Doors at 7:30 pm; Show at 8:00 pm

Tickets are $17

“Si se puede!” the slogan of the United Farm Workers has been a rallying cry for the farm workers for decades. Tonight’s performance by Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco salutes those who grow and harvest our crops, and the organization created by Cesar Chavez in 1962 to organize workers for better working conditions and a living wage. Or, as the UFW puts it, “to provide farm workers and other working people with the inspiration and tools to share in society’s bounty.” The struggle for that goal continues, and as we salute Chavez’s crucial role on this day, the colorful troupe Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco provides a rousing evening of dancers and music. 

Since it began in 1992, Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco has made its mission to promote Mexican dance with quality and authenticity. Led by artistic director and choreographer Zenon Barron, the dance troupe presents many original pieces and traditional dances from the various regions of Mexico. Tonight’s celebrates the heritage that Mexican immigrants and farm workers continued in the new home land, and includes a new work by Barron dedicated to the farm workers. The dances tonight are performed by 10 long-time members of Ensambles, accompanied by live music from Vinie-Kay directed by guitarist Jose Roberto Hernandez.

Ensambles features an academy that teaches traditions and new dances including an academy for children ages 4 to 13. Older dancers vary in levels of experience, ethnicity, and professions. Ranging from youth with little dance experience to seasoned working professionals with more than 10 years of dancing experience, all are committed to the continuation of one of the richest manifestations of tradition and culture in Mexico – folkloric dance. It is this distinctive mixture of life embodied by the dancers of Ensambles that makes it one-of-a-kind.