection to Mexico fade as her family integrated. After two years in the group, this year’s dance is one of her last as she ages out.
“Growing up, I really only spoke Spanish at home. I got disconnected from the culture in my teen years,” said Jocelin, 18. “I started listening to Spanish music, and once I joined this group, I got to know what my culture is.”
Through dance, Pilar said they have enjoyed watching each other grow up.
While the group is primarily children of Mexican heritage, anyone can join. Even if they don’t join, Bribriesco said people of all ages and backgrounds can learn from the holiday.
He sees Dia de Los Muertos not just as a bridge between the living and the dead, but as a tradition connecting those still alive.
“At the end of the day, this whole project is to bring our communities together. We can create a bridge into different communities and see our shared values,” Bribriesco said. “You peel back the onion and we all honor family. These are values we should all embrace — embracing our ancestors, embracing the past.”
“We wouldn’t be here without them.”
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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