MENTOR BIOGRAPHY
 | Traditional Skill/Art: Mexican Folk Dance Years Won: 2026 Phone: 971-235-5340 Email address:kjhyde3@icloud.com Website: https://balletpapalotl.org/ |
Márquez danced throughout her childhood and eventually went onto study classical ballet. She returned to folk dance years later, when she went to Paris, France for graduate school. There she became the student of a professional Mexican folk dancer who was with the Mexican Embassy. In 2003, Márquez settled in Portland, where she founded Mexican folkloric dance ensemble Ballet Papalotl; papalotl is the Aztec language Nahuatl's word for butterfly.
Under Dr. Kenya Márquez’s direction, the group, whose members dress in the costumes traditional to each dance or state, performs an array of authentic Mexican folk dances. The troupe’s repertoire includes the well-known Jalisco dance, which features brightly colored dresses and quick, whiplash motions, as well as more obscure dances like the Guerrero or Nayarit, which derive from Mexico’s indigenous cultures. The Nuevo Leon dance integrates European polka traditions into folk dance, while the Veracruz dance includes consumes representative of the Afro-Caribbean influence in Mexican culture.
APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY
| Diana Hernandez Traditional Skill/Art: Mexican Folk Dance Years Won: 2026 |
Diana Hernandez grew up experiencing different clashing cultures firsthand and learning that every state in Mexico has its own culture and practices, and from there understanding that every culture has its own beauty and complexity. Hernandez has had the honor of working with a great Hispanic mural artist, studied Latino Martial arts from Brazil (Capoeira, a martial art made hidden within dance and music by slaves in Brazil to protect themselves and resist against their oppressors), and has worked with Latino run non-profits. One thing she’s always known to connect her to her culture is movement as an art form.
Q&A WITH THE MENTOR ARTIST
We perform authentic traditional, regional folkloric dance from across Mexico, with the authentic traditional costumes and adhering to authentic dance and choreography. This apprenticeship program focuses on the traditional and historical dance “La Tortuga del Arenal” (the turtle of the beach) for future generations. This is a traditional native dance from Oaxaca, México, that represents the coordinated work between the couples to get the food for their families; it shows the interdependence between nature and the people. The song, in the original Zapotec language, is part of our history, values and cultural roots. The traditional native costumes and basket (for the eggs of the turtle) are the original ones. The turtles of those regions are now sadly extinct, so this dance is an historical living document that can be lost if we do not continue the oral and dance tradition. That is why this project is so relevant for us, for our culture and for the learning of humankind.
Through learning Mexican folk dance, we not only remember the history of the Mexican people but we also carry on the values and traditions of our ancestors. Ballet Papalotl’s missions is to instill in every dancer the discipline, confidence, and cultural pride that is essential for their development, to maintain authentic Mexican folk dance standards of excellence, and to enrich Portland through intercultural exchange.
Dr. Márquez has been recognized as, among others:
Culture keeper in Oregon (Oregon Folklife Network & University of Oregon).
RACC grantee (Regional Arts & Culture Council)
Lifetime Achievement Award, by World Arts Foundation. Portland, OR, 2018.
Dance ambassador 2019 and 2023 from Dance Wire Portland, OR
Under her direction, the Ballet Papalotl earned the 1st place in the Junior
Parade, the biggest and oldest children Parade in USA.