About Us
Ballet Folklorico de Chicago was founded in 2018 by three Latino college-educated professionals raised in the north side of Chicago. The three had a desire to enroll their children in cultural/artistic programs; however, despite the large and growing population of Mexicans living on the north side of Chicago, there were no such programs. Too busy to travel and convinced that there were other parents searching for the same cultural experiences for their children, they decided to start their own. Tapping into their network of friends, they began to offer low-cost Mexican folkloric dance lessons for children and adults out of a park district auditorium. The response was so overwhelming that the school quickly outgrew the park district auditorium and moved into the current store front studio located at 4910 W. Irving Park Road. In fact, BFC is now the largest non-profit organization that offers Mexican ballet folklorico in the entire Midwest with over 400 students currently enrolled. We also partner with Chicago Public Schools and offer various after-school programs in our community.
We are responsible college professionals. Our goal is to provide a premier Mexican Ballet Folklorico school and also take pride in making it an all-inclusive organization for future generations. We offer classes to kids ages 2 and up through all age ranges of adults. Our students come from all over the city and suburbs and we even have a student that drives in from Michigan on the weekends!
We strive to teach and retain all parts of our culture including our valuable dance, language and traditions. We also volunteer and give back to our community and have long-term philanthropic aspirations. We invest in our community by providing college scholarships to high school seniors to continue pursuing their academic and artistic dreams . We care about the community we serve and take this responsibility seriously. We are committed to getting more people involved in the arts and expanding the folklorico universe and arts ecosystem.
Our Instructors
Maestra:
Miriam Janet Gomez
Miriam is our lead instructor and is orginally from Guadalajara Jalisco. She studied at the University of Guadalajara and has danced since the age of 6 specializing in Mexican Ballet Folklorico, Modern Jazz and Hip Hop. She worked in Mexico for the cultural house of Guadalajara, DIF Guadallajara and some SEP and private schools. She is currently the instructor for the “La Academia” class at Ballet Folklorico de Chicago teaching all our adults as well as a couple of kids classes. She is also a highly rated independent choreographer of Quinceaneras.
Miriam es originaria de Guadalajara Jalisco. Estudio en la Universidad de Guadalajara y ha estado bailando desde los 6 años de edad. Las categorías de Baile Folclórico Mexicano, Jazz Moderno, Baile de Salon y Hip Hop. Trabajo en México para la casa de la cultura Guadalajara, DIF Guadalajara, y algunas escuelas de la SEP. Y escuelas privadas. Actualmente maestra de “La Academia” en ballet Folklórico de Chicago, da clases en Christine Belpedios School of Dance y coreografa de Quinceañeras independiente.
Maestra:
Regina Camacho
Regina is 25 years old and has been dancing for 7 years. She is both a dancer and instructor for La Escuelita at Ballet Folklorico de Chicago. She also danced while in college with Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Northwestern: Ritmo de mis ancestors where her love for folklorico began. Regina is from Michoacan, Mexico and is passionate about her culture. She wants to help students learn more about their Mexican roots through dance. Regina can’t wait to see how these little dancers grow into more professional and confident dancers.
Maestra:
Betsy Corral
Betsy is 22 years old and has been dancing ballet folklórico since she was 4 years old. She is from Durango, Mexico and loves to spread and share her culture everyone. She gets her passion for dancing from her mother since she also danced the majority of her life. She worked for Neiu 21st century pathways to help start and teach a folklórico program in Berwyn Middle Schools. Besides dancing, she loves working with kids and is currently a preschool special education teacher.
Maestra:
Sacha Bravo
Sasha Bravo is 22 years old and has been dancing Mexican folklore since she was 5 years old. Her family is from Mexico City and her passion for Mexican folklore is driven by her love for her Mexican culture and it’s traditions, especially, being able to express herself through art and culture. She has worked as an instructor with the NEIU TRIO UB and 21st century programs for 3 years. She looks forward to meeting and teaching those who are motivated and willing to learn. As well as those, who want to have fun!
Maestra:
Vanessa Rivera
Vanessa started dancing at the age of 9. She fell in love with all forms of dance and studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop, Latin dance, and rececently folklorico. She was given the opportunity to become a dance teacher at 13 and has been teaching dance ever since. Vanessa is both a dancer and instructor at Ballet Folklorico de Chicago. Her family is from Michoacan and Colima, Mexico. She is currently a middle school teacher and an independent quinceañera choreographer. Vanessa comntinues to share her love for dance and her culture with her students and hopes to provide a fun and creative learning environment for her students to flourish.
Enrich knowledge of cultural heritage and preserve traditions
Ballet Folklorico de Chicago (Chicago’s largest and most inclusive organization) is a non-profit Mexican folkloric dance organization. Our goal is to provide the most affordable cultural and artistic programming for our community. We aim to preserve traditions for future generations and improve our community’s involvement in the arts. We engage with each other in rehearsals and event participation to promote wholesome and family-friendly activities that elevate our reputation in the community. We cultivate and invest in our future generations and help our students achieve higher education goals by awarding college scholarships and maximizing leadership opportunities.
Class Schedules
Please note: We are open 7 days a week and have classes for kids from the ages of 2 through all ages for adults. We have different levels for beginners, intermediate and advanced students. We announce all our upcoming registrations on Facebook and Instagram. We usually have new registrations in September, January and May.
Please send us an email to inquire about class availability. Please indicate if you would like kids (age), teens or adult classes and what age ranges for kids. Please let us know if they have experience or are beginners (balletfolkloricodechicago@hotmail.com)
