A feeling for tradition

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 4:45 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 23-24, 2005

For more information on Folklife Apprenticeships, including applications, go to nevadaculture.org or call Anne Hatch at (702) 486-3700.

When Ixela Gutierrez approached two promising students in her Mexico Vivo dance troupe about showing them how to teach Mexican folkloric dance, Marisol Hernandez and Noemy Avalos wondered how they could afford such a class.

Hernandez, a 21-year-old UNLV radiology student, and Avalos, 18, who is entering UNLV this fall, had to buy books and pay tuition for those studies, so they didn't figure they could take on the cost of costumes and the travel associated with teaching dance.

Hernandez, a Mexican-born U.S. citizen, wanted to teach Mexican folk dance to keep in touch with her roots and pass on traditions, but teaching it "can really get expensive," she said.

"Without help, we just couldn't do it," she said.

That help came in the form of a $2,500 Folklife Apprenticeship grant Gutierrez recently received through the Nevada Arts Council. The federal grants are designed to fund teaching programs for traditional artists who practice ages-old crafts.

Since 1988, the Nevada Arts Council has given out about $400,000 through that program to artists statewide.

"When the program started, the primary recipients of the grants were Native Americans, who received money to teach things such as basket weaving and bead work," said Nevada Arts Council Folklife Program associate Anne Hatch.

"As our state has experienced increased diversity, groups from more diverse cultures have over the years applied for and received the grants."

This year five of the 12 grants, totaling $12,000, went to Southern Nevadans. The other local grants were:

Seven other grants totaling $17,380 were awarded elsewhere in Nevada for art forms, including American Indian basket weaving, rawhide braiding, traditional Western-style engraving, Chinese fan dancing and Indian hand quilting.

Some may question whether thousands of dollars should be spent on teaching things such as basket weaving when there are shortages of police officers, the need for new roads and the pressing demand to feed and shelter the homeless, Hatch said.

"We get that question a lot, and it goes right to the heart of whether the arts matter," Hatch said. "Each year, before city, count, state and federal governments, questions are asked regarding the need for funding social services, education, public safety, health care or cultural activities.

"Often, the arts get less, and we have to do more with less money. But the arts also are important and they need to be funded. With folk art there is a meaning beyond the art. It is about cultural heritage and history."

And, Hatch said, the Folklife Apprenticeship grants offered to each state are just about the only federal money available to folk artists. And, if that money is not used for such programs, it goes back to the federal coffers.

"This grant reaches that special niche," she said, noting that each year there are only about 25 applicants statewide, meaning, at present, each applicant has about a one-in-two chance of getting a grant.

"Because the odds are so good, we encourage artists to apply for these grants."

Jeffery Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts at UNLV, says preserving folk art is important to maintaining strong ties to diverse cultural pasts.

"Folk art is yet another way to express one's self, and there is a certain amount of creativity and interpretation to it," he said. "A particular form of folk art may not be my cup of tea, but I'm not going to put it down just because I do not understand it.

"What you can learn from folk art is an appreciation of a culture, an appreciation of what other people feel is important. Art is supposed to stimulate you, force you to ask questions."

But there are limits to the kind of art for which Folklife Apprenticeship grants can be awarded, Hatch said, noting she once rejected an application from a person who wanted to teach people how to make fun balloon animals.

But past Nevada recipients of the grants have included teachers of such unusual forms of art as Polish paper-cutting, Ukranian egg-writing, Shoshone storytelling, cowboy hat making and Paiute plant uses.

Mexican-born Ixela Gutierrez, 40, who said that at one time she performed with Mexico's national dance company, talks passionately about making sure the type of dance to which she has devoted her life will be enjoyed by generations to come.

"I want to pass on the knowledge so that we can reach more people with our dance," said Gutierrez, who now is a U.S. citizen.

Her students echo that sentiment.

"This dance represents my culture," said U.S.-born Avalos, whose mother was born in Mexico. "Dance teaches us about our roots."

Hernandez says her family has taught her about the Aztecs and the foods of Mexico. She says learning and performing folk dancing has given her an even greater understanding of her rich culture, "something I can pass on to my children in the future."

Preservation of that culture would seem even more significant in the wake of recent U.S. Census projections that, by 2025, one of every four Nevadans will be Hispanic.

While learning to become dance instructors, Hernandez and Avalos will continue performing in Mexico Vivo productions. Their next performance will be in Folk Rock, slated for Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Winchester Theatre, where they will perform traditional Mexican dances to 1950s rock 'n' roll tunes.

Gutierrez founded Mexico Vivo in 1995 and has put on performances in the West, throughout the United States and overseas. The company in late June co-hosted and performed in Las Vegas' second annual International Folk Festival.

Gutierrez received her first Folklife Apprenticeship grant in 1995. She said she probably will not apply for another for a while, unless there is a need to train more students to become Mexican folk dance teachers.

"I am glad they spread this money around to different artists," she said. "I know the people who teach the Ukranian embroidery and the Peruvian dance, and I am so happy they also got grants this year.

"We are all struggling to keep our traditions alive. A little bit like this helps us a lot. This is a unique grant, and I hope it is available for a long time to come to help other artists pass on their knowledge and art."