Modesto’s Ballet Folklórico Los Falcones prove that culture can have a healing influence
There is a saying about the effect of Mexican culture on our well-being.
To see if “La cultura cura” (Culture cures), you have to visit – or, better yet, see – Ballet Folklórico Los Falcones, the group in Modesto that is celebrating 25 years of life.
Fabián’s parents enrolled their 8-year-old son in classes at Los Falcones.
He didn’t speak. To nobody. With nobody. Experts thought the boy suffered from a neurological disorder.
“He didn’t speak at all,” recalls Laura Malagón, already retired from the folkloric group she directed for 16 years.
The mom didn’t know if her son could keep up with the other dancers because he didn’t know the dance steps.
Malagón didn’t see a problem with that. “The teachers are always demanding, but let’s see.”
The response was quick.
The boy’s mother called Malagón crying that night.
On the way home, Fabián said, “Mom, I liked the way I danced! I messed up just a little!”
Over time, Fabián began to speak and communicate not only with his family but also in his classes.
After being quiet and not participating in the class lessons, Fabián constantly raised his hand and initiated conversations. Today, Fabián is in high school and doing well.
That is the power of folklore dance, according to Malagón.
She mentioned the case of Roxy Álvarez, a dancer who was hospitalized in serious condition a few weeks ago.
Álvarez recovered in time to participate in her colorful dress from Chiapas in ‘Joyas de México,’ a packed house celebration on March 9 at the Gallo Center for the Arts.
Roxy is one of three sisters who dance with Los Falcones.
“She is the girl who was about to die,” said Malagón.
She was very quiet when she joined the group, but now Álavarez has become more forthcoming, Malagón said.
Her parents are Tejano singers and speak English and Spanish. Álvarez, until that point of getting involved with the folkloric group, spoke only in English.
“One day, my mother called me and said,’’Mrs. Malagón, I am very grateful to you. My daughter had spoken only English with her father and I had scolded her. ‘Speak Spanish! Speak Spanish! Speak Spanish!’
“And since she goes to folkloric ballet classes, she only speaks to me in Spanish and I see her very happy.”
These are proofs that Mexican culture goes beyond what is defined as art, and passes to what is part of the essential diet for the well-being of the soul.
All of this is pretty impressive for Modesto’s oldest and most well-known Mexican folkloric dance troupe. There are about 80 students in the group, which does not charge for lessons.
Malagón, who was a bilingual assistant at Fairview Elementary School in south Modesto when she helped start the dance troupe, said Los Falcones depends on the generosity of its donors.
She bought an industrial sewing machine a few years ago, then gave it to a seamstress on the condition that she reduce the cost for students who need work on their folkloric costumes.
The wardrobe is given to fellow students, often handed down by fellow students.
But those efforts only go so far.
The group was invited by then-President George W. Bush to perform at the White House, but Los Falcones didn’t go because they did not have the funds to travel to Washington, D.C.
One of the group’s biggest fans is author Gary Soto.
There have been other setbacks. Two years ago, a couple of dancers were among the family members killed in Modesto. The group raised funds to help the family.
Los Falcones publishes a calendar, which they sell to raise money.
For the anniversary celebration, some former dancers who became recent mothers performed again.
Mariachi la Unión performed in the final set, a salute to the Mexican state of Jalisco.
One challenge remains for Los Falcones: Find more boys to perform with the group. At the anniversary show, only two boys performed, although there are about half a dozen of them in the group.
Los Falcones is by Nathalie and Jacqueline Aguilar with the help of Mayra Martínez and Timna Reyes.
The Falcones, who danced for farmworker icon Dolores Huerta during last year’s march from Delano to Sacramento in support of a farmworker bill, are scheduled to perform March 31 at the Maddux Youth Center (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.) for César E. Chávez Day.
