TAMIU Ballet Folklórico Shares Mexican Culture at Switzerland's Raíces en Movimiento Dance Exchange
Eight members of the Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Ballet Folklórico, accompanied by their instructor Nayeli López, recently traveled to Switzerland to represent TAMIU and Mexican culture through dance performances.
The dancers performed in Zurich and Bern from June 22 to July 1 as part of Raíces en Movimiento, the first Mexican-Swiss folkloric dance gathering hosted by the association Artistas Mexicanos en Suiza (AMES).
The TAMIU students, Amber González, Cynthia Guantos, Carolina Hinojosa, Kaitlyn Lozano, Camila Morgado, Ana Virginia Rodríguez, Victoria Rodríguez, and Amanda Tijerina, were accompanied by López, who also performed and helped organize the Festival. The group was invited by Nuevo Laredo native and University of Switzerland opera voice professor Gerardo García Cano, with whom López had previously collaborated.
“It was an honor to have traveled with our students not only to represent TAMIU, but to showcase our Mexican traditions through dance,” Lopez said, “The passion and love that we have for México was shared with people from Switzerland. They appreciated our culture and customs, and we were able to learn Swiss traditions and customs."
The Festival began with a conference at the Mexican Embassy in Switzerland, where López led a conversation on the importance of Mexican folkloric dance and its identity. She spoke alongside Yvonne Meyers, executive director of the Las Palomas folklórico group in Bern; Maria Valtierra, choreographer for the Ticalli folkórico group in Zurich; and Ingrid Luna, choreographer for LUNA Mexikanische Folkloregruppe in St. Gallen. The Ambassador of México in Switzerland, Cecilia Jaber Breceda, also gave remarks. TAMIU Ballet Folklórico dancer, Carolina Hinojosa, performed "Lindo Veracruz," a Son Jarocho solo honoring her Mexican-American roots.
The group then led a children’s folkloric dance workshop for the Swiss dance group Trachtengruppe Düdingen, where the young dancers learned "Los Machetes" and "El Son de la Negra," traditional dances from Jalisco. In return, the Swiss children taught a folk dance of their own. TAMIU's group gifted the children with Mexican sweets.
TAMIU Ballet Folkórico students also participated in a Swiss folk dance workshop led by local instructors, where they learned traditional circle, waltz, and polka-style dances. Later in the week, López taught a workshop for adults in Bern, introducing dancers from the Las Palomas folklórico group to regional dances from Sinaloa.
The dancers performed throughout downtown Switzerland, bringing Mexican music and dance to the streets. Audiences stopped to watch, cheer, and photograph the group, who proudly carried the TAMIU and Mexican flags. These performances served as a lively promotion for the main event, the Gala Performance at Gumligen Theater in Bern.
The gala featured all participating groups and opened with TAMIU’s dances from Sinaloa, including "Danza del Venado," "El Coyote," and "El Sinaloense." The evening closed with high-energy dances from Nayarit, including La Majahua, El Buey, and Los Cuchillos. At the finale, dancers from all groups took a collective bow to chants of “¡Viva México!”
Preparation for the event began in January, with students training in choreography, stamina, and performance skills.
López noted, “We shared our love for Mexico through every step, and the audience felt that.”
This marked the group’s first time performing in Switzerland. Previous performances include the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade (2024), Disneyland Paris (2023), Disneyland California (2022, 2019), and Disney World Florida (2021, 2018).
For more information, please contact TAMIU's Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180 or email prmis@tamiu.edu.
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