Danzantes Unidos Festival returns from COVID hiatus

The world’s largest gathering of Mexican folklórico dancers returns to Fresno April 8-10, albeit with a smaller turnout due to after effects of the pandemic that shut down the Danzantes Unidos Festival the last two years.

“I’m really happy about it because I think a lot of people during COVID missed seeing the presentations,” said María Luisa Colmenarez, executive director. “I mean, it’s something watching them online, but it’s something different when it’s in person and you see life.

“It’s a cure for what we’ve gone through.”

The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Gracias a la Vida.’

Instead of the expected 1,500 dancers, there will be about half that number for the festival which has called Fresno its home for the last nine years, and 16 years overall for the festival which was founded in 1979.

The showcase concerts at Roosevelt High School will be held on Friday and Saturday, but the Sunday showcase has been canceled.

There will be more than 60 workshops in dance, music and related arts at Sunnyside High School. Workshop participants will show off what they have learned at a Sunday recital outdoors starting at noon.

An ofrenda (altar for offerings) will be on display at the high school throughout the festival for participants to remember and celebrate the lives of family, friends and the folklórico community who have died during the pandemic.

Amalia Viviana Basanta Hernández, daughter of the founder of Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández, returns to teach the iconic dance suite ‘Boda en La Huasteca.’

Other workshops will focus on dances from Nayarit, Colima, Veracruz and other regions.

Details: www.danzantes.org