University Folklorico Summit (UFS), an initiative of Danzantes Unidos, provides a forum for university group leaders to share the best practices to help promote and sustain their campus organizations.
As university folklórico groups, it is our responsibility to be ambassadors for our communities. It is also our responsibility to provide the safe space for constructive discourse and study to take place. We take the responsibility to be mentors to local folklórico groups in both schools and our communities and help bridge the gap of folklórico dancers and musicians that stay in the community and those that leave to go to college. It is only by working interdepentently as compañeros, amigos, hermanos y hermanos, as a collective of individuals that we will educate ourselves and those after us of the legacy our passion has left and yet prepare them for the challenge it poses.
It is our mission to continue the siembra, to take back what we have learned and shared y sembrar las semillas de la consciencia. Así, continuará nuestra música, nuestros bailes, nuestra cultura, nuestra historia. Esas semillas que sembraremos no solo serán un testamento de lo que aquí acordamos, sino también serán un testamento de agradecimiento a nuestros abuelos, abuelas, maestros y maestras, nuestros líderes, guerrilleros de nuestra gente. Lo hacemos en honor a nuestras raíces, nuestros antepasados, y con las esperanzas, no, la certeza de que un día, nuestros hijos podrán cosechar los frutos abundantes de nuestra comunidad.
¡Continúen la lucha,
continúen la canción,
continúen el zapateado,
que todo junto,
dice muy bonito,
Quienes son!
--Josh Vazquez
It is the goal of this summit to provide the opportunity for our youth to come together and collectively share the best practices among us as grupos folklóricos universitarios. Using the diversity of our voices and experiences, we will be able to begin a dialogue for the reason of defining our purposes and being proactive to our needs as collegiate folklórico groups, rather than being reactive to our immediate environments.
The Summit strives to educate the next generation of folklórico student leaders of the multiple facets and characteristics that make up an efficient and sustainable university folklórico group. By the ending of this summit, it is the hope that we all carry the semillas de consciencia back to our respective groups and nurture our folklórico groups to continue developing as strong representatives of our shared history, cultura, and experience. An equal and representative number of student leaders will be invited to participate and contribute to the summit.
