Lincoln features many ethnic dance classes

Voluminous, floor-length red skirts swing through the air to the sound of a mariachi band. Coins sewn onto a vibrant blue costume jingle to the rhythm of Middle Eastern music. Grass skirts shake and pulse to the beat of a Hawaiian drum. Lincoln offers a surprising number of cultural dancing opportunities, including Hispanic folk dance, belly dancing and traditional Polynesian dancing.

Grupo Folklorico Sangre Azteca is a Lincoln-based dance group that teaches and performs traditional Hispanic folk dances. Dana Rodriguez, executive director for Grupo Folklorico Sangre Azteca, and her husband Juan, Sangre Azteca's publicity director, have been involved with the group since its founding in 2002.

Sangre Azteca offers three levels of Hispanic dancing: beginner, ages six through nine; intermediate, ages 10 through 14; and advanced, ages 15 and older. Both the beginner and intermediate groups practice for one hour on Monday nights. The advanced group practices for an hour and a half on Mondays and Thursdays. With generous support from the Lincoln Arts Council and local businesses, Sangre Azteca is able to offer these dance lessons completely free of charge.

"That was our goal from the very beginning," Rodriguez said. "To not only preserve the Hispanic culture but make it so anyone can be a part of it, no matter their income."

Dancers are only required to buy their own shoes. Even that is easily affordable, Rodriguez said, because as the children outgrow their shoes, parents frequently give them to younger children to wear.

Rodriguez said most of the choreography includes a lot of twirling to show off the girls' full skirts. Syncopated stomping and hopping employ the boys' heeled ankle boots. As the performers get older, the choreography starts to incorporate flirtatious courtship themes, she added.

Though all of the dances Sangre Azteca currently works with originated in Mexico, Rodriguez said the goal of the group is to preserve Hispanic heritage as a whole.

"We want to introduce the culture to the community and present it in a positive way," she said.

All instructors and staff for Sangre Azteca are volunteers. Monday night, Patricia Sanchez filled in for another instructor at the last minute.

"I'm the mean teacher," Sanchez said. "I make them behave."

Sanchez has three granddaughters, ages 7, 8 and 9, who dance with Sangre Azteca.

"When (I) see them perform … something inside me just goes 'Wow,'" Sanchez said.

Carmella Orosco, a staff member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln libraries, watched her 7-year-old stepdaughter, Kaylee Loehr, swing and twirl her red skirt around during Monday night's practice. Orosco said Kaylee joined Sangre Azteca about a year ago, after their family saw a performance by the group on campus during UNL's Fiesta on the Green last year.

Sangre Azteca regularly performs at Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Omaha and Columbus, Neb., and recently performed at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at Antelope Park in Lincoln.

Another venue offering cultural dance opportunities is the Athena Studio of World Dance. Anne Bauers formed the Athena Studio in 2002. Together with her codirector, Nancy Taylor, Bauers teaches different styles of Polynesian dancing and belly dancing. The Athena Studio offers beginner, intermediate, intermediate II and advanced classes. Bauers also has a Polynesian dance performance troupe, the Trade Wind Dancers, and a belly dancing performance troupe, the Athenian Dancers. Bauers even instructs individual belly dance performers who wish to pursue professional belly dancing careers.

The Athena Studio is based out of Bauers' home, but she also teaches weekly dance classes at Southeast Community College. The Polynesian classes include Hawaiian, Tahitian, Samoan and Maori dances. Bauers said the traditional Hawaiian dance of the Hula started out as a way to express feelings toward various gods. Now, the Hula has is more for entertainment than praise.

Bauers, whose performance name is Ashiya, specializes in a Turkish style of belly dancing, but also teaches Egyptian and Moroccan styles. More experienced belly dancers can eventually incorporate special props into their performances, like veils, canes, drums and even swords and trays of candles they balance on their heads.

Classes are offered to students 16 years and older. Bauers said she recently had a student in her 70s who'd had a hip replacement.

"The doctor recommended (belly dancing) and said the movements would help her with her flexibility," Bauers said.

Though Bauers doesn't offer belly dancing to students younger than 16 because she finds it inappropriate, she holds the dance in high regard.

"It is truly an art form," Bauers said. "We're not strippers. It has nothing to do with exotic or erotic dancing. It really is an art form and it should be treated as such."

johnnahjersman@dailynebraskan.com