Beneath layers of blush, white lace and a candle atop perfectly gelled hair, Gema Magaña got ready to perform “La Bruja” — a traditional dance from the Mexican state of Veracruz — for a Tuesday night crowd in downtown Legacy Park.
Gema, 16, is a Mexican-American junior ballet folklórico dancer at Brackenridge High School. Dreaming of twirling in skirts since she was little, she felt grateful to be performing, especially since the ballet folklórico program at San Antonio Independent School District was in danger of ending during the last school year.
“I’ve always wanted to learn ballet folklórico and try to keep tradition alive, no matter how modern we get. Our past is how we learn,” she said. “Ballet folklórico kind of reminds me that I’m human … It reminds me that I’m allowed to be passionate about things.”
Tuesday marked Mexico’s Independence Day, celebrated each year on Sept. 16, and the inaugural “A Night of Music. A Legacy of Culture” event hosted by the school district and the SAISD Foundation.
More than a kickoff for Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through Oct. 15, the festivities were also a fundraising event for several of the district’s Mexican folk art programs.
SAISD protects folklórico program
Due to budget constraints, SAISD’s ballet folklórico program, which serves more than 600 students, was in danger of ending after the 2024-25 school year. Because COVID-19 funds dried up and the state didn’t significantly increase base school funding this year, the SAISD Foundation stepped in to pay for part-time dance instructors, uniforms and mariachi instructors at the elementary school level.
This year, the foundation is also paying for “master classes” from professional artists to supplement the musical education at the four schools that performed Tuesday night: Burbank High School, Lanier High Schools, Rhodes Middle School and Harris Middle School.
“Mexican American heritage is really important. Hispanic heritage is really important in our community as a city, but also as San Antonio ISD, and so we thought this would be a great way to do it,” Judy Geelhoed, executive director for the SAISD Foundation, told the Report.
Nearly 60% of Bexar County residents are Hispanic or Latino, and more than 80% of the county’s Hispanic population are of Mexican descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nearly 90% of SAISD students identify as Hispanic.
SAISD’s celebration comes at a time when the Republican-led state and federal governments work to snuff out diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 and higher education.
Passed during the most recent regular legislative session, Senate Bill 12 bans diversity, equity and inclusion practices in Texas public schools. The law went into effect Sept. 1, but Geelhoed and SAISD superintendent Jaime Aquino said it won’t affect mariachi education, because the law still allows for holiday and cultural celebrations.
It doesn’t hurt that the University Interscholastic League, the state’s governing body for extracurricular competitions, adopted mariachi as an official UIL contest in 2017. This allowed mariachi students to compete at the state level.
Making mariachi UIL official was “huge validation of the art form in and of itself,” said Geelhoed. More than 2,500 SAISD students participate in mariachi programs.
Ballet folklórico is not a UIL sport, but there is a statewide petition to formalize the art form in public schools.
SAISD ‘epicenter’ of mariachi education
SAISD has a long history as an epicenter for mariachi and ballet folklórico education, thanks to the pioneering efforts of musician and educator Belle San Miguel Ortiz, who died in 2023 at the age of 90.
Once an award-wining mariachi teacher at Lanier High School in the 1960s and 1970s, Ortiz also organized several mariachi education conferences and festivals, the first of their kind in Texas, and later launched the first college-level mariachi program at San Antonio College.
A big fan of mariachi himself, Aquino said the district could never get rid of the program.
“It’s the heartbeat of our district, the heartbeat of San Antonio,” he said. “Mariachi education started here with us at SAISD, and we are committed — the board, our principals, our students — to make sure that it continues expanding.”
For SAISD students Eliam Maldonado and Olivia Canales, mariachi is a family tradition. Eliam, 13, plays the guitarrón at Rhodes Middle School and Olivia, 14, plays the trumpet at Burbank High School.
Both said they joined mariachi to connect with their families’ heritage. Eliam’s older siblings are also mariachi musicians — during birthdays and gatherings, they team up to play “Las Mañanitas” for members of their family. Olivia’s mother and grandparents are also mariachi musicians.
Eliam is part of his school’s band program, but Olivia is not. She said there’s just something more intimate about performing with a mariachi band and paying homage to her family’s roots.
“Our culture is in mariachi,” Olivia explained. “If you don’t celebrate your culture, then it’s gonna die out. It’s also important because mariachi makes people happy — it puts a smile on their faces.”
