Fresno State’s folklorico Mexicano dance troupe, Los Danzantes de Aztlán, will take the stage at the prestigious 40th annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in July.

“Being selected to perform at this festival is no easy accomplishment,” said Dr. Victor Torres, the group’s director and a professor in the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department. “It takes lots of dedication, passion and rehearsal.”

The festival will take place over three weekends, from July 6 to 22, at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and City Hall. This year’s program features more than 20 performers presenting dance and music from Alaska, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, India, Korea, Liberia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Spain, Tahiti, the continental U.S. and Zimbabwe.

On July 21 and 22, Los Danzantes will perform Huapangos from the state of Hidalgo. The traditional music is rooted in the Huasteca cultural region of Mexico, which encompasses parts of several states: Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Hidalgo. The performance will include live music played by Los Hermanos Herrera, whose most recent Mexican folk music album was released by Smithsonian Folkways.

This is Los Danzantes’ third appearance at the festival. The group has auditioned three times and been selected to perform each time since 2014.

“This is a new milestone in the many that Los Danzantes has achieved,” Torres said.

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