- [Presenter] And again, you can see the half hour documentary "The Pioneers of Marygrove" here on Detroit Public Television on Friday, September 15th at 9:30 PM.

Let's turn now to Hispanic Heritage Month.

The celebration of Hispanic culture, history, and contributions runs from September 15th through October 15th.

Locally, a dance troupe in southwest Detroit is bringing awareness to Mexican traditions by preserving a unique style of dance.

When Detroit contributing producer deja Moss visited Ballet Folklorico de Detroit to learn more about the inspiration behind this talented and passionate group of dancers.

(ambient synth music) (speaking in foreign language) - Our mission is to emphasize, or to bring to southwest Detroit and Michigan and our community an awareness of the Mexican folkloric culture, like Mexican dancing and its traditions.

(singing in foreign language) - You know, Folklorico is alive in Mexico.

It's not over here.

And so one of our missions, right, our students, predominantly have Mexican heritage.

You know, they're Americans, but they have Mexican heritage, and we want to give them a sense of pride in their culture.

You know, they can't experience it here, they have to go to Mexico to experience it, you know, so we kind of try to bring it here, so that way they can be like, oh, this is what it's like, you know, to be over there, to be over there and to experience all of this stuff.

So we're trying to give them, like oh, have pride, you know, especially in these days and times.

It doesn't feel good a lot of times, in the news and everything to be Hispanic.

- If you've ever gone to a Mexican Folkloric performance, that you'll see the girls wear, or the performers wear different costumes.

Like one time, you know, one time they might have a big dress on, another time a small dress on.

That's because all the states of Mexico, and regions within those states, all have different styles of dance.

So, and with those different styles, sometimes there was an influence, like an indigenous influence, or a Spanish influence.

And it's very serious, the keeping those traditions alive and not changed.

So there's a whole culture behind it.

Like if you're doing this type, like right now we're learning Sinaloa, and Sinaloa Mestizo, and there's different posture, there's different ways to do the dresses.

There's different ways, the steps, everything is unique to that.

(upbeat folk music) - The role that dance plays in Mexican culture, there's really three, right?

It's recreation because it's fun to dance, right?

Everybody goes and they love to dance.

It's educational, because you're preserving the traditions and the culture, right?

Because it can still, like, if they weren't, like making a concentrated effort to preserve it, right?

It could change, it could just change.

So it's educational.

And then the third thing is that it's good for your health.

(upbeat folk music) So anyone can join Ballet Folklorico de Detroit, right?

One of the first things I ask people if they're, especially if they're not Mexican, right, they're like, oh, well I'm not Mexican.

I was like, well, do you like Mexican food, right, and most of the time, because Mexican food is so good, they say, yes, I love Mexican food.

And I'm like, but you're not Mexican, so why do you have to be Mexican to love Mexican dance?

(upbeat folk music) - We've been part of the Ballet Folklorico de Detroit for six months.

I like being a student, because there's like so many kids there.

'Cause in our other dance group that we were in there was like not that much kids, so I like being like part of like the group of kids that are in this group, but what most connects me to the Mexican culture is the movement, because there's like these different types of movements with like putting your skirt really high, or like low, stuff like that.

(upbeat folk music) I've been a part of the dance group six years.

Before I joined the dance group, I did not know much about the dances and the culture.

What inspired me to join the dance group is watching my sister dance, and how she was having fun.

- I've been in the group seven years ago.

My favorite part of being part of it is getting to dance, getting to perform, and getting to know, getting to know new places.

(folk music) - So we really want the crowd to feel like if they're watching us perform Sinaloa Mestizo, that they're in Sinaloa watching a performance from the people in Mexico doing the dance.

So that's what I want.

I want to transport them them to Mexico, and so they can experience it, and then they they'll be in awe, like, oh my God, I just went to Mexico, in these three minutes on stage.

(upbeat folk music) When we're dancing on stage we're really trying to keep these traditions alive.

And there's people here who haven't experienced it who even though they know Southwest Detroit has this vibrant Mexican culture, right, they don't know it.

So when they come in, they see us, I really want to impact them.

Like, yes, Southwest Detroit, there's this culture that's alive here, right?

And that when they come and they see us, they can really feel it, right, when they go to one of our shows, they feel Southwest Detroit.

Like, oh yeah, this is why Southwest, they're always talking about Mexico town, because it's there, we're there, you know?

- Hey!

Hey!

(upbeat folk music) (applause)