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Conservatory Leadership

MARLENE PEÑA-MARIN

Director, Ballet Folklórico Dance Conservatory

Teaches: Folklórico Repertory

As an artistic director, choreographer, and dancer, Ms. Marlene Peña-Marin’s talent is recognized throughout the Mexican folk dance community. She studied at La Escuela Nacional de Danza Folklórica del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where she also participated in the third-annual Seminario Transnacional de Danza, studying technique and pedagogies of dance specific to folklórico. In 2002, Ms. Peña-Marin became the first director of Orange County School of the Arts’ Ballet Folklórico Dance Conservatory. In 2003, she was officially appointed as the artistic and general director of Relámpago del Cielo Grupo Folklórico, where she has been an instructor since 1987.

Since her first professional performance at the age of 9, Ms. Peña-Marin has been featured at renowned events and performance venues, including the International Folk Dance Festival at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mariachi USA Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Fiesta Broadway hosted by Univisión TV, and El Grito festivities for the City of Los Angeles. She studied Mexican folk dance under various renowned directors, including: Carlos Ochoa, Rosie Peña, Emilio Rivas, and a variety of maestros from the United States and Mexico. She has participated in many dance conferences sponsored by the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos.

In 2013, she choreographed the holiday parade, Disney ¡Viva Navidad!, at Disney California Adventure Park, and continues to remount the production every holiday season. Her contributions to the Mexican folk dance community are invaluable. Her dedication to ensuring the historical and cultural accuracy of the regions she presents is crucial to the success of the groups under her direction.

Advisory Board

Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Ph.D.

Professor of Anthropology

University of California, Santa Cruz

Dr. Olga Nájera-Ramírez, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, received her bachelor’s degree at University of California, Santa Cruz and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas, Austin. As an anthropologist specializing in folklore, she concentrates on documenting and critically examining expressive culture forms, such as festivals, dance, rodeo, and music as practiced by Mexicans living in the United States and Mexico. In particular, she examines the ways in which expressive forms are invested with meaning, transmitted, experienced, and otherwise employed by members and non-members of a community.

Author of La Fiesta de los Tastoanes: Critical Perspectives in a Mexican Festival Performance, she also produced the award-winning video, La Charreada: Rodeo a la Mexicana, and Danza Folklórica Escénica: El Sello Artístico de Rafael Zamarripa, a bilingual documentary that traces the transnational development of Mexican folklórico dance through the experiences and artistic productions of the internationally acclaimed choreographer Rafael Zamarripa. She is co-editor of several anthologies, including Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change, Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader, and Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos.

“The impressive folklorico dance program at the Orange County School of the Arts has set a national standard for others to emulate.”

José Tena

Founder

Ballet Folklórico Tierra del Encanto

Internationally acclaimed Folklórico dancer and instructor José Tena has been dancing for more than forty years, setting thousands of other dancers in motion over 30 years with his dance troupe, Ballet Folklórico Tierra del Encanto. He has been the recipient of several coveted honors and supporting grants for his outstanding contribution to the arts.

José Tena has traveled from coast-to-coast hosting and teaching Folklórico workshops. He served on the board of directors. as well as a conference director multiple times for the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos, and until recently, he served as their national advisor. He teaches folklórico at New Mexico State University, where he also directs the Folklórico group. Maestro José Tena is the recipient of the Danzantes Unidos Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded 2014.

“The Orange County School of the Arts’ Ballet Folklórico program is a leader in the standard for students to become dancers, choreographers, directors, and educators in the field of Mexican Folk Dance.”