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On a recent Wednesday, Angela Arvizu Szymusiak made the commute from her office at San Jose’s Adobe Tower to a dance studio in Mexican Heritage Plaza on the city’s east side. It’s the same trek she’s made three times a week for the last 10 years. By day, she works in leadership development for the software giant — but she has danced since her days at Stanford, where she met the founders of Los Lupeños de San José, a Mexican folklorico company.
On this particular day, Arvizu Szymusiak hurries into the studio, dance bag in hand, backpack slung over a shoulder. She’s the first to arrive, but soon the once-quiet space is filled with the sounds of botas — boots — hitting the sprung-wood floor. Music blasts and gritos — joyous shouts — echo through the plaza.
There’s ample reason for that joy. Los Lupeños, which uses the art of Mexican dance to educate and dazzle, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with gala performances this weekend. The shows, choreographed by artistic director Samuel Cortez, explore the spectacular culture, past and present, of Mexico’s four regions with a cast of more than 100 dancers and musicians.
The company calls the Mexican Heritage Plaza home, but the group’s origins lie in Guadalajara, Mexico, where founders Susan V. Cashion and Ramón Morones Ortiz first met in college. Morones Ortiz was a student and Cashion a visiting scholar, when she first encountered this dance genre.
“(Susan) saw this unusual, new-to-her style of dance,” said Tony Ferrigno, executive director of the Cashion Cultural Legacy. “They got together and thought this could be the same level as contemporary dance or ballet, classical ballet or anything else that is highly respected in the world.”
The two dancers moved to the Bay Area together and created Los Lupeños in 1969 to tell stories and share culture through dance. It was one of the first groups of its kind in California. The company has performed on stages across the country and internationally and before a variety of audiences.
“I remember one show that we did was a fundraiser, and almost everyone there was of East Indian background. They were so fascinated with the color of the dresses and the music,” Arvizu Szymusiak said. “I love sharing that with others who may not have been exposed to this culture.”
For Arvizu Szymusiak, whose family came to the United States several generations ago, these dances are more than just artistic expression. They’re a connection to her heritage and culture.
“What I found on the dance floor is a way to connect to the culture in some really beautiful ways, through the music, through the costumes, through the dance,” she said. “It lets me stay closer to my roots in a way that I’m proud of.”
The dances performed by Los Lupeños come from different regions of Mexico and different eras. In a single evening, the audience can be swept away to a dance hall in Mexico City or to a small pueblo in Veracruz, where dances tell the story.
“When we teach kids and even adults folklorico dance, our instructors put context to it,” Ferrigno said. “It’s not just a dance, it’s the region the dance comes from, the festival it comes from.”
The group connects generations of dancers, as well. Amada Robles danced with the company in the 1980s. Now her youngest daughter, Diana, dances with Los Lupeños, performing dances on tarimas — small wooden stages — just like Amada’s grandmother did in Mexico.
Los Lupenos will perform its GALA show twice this weekend, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29. Tickets start at $20. Find more information and reserve tickets at http://loslupenos.org/gala-concert.
