Centeotl Danza y Baile

Centeotl Danza y Baile is a folkloric dance group where participants learn and perform traditional Mexican dances. The program offers dance classes and music classes, including instrumental music, and students take part in performances at events and festivals. Traditional dance outfits are provided, and dancers bring their own shoes and other basic dance class materials such as black clothes, tennis shoes, a skirt for girls, a bandana for boys, and a water bottle.

• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: Dance and music classes run in the evenings and on weekends from August to December for the 2025 fall session; music classes begin in September 2025.
• Price: FREE classes for children and adults; all programs are free to participants.

Dance classes include multiple levels such as Folk 1, Folk 2 Beginner and Advanced, Folk 3 Beginner, Academy, Folk 4 – Adult Beginner, Company Advanced, and Danza de la Pluma Beginner, with specific days and times in the late afternoon and evening. Music classes include Instrumentación Percusiones, Instrumentación Básico, Instrumentación Avanzado, Banda, Banda (seccional), Ejercicios Grupales, Iniciación Musical, and Iniciación Musical (instrumento), with options Monday through Saturday in the late afternoon and evening. Visitors or parents are not allowed in rehearsals, and families are asked to have dancers arrive and be picked up on time; teachers share information on where to get supplies, and financial assistance for clothes and supplies is available.

Centeotl Danza y Baile is part of Senderos, a nonprofit whose mission includes creating successful pathways for the Latino community of Santa Cruz County and building cross-cultural connections locally and abroad, and sharing traditional dance and music from Mexico with the community. Senderos performers participate in community events with other organizations and schools, including Friends of State Parks Mole & Mariachi Festival, Santa Cruz Dance Week, Tannery Ethnic Dance Festival, Nopal Fes, Arts Council Ebb and Flow Festival, and UCSC IndigeFest. Senderos community events that involve traditional dance and music include Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza, Diosa Centeotl, Día de los Muertos with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH), Winter Performance: December in Mexico, and Latino Role Models.

Last updated March 11, 2026.