The power of song and dance has long played an important role in Latino culture, and at Akins this is especially evident in the school’s Ballet Folklorico program.

Akins students and teachers have worked to keep strong the tradition of Ballet Folklorico, which is known for swirling long dresses and dancers stomping to the rhythm of traditional Mexican music. Today the program is kept alive by current students and alumni who return to campus to assist and guide young dancers.

Akins’ student body is majority Hispanic with 78.2% of students identifying with this designation, making Hispanic culture a major influence on the campus. The Akins Ballet Folklorico organization has given an important outlet for the Latino community to showcase their talents and culture since it was first formed in 2014.

It started when the Akins Latinos Unidos club needed Folklclorico dancers for its annual Cinco de Mayo Show. Akins French teacher Gina Garcia, co-sponsor of the club, had a box of skirts and shoes left by a previous teacher. As a result, students took the initiative to begin the club with their own experience under the sponsorship of Spanish teacher Beatriz Valle-Moreno, who co-sponsors the Akins Folklorico program.

“It was a wish for me to outline the community, [and] the culture of the school, where students can go and feel comfortable showcasing their own culture,” Valle-Moreno said.

In 2018, Rachel Rivera, an Akins alumna, took over as the Akins Ballet Folklorico choreographer after she graduated high school. That same year the Akins Folklorico group competed for the first time in the “Baile de mi Tierra” competition in Round Rock in 2019, winning third place. The following year, it won two more trophies.

“We were riding high we were very, very happy,” Gina Garcia said. “And the parent involvement was really good. We had about three or four mothers who were always here after school, bringing us food, helping us with transportation, helping dress up the girls, or doing whatever needed to be done. And after COVID everything changed.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, it shut down Austin schools and forced most students into remote learning for about a year and a half, preventing the Folklorico group from meeting and performing. During this time, the club lost many of its experienced members and was not able to recruit new members before graduating. It also lost its choreographer, Rachel Rivera.

To save the program Akins students stepped up to the challenge. In 2020 Osvaldo Sanchez, Alexis Garcia, Judith Jimenez, and Natalia Estrada taught and helped choreograph new members. Sanchez, Estrada, and Garcia, who graduated with the Class of 2022, came back as instructors this year.

The instructors of Akins Ballet Folklorico are current college students. Majoring in Anthropology with pre-med programs and natural sciences. They came back to keep the club alive and going. The group meets two times a week for two hours plus gigs and performances.

Although the alumni are in college now, have their jobs, and help care for their families, they still take the time to keep the program running. Sanchez said it can be tough to balance his family and work, explaining that his passion for dance keeps him in the program.

“Just a love of this. I call it a sport because it’s dancing that counts as a sport. And it’s something beautiful to represent, and it’s not represented well around this area of Austin and Texas,” Sanchez said.

One of the biggest challenges Folklclorico faced was needing a permanent place to practice. The group danced in Valle-Moreno or Garcia’s portables. However, they often had to move things around, leaving scratches on the floor with their shoes.

Foklorico practiced in the parking lots last year, resulting in their shoes getting worn out fast and practicing in extremely hot or cold temperatures. However, this year Associate Principal Manuel Garcia gave them a regular practice space room for Folklorico to practice. Akins Ballet Folklorico and Co-sponsors said they are truly grateful for this practice room.

Parent involvement is another challenge that the program faces. Teachers like Gina Garcia have to find transportation for gigs and often provide this themselves. The members and instructors help each other with makeup and hair, as well as getting dressed. Gina Garcia said she hopes that in the future the club can have parent involvement like it did before the COVID pandemic.

Alexis Garcia, who graduated with the Class of 2022 and served as an instructor of the program, said that the hardest challenge was to learn how to teach in a way that keeps students interested, and engaged while making it fun and productive.

“Just trying to have everything as efficient as possible while keeping it fun for the kids because it’s a club. It’s not a dance class. They’re here to have fun, and I want them to have fun,” Alexis Garcia said.

This year’s Folklorico president is junior Luis Garcia Chong and junior vice-president Janelle Ponti. They both said they enjoy the confidence their vestuarios give them. However, they also acknowledged the struggle and difficulty of technique and having the stamina to stomp through a three-minute-long song.

“It [brings] happiness to the people that’s the main goal,” Garcia Chung said. “[Also] to gain more knowledge of what our culture is.”