Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center spotlighting five Mexican American leaders at Friday show

SAN ANTONIO — For a few years the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has shared stories of San Antonio history and community through dance, in the process training apprentices at the center’s dance academy. 

Belinda Menchaca founded that academy in 1992. Thirty-one years later, she has helped facilitate the creation of “Nuestras Voces,” an original dance production spotlighting five Mexican Americans who made major impacts on Texas life—and a natural evolution of her academy’s mission. 

“This is what we’ve done all our life as dance company members: We tell stories through dance,” Menchaca said. 

“Nuestras Voces,” set for 8 p.m. Friday at the Guadalupe Theater (1301 Guadalupe St.), intertwines dance and education to tell the stories of its five subjects, all of whom have regional connections. Perhaps most notable for San Antonio is Emma Tenayuca, an Alamo City native who led thousands of local pecan shellers on strike in 1938 before they won a wage increase. 

The other four Mexican Americans whose stories are featured in the show are Jovita Idar, a journalist and civil rights worker; Lydia Mendoza, a Tejano musician; Willie Velasquez, who worked to expand voting access for Latinos; and Américo Paredes, a Brownsville-born author who focused his words on life along the border. 

“They’re stories that are familiar to us because of our own families, and because of stories we’ve told in the past,” said Menchaca, pointing out that the lobby of the Guadalupe Theater is named for Velasquez. “We can do many, many Nuestras Voces with different leaders.” 

The 75-minute show, tickets for which are still available, represents a fusion of video, original folklorico choreography and symbolism to “take audiences on a journey of enlightenment and empowerment,” touts Guadalupe’s website. 

Menchaca puts it more directly: Audiences are likelier to connect to the legacies of those who came before them when it’s presented through music and movement. 

“You can read stories and you can read articles and you can do all kinds of research,” she says, “but when you see it on a stage set to theatrical lighting with live music, video, and then these characters who we’re inspired by, it just enhances that educational experience of knowing who these people are.”

Audiences will experience the talents of 14 Guadalupe Dancy Company members and five students onstage through “Nuestras Voces,” along with the musical talents of Mariachi Azteca de America. It follows last fall’s “Soy Malintzin,” which explored the complicated legacy of a Mexican cultural icon. 

It also represents the last dance performance on the stage of the current iteration of the Guadalupe Theater, which is expected to close soon for renovations that officials say will last at last a year. There’s a touch of symbolism in that: The upcoming renovations personify the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s mission to preserve and promote Chicano, Latino and Native American culture. 

It remains to be seen when and where Menchaca and her fellow staff members at the center will hold dance performances in the interim. But in the short-term, she says it’s their hope “Nuestras Voces” inspires an even bigger movement to keep prominent Mexican American history alive while creating new milestones for themselves. 

“We hope people will come away feeling like they understand who our leaders are… and how significant our culture and community is,” she said. “(We) want them to understand (that) even if somebody tells you, ‘You can’t do it, you can’t achieve it,’ you need to feel proud of your stories and your heritage.” 

Before the Friday evening show, Guadalupe dancers will hold a free dance demonstration at 10 a.m. Friday for senior citizens in San Antonio. Seats can be reserved here. 

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