Cinco de Mayo Murrieta Style

They rushed around the backstage. The girls adjusted billowy color-drenched skirts and checked with each other to ensure their flowers and bows sat just right in their jet-black hair.

The boys hung around the edges, decked out in cowboy hats and boleros, waiting patiently for the next number. But they didn’t pass by the watchful eye of Adriana Alarcon without an adjustment or two.

“Tuck in your shirt babe,” said Alarcon, who heads the Murrieta Valley Unified School District’s Ballet Folklorico club, to one of the teens as he headed onto the stage.

“Perfecto,” she said after straightening another one of her dancers’ costumes before ushering him onto stage.

That was the scene backstage at the Murrieta Mesa High School Gershwin Performing Arts Center Thursday evening as the teens treated a well-attended audience to an evening full of energized Mexican dancing in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

Alarcon helped found the Murrieta Ballet Folkloric club 11 years ago. Originally it was exclusively a Murrieta Valley High School club but two years they branched out, bringing Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Mesa into the mix, said Caroline Awbrey, a Vista Murrieta Spanish teacher who also volunteers as a club advisor.

The two-hour performance, complete with an intermission of Mexican food, included dances from states throughout Mexico and even a little modern dancing. Before each dance Jasmin Vitela, president of the Vista Murrieta Latino Union, would let the audience know the significance of the dance. As she later explained, each dance tells a story, unique to its region.

“I think it’s important to show our heritage and to show we still have our traditional beliefs,” said Jasmin, a 16-year-old sophomore.

Ariel Ponce, 18, gestured to the stage as the teens danced a number with rifles and pointed out that the dance represented the Mexican Revolution.

“It makes you get connected back to your roots, you know,” said the Vista Murrieta senior.

Comprised of 30 students, 22 girls and eight boys, the Cinco de Mayo performance is a mainstay of Murrieta Valley Unified School District's Ballet Folklorico’s annual fundraising. The dancers begin preparing for the performance in September, practicing twice a week for about three hours a day.

It’s difficult, flailing the heavy skirts around, pounding the floor with those uncomfortable shoes and dealing with the blisters, but it’s worth it, said Monica Rodriguez.

“We’re all like a big, little family,” said the 17-year-old.  “There’s basically no drama here, we try to stay away from that. We do work really hard. When we’re on the stage practicing and performing there’s nothing that holds us back. We can go out there and be ourselves and no one can judge us.”

Iliana Quintero, who came to watch her two sisters dance and used to dance with the club herself, said she joined the group to get closer to her own Hispanic culture. And having the event on Cinco de Mayo is a good way to educate the masses on the real history of the Mexican holiday, she said.

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day, a common misconception. Actually, Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Mexican Independence Day, when Mexicans were freed from Spanish control, falls on September 16.

Awbrey would love to also stage a performance on Mexican Independence Day but because it falls in September the students aren’t ready yet. For now, Awbrey, who also performed during the event, belting out melodious Mexican ballads, is content, as are her dancers.

“When we practice, we all practice with a smile on our faces,” Monica said.

Two more performances are scheduled at 7 p.m. tonight and Saturday. General admission tickets are $7. Children under 5 are free. Proceeds from Friday's performance will benefit the Murrieta High Schools Scholarship Foundation. Tickets can be purchased prior to the show or online at www.vmhs.net through the Bronco Trading Post.