STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
The colorful costumes and rhythms of Mexican folklorico dance and music filled the Sun Valley Pavilion this week as Mexico en el Corazon took the stage.
The 1,700-seat Pavilion was full and a few people watched from the lawn despite the threat of a thunderstorm earlier in the evening.
The show featured music, songs and dances from Mexico’s various states, including a Nuevo Leon polka and the zapateados or stomping. Women wore beautiful folk dresses embroidered with roosters to recreate the tap dances of the people of Aguascalientes arriving at the San Marcos Fair. And three musicians played the fruity sounds of the marimba.
Some in the audience waved Mexican flags. Everyone—it seemed—took photographs with their cell phones in rapid fire motion. And many sang along with the singers, some of the songs familiar even to the Anglos in the crowd.
“This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see such pageantry on the stage,” said one appreciative audience member.
Sixty dancers and musicians took the stage—part of a tour that started in Anahaim, had a stop in the agricultural fields of California and was to finish two days after Sun Valley in Ogden.
Musicians played trumpets, violins, a harp, several various types of guitars, including the large-guitarron Mexicano, the marimbula, accordion, and the salterio, a string instrument that resembled a hammered dulcimer only played with plucked with fingers.
Women made elaborate designs with the movement of their skirts, while men sported a gallop in their step.
“I’m excited, so amazed, we were able to get such a tremendous group,” said Kristine Bretall, who oversees concerts for the Sun Valley Museum of Art. “And we couldn’t have done it without the help of Sun Valley Resort, which provided housing and meals. and the venue.”
Bretall said the performance was part of The Museum’s initiative to make sure everyone who lives in the valley is included in programming.
“And we want to make sure we reach not just the school-aged youth but adults. Many of the Hispanic population that lives here doesn’t have the chance to go home to Mexico to see their own culture. So, we brought it to them.”
The group offered to perform for local schools, but the schools declined because of it being the last week of school, said Bretall.
The performance was sponsored by the government of the state of Guadalajara and the city of Jalisco. The Sun Valley Museum of Art provided it free of charge with support from Sun Valley Resort, The Advocates, Bashista Construction, The Community library, H Property Services, Engelmann Partners, The Johnson Company, Rancho Radio, St. Lukes Wood River and Terra Landscapes.