Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Bolivian Dance Group Spreads Tradition With Help From Those of All Cultures

By Katie Honan | July 18, 2016 7:21am | Updated on July 18, 2016 8:13am
 The Caporales San Simon dancers at a competition at the Queens Museum on July 10.
The Caporales San Simon dancers at a competition at the Queens Museum on July 10.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Katie Honan

CORONA — On most Friday evenings, the covered area by the Long Island Rail Road, near the historic World's Fair Passarelle, turns into a global rehearsal space.

Under the slanted awning, dancers practice moves for an upcoming quinceañera, or 15th birthday celebration, where they're scheduled to perform. Entire teams working on routines for upcoming parades show off the moves from their small towns and villages in South America.

In a corner by the USTA center are the Caporales San Simón dancers, who have met in this space since launching the New York branch of their traditional Bolivian dancing group 16 years ago.

The dancers honor the traditional costumes, steps and music, steeped in both religious tradition and folklore. 

In New York, the Caporales San Simon group is one of the few local organizations to open its membership up to anyone who wants to join.

Kathy Martinez, whose family is Peruvian, grew up listening to Bolivian music. Her father was a professional dancer in Peru, but she preferred the steps to the Caporales and Morenada, another traditional Bolivian dance.

Once she found out about San Simón, she traveled from The Bronx to Queens for an open house. 

She's now the co-captain of the group, and the leader of the female procession.

"It's one of the things I love about this group, the openness," Martinez said. "It's not my fault I wasn't born in Bolivia, but that I love Bolivian culture."

Monserrat Toro, 29, grew up in Queens attending events that represented her Ecuadorian heritage. But she fell in love with the Caporales dancing she'd see at parades and festivals, drawn to the elaborate costumes and lines of dance steps.

"I wanted to find my own way," she said. 

"Dancing has brought many people from all over Latin America to dance together here in New York," she said.

San Simón boasts members coming from Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and beyond. 

"We have one thing in common: to dance Caporales."

The Caporales San Simon practice every Friday near the LIRR at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)

Edgardo Alonzo, 50, who was born in Guatemala, spent 27 years involved in the Hispanic Parade. It was at the parades that that his son, Omar, 26, also fell in love with the dance.

He joined and Alonzo also became involved with San Simón, helping to organize fundraisers and other Bolivian cultural events.

"New York is the most diverse community," he said. He told members that, "if you want this to grow, you have to let me work the way I do with the Hispanic Parade," meaning diversity is encouraged. 

The diversity helps, too, since New York's Bolivian community is smaller than other immigrant groups. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, they are the third smallest Hispanic group in the country, with less than 100,000 immigrants.

Queens has a Bolivian enclave, but Northern Virginia has a larger percentage, members said. The support from dancers of all heritages has helped them survive and grow.

The group got its start after splintering off from an existing group, according to a founder, Victoria Balbuena, who was just 14 when they started.

The Caporales San Simon dancers listen after a practice near the LIRR at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)

She grew up in Bolivia with her mom and stepdad, and started dancing at the age of 8. But like many of the other people in the group, which counts around 80 active members, Balbuena isn't Bolivian.

"I love the energy," she said of the dancing. "You kind of lose yourself when you dance, you lose yourself in the music.

At parades, like ones in Jackson Heights and on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, San Simón members will often dance while wearing their own country's flag.

Still, those who aren't Bolivian work hard to represent the culture as well as they can. 

Part of the tradition of Caporales is traveling to Bolivia before the Catholic holiday of Lent for a massive festival. Dancers perform for nearly 24 hours, ending the miles-long parade at a church after dancing, often in darkness, in the mountains.

Dancers offer up their performances to the Virgin Mary, promising to return for three years as a form of prayer.

This year, ten dancers from San Simón traveled to the mountains, taking a 16-hour bus ride from the airport. 

"It's an extreme devotion," Toro said, who went for the first time.

For Hernandez, who now lives in Yonkers, it reaffirmed why she spends so much time with the Caporales.

"It was so emotional to see that vision with her," she said. "You feel — this is what I to go every Friday in the park. Is it worth it? Yes. It's all worth it."