When Cristina Landeros was in second grade, she came home with a flyer for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s Folklórico program.
“Having two Mexican parents, they signed me up for it,” she said.
The Folklórico program brought Mexican dance to the Roaring Fork Valley almost three decades ago, but the program ended in December after its executive director retired.
Folklórico is a style of dance that incorporates traditional folk moves with ballet techniques, while showcasing Mexican culture, history and regional diversity.
“I loved it,” Landeros said. “I stayed with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico for 13 years.”
Landeros said the dance also requires a special heeled shoe made of leather, and the steps are unique.
“The steps — they were different than the typical ballet, tap or jazz steps,” she said. “Folklórico is really about going with the music, following the beats.”
Francisco Nevarez-Burgueño taught Landeros throughout her time in the Folklórico program.
He came to the Roaring Fork Valley after studying with some of the world's best folklórico teachers.
“I love my job, and they [kept] me for all these years,” Nevarez-Burgueño said.
He did not just use his own experiences to teach; Nevarez-Burgueño also fundraised to send students on international trips — from Argentina to Greece — to learn other styles of dance.
He decided to retire from his role as executive director in 2025 after 23 years to help care for his aging mother.
“Believe me, I love my job,” he said. “I don't want to say, ‘Oh, I hate it. Oh, thank God I’m retiring.’ It has been a hard decision for me, but I have to do it.”
Nevarez-Burgueño is one of a few people in the world with an expertise in folklórico, so he knew retiring likely meant the end of the program in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Folklórico was Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s only free program, allowing low-income families to experience dance.
Folklórico also gave students a structured activity that allowed them to connect with Mexican culture.
“Of course, it’s going to be a huge gap in the culture, in the traditions of the Mexican culture,” Nevarez-Burgueño said. “Because there's no program in the valley [that] exposes or teaches the young generations about the traditions [of] this kind of dance.”
He also emphasized discipline — not just in his dance classes — but in his students’ home lives and schools.
“Be responsible,” he said. “You come to classes, but you still need to do your homework,” Nevarez-Burgueño said. “You need to help in your house, or you need to show me your report card.”
Funding woes
Free arts programs like Folklórico rely on grants and donations to operate, but arts funding nationally has been in decline.
JM Rivera, the dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities at CU Boulder, said there are fewer federal funding opportunities.
“Which makes it harder for local municipalities and state agencies and universities and schools to then fund the arts,” he said. “It's a trickle-down effect.”
Rivera also said that when the government and private industries divest from the arts, it makes it difficult for society to ask itself important questions.
“It also makes us really question who we are as a people, as a democracy,” he said.
The Trump administration proposed cutting federal arts funding by about 35% in the past year. But other presidents have also cut funding for arts and humanities.
“It's not really political,” Rivera said. “This has been going on for many, many decades.”
Lasting legacy
Landeros is now 20 years old and a student at CU Boulder. She performed her last dance with the Folklórico program in December at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s Nutcracker, where she put on her heeled leather shoes for the last time.
“We were all crying, because it was really our last performance,” she said. “It's our last time ever putting on our shoes. I think we were all just very distraught that the program just ended.”
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet said it has no plans to bring the program back, but Landeros and other alumni will carry their Folklórico experiences for the rest of their lives.
“We've seen it firsthand ourselves, like how big it is part of the Hispanic culture,” she said.
“Being able to have that part here in the Roaring Fork Valley and bring it to everyone here was amazing, because it really did connect a lot of Hispanic kids to that culture.”
She and her friends will also seek new ways to keep the program alive and teach a new generation of students the traditions of folklórico.
