Ballet Folklorico Raices Mexicanas de Detroit
# Ballet Folklorico Raices Mexicanas de Detroit

Founded in 1981, Ballet Folklorico Raices Mexicana (sometimes called Baile Folkloric Raices Mexicanas) is a dance troupe and school in southwest Detroit, Michigan, USA. Hermino Pensino and Cristina Huizar were among the founders of the troupe. Huizar was a member of the Ballet Folklorica de Mexico before co-founding the Detroit school. She saw the school as a way of connecting second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans with their heritage. After forming the school, she realized that participation in dance taught the children discipline, self-confidence, excellence, and teamwork. These personal skills helped students outside of dance class: nearly all have graduated from high school.

The dance troupe provides instruction in dances from the Chiapas, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Sonora, Jalisco and Aguascalientes states in Mexico.

## Corazon del Pueblo

In 2015, the positive experiences of Raices graduates encouraged community organizers to create Corazon del Pueblo, a not-for-profit designed to transform the self-respect that participating in the arts gives students into the belief that they can determine their own future.

In 2016, Corazon del Pueblo won a $25,000 Kresge Artist Fellowship. These fellowships support artists and art organizations in the Detroit metro area.

