Estimados,

Greetings from the team at �VivaFest!, where we are in the final countdown for our 2014 workshops. This is a special edition of our newsletter for our workshop community. Below is a message from Maria Luisa Colmenarez, our director of �VivaFest! 2014 Baile Folkl�rico Workshops, with information on schedules and more. We'll be back with a second special edition for mariachi workshop students.

Saludos,

Marcela

A message from Maria Luisa Colmenarez

Saludos �VivaFest'ers!

We are connecting to provide information for the July and August folkl�rico workshops.

If you have not registered for the 2014 workshops, don't delay! We have special activities in store this year that you won't want to miss! If you have already registered, thank you for submitting your online registration for �VivaFest! 2014.  

And a big THANK YOU goes out to our generous host groups at San Jose High School and Abraham Lincoln High School and their leaders Rosie Novotny and Missy Walters. For 2014, we are able to extend the folkl�rico workshop days into a true Folkl�rico Summer Intensive.  Whether or not we can sustain this endeavor in future years will rely totally on you and your active participation to encourage fellow dance-group members to register. �VivaFest! is dedicated to expanding the folkl�rico experience, and will be working closely with your group directors in the coming months to attain feedback and input for �VivaFest! 2015.

But for now, back to 2014 ...

If you registered and have not paid, that payment is due now.  We need your dollars to invest back into the project and bring you the exciting lineup that we have planned for you.  Please print out your festival confirmation and send along with a check to: �VivaFest! 255 North Market Street, Suite 246, San Jose, Ca. 95110.

You can also fax your application with credit card information to 408-920-6075, or call us at 408-920-6070 and we can process a credit card payment.

Please note that registration deadlines apply and that those rates go UP as time passes.  You can hang on to your $75 registration bracket by responding today.  Thank you for your prompt action.

Read on for this summer's full workshop schedule.

Saludos!

Maria Luisa Colmenarez
�VivaFest! 2014 Maestra & Folkl�rico Workshop Coordinator

Dancers in festive costumes at our 2009 gala.

Our folkl�rico schedule

July 25, 26 & 27

Ages 14+, intermediate and advanced only. Please present your student body card onsite as proof of age.

San Jos� High School

275 N. 24th St., San Jos�
9am-3pm Friday and Saturday
9-noon class plus 1pm recital and presentation of certificates on Sunday

Direct from Las Cruces, New Mexico, Maestro Jos� Tena returns to San Jos�! He and fellow instructor Maria Luisa Colmenarez will set the material for the �VivaFest! 2014 Jalisco Suite, a potpourri that includes El Gavilancillo, El Zopilote Viejo and El Cuervo. As an added bonus, Jos� Tena will teach a Tamaulipas Norte suite with a polka, redova and shotis. Note: Male dancers, please bring sarapes AND gavanes. An .mp3 file for the Jalisco Suite will be distributed very soon.

July 28, 29 & 30

All ages, minimum two years dance experience.
Lincoln High School 

555 Dana Ave., San Jos�

9am-noon
Morning sessions will include breakdown and review of the �VivaFest! 2014 Jalisco Suite along with tecnica of Jalisco footwork & skirtwork by Maestras Maria Luisa Colmenarez & Rosie Novotny. Afternoon sessions will be taught by guest Maestros Rudy Figueroa, Erik Noel Diaz & Rudy Garcia.

Monday, July 28

1:30-4pm
Rudy Figueroa: Son Veracruzano (fandango-style). Maestro Figueroa will teach a Son de a Monton, Son de Pareja, and speciality dances of the fandango. Note: Dancers, please bring a paleacate (handkerchief). Ladies will need a mid-calf-length skirt.

Tuesday, July 29

1:30-4pm
Erik Noel Diaz: Aguascalientes

Wednesday, July 30

1:30-4pm

Rudy Garcia: Partner dance relationship with special attention to men's styling. Multiple regions will be highlighted.  Male dancers, please bring Jalisco, Veracruz, Norte & Huapango hats.

Thursday, July 31
10am-3pm
Auditions for the White House Conference for Arts Education

Special for �VivaFest! 2014!!
�VivaFest! 2014 Mariachi and Folklorico education programs will be showcased on August 27 (evening) at the White House Conference for Arts Education in a prominent Bay Area venue that will be revealed during the workshops. Students enrolled in the workshops may audition.  Seventy students will be selected for this prestigious event. Read more about the event below.

Friday, August 1
10am to 2pm
A material review and tech rehearsal for �VivaFest! 2014 Concert with Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Silicon Valley Symphony. Dancer call time and detailed schedule will be shared during workshops.

The �VivaFest! 2014 Concert will be held on Friday evening at San Jos� State University. This event will be free and open to the public.

There's so much more to announce this summer! Read on to learn more about the White House Conference for Arts Education, and to get a sneak peek of the upcoming festival.

 

 

�VivaFest! goes to Washington (via California)

A full schedule of �VivaFest! performing and visual arts activities will be announced in our next newsletter, but here is a "sneak peek" at one of our faculty artists: William Faulkner, master harp instrumentalist. Register for William's workshop here. 

William's interest in mariachi began in 1971 when he bought a Mariachi Vargas record in a flea market for 25�.  Shortly afterward, he began playing guitarr�n and vihuela. In 1979 he started playing harp in mariachi, and two years later was studying with Arturo Mendoza, a harpist with Mariachi Vargas from 1945 to 1995. William also travelled to Zapotiltic to meet Arturo's father, Jos� Mendoza, a noted harp soloist who also had played with Mariachi Vargas in the 1930s.  Since then, William has continued to play in the style typical of southern Jalisco and specialize in sones jaliscienses.

Wlliam was the director and harpist of Mariachi Mixtl�n from 1980 to 1998, and also has performed solo on Jalisco harp since 1983. He has performed with various other mariachis, notably Mariachi International from Tucson, Arizona, and Mariachi Cobre, taking stages throughout the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Spain. In Mexico, he has participated as a soloist in Fiestas de Octubre in Guadalajara, and performed in Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Lagos de Moreno, Tequila, Zapotl�n el Grande, Zapotlanejo, Zaoptiltic, Autl�n, El Grullo, Sayula, Chapala, Ocotl�n, Tototl�n, and numerous other towns. He is the official harpist for the town of Tequila, and an adopted son of Zapotiltic.

William directed the musical workshops at the Mariachi Espectacular in Albuquerque from 1991 to 1995, and has given workshops in Guadalajara; Mexico City; San Jos�, California; Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and San Antonio, Texas, as well as playing festivals in other cities. 

William prides himself on representing and teaching the traditional style of mariachi harp, and we can't wait to have him share it with us.

Harpist William Faulkner.