Grupo Folklorico Juan Colorado: Keeping Youth Active Through Folklore Dancing

The Power of Stories is an archive of projects submitted every year to Building Healthy Communities (BHC) Statewide Convening. It showcases work created throughout California highlighting the power of individual and collective efforts to promote health and demonstrates how stories have the power to re-imagine and transform our communities. Produced in partnership with the California Endowment.

Project submitted by: Grupo Folklorico Juan Colorado

Project summary: Showcasing all of the hidden treasures of Merced County, in addition to changing the stories we tell about our community, telling the untold stories/history of community transformation, lifting up the voices of historically marginalized communities, and building the power of people to make changes in community.

BHC site: Southwest/East Merced

The group was established in 2005 by Carolina Arceo as an after school program. The group is made up of about 50 participants from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. The main goal of the group is to provide folk dance instruction to the children in an effort to keep them active and healthy and to ensure that the culture of folklore dancing stays in their lives.