GW Folklórico, a student-run dance group at the George Washington University, performed at a White House reception hosted by President Joe Biden in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The September event, dedicated to acknowledging the contributions of the Hispanic and Latino community in the United States, provided a stage for GW Folklórico to showcase traditional dances from Latin America.
Four Cisneros Scholars were invited to the White House event: Folklórico co-president Malyna Gomez Trujillo, dancers Rick Tzompa-Chimal and Mia Portillo and Marko Sánchez, also a Cisneros Scholar and the group’s media director, who attended to capture photos of the performance.
“I am incredibly grateful and proud to have been given the opportunity to represent my culture in such a beautiful way,” Portillo said. “This month may be Hispanic Heritage Month, but it is not the only time of the year that our voices should be amplified.”
Tzompa similarly looks forward to continuing his involvement with Folklórico, viewing this performance as just the beginning of his journey to “continue dancing and building a strong Hispanic identity here at GW.”
Dancers said this opportunity was a reminder of the importance of celebrating their roots and sharing their cultural identity with a wider audience.
“Performing Folklórico at the White House meant celebrating our culture and our community’s contributions in a space that was not originally designed for us,” Gomez Trujillo said. “Our performance is a reminder of how far we have come.”
GW Folklórico was co-founded in 2019 by Cisneros Scholar Jocelyn Marquez, B.A. '22, to create an inclusive environment where people, regardless of their background, can be immersed in Latino culture and learn traditional dances from Latin America. The group is next scheduled to perform at ¡RÍTMO!, a showcase of Latino dance groups from across the GW and D.C. communities that will cap this year’s GW Hispanic Heritage Celebration.
This story first appeared on the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute website.
