Art Form: ballet folklórico and Latino dance

Location(s): Lansing (Ingham County)

Lorenzo Lopez

Lorenzo Lopez holding one of his dance shoes

Lorenzo Lopez shows the sole of one of his dance shoes, photo by Nic Gareiss

Born on Lansing’s Northside to parents who were deeply involved in founding the Cristo Rey Church and Community Center, dancer Lorenzo Lopez’s birthright is community leadership. His parents were active in the Mexican-American community in Lansing, negotiating for the rights of migrant workers and even helping found the Mexican baseball team, Los Cardinales. Instead of joining that baseball team, Lorenzo chose dance. Beginning at the age of six, learning and performing Mexican folkloric dance at the Mexican Independence Day celebrations sponsored by the Mexican Patriotic Committee of Lansing, El Comité Patriótico Mexicano, gave him the opportunity to explore dance as a major passion. His mother, Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Edelmira "Delma" Lopez, was a major supporter of her son both as an artist and as a gay man. She spent time introducing him to the social dances she learned in her youth. His pursuit of Mexican folkloric dance, across many danzas (regional folk styles), as well as his study of flamenco, cumbia, salsa, and other Latin partner dance forms, have positioned Lorenzo as a culture-bearer within both Mexican-American and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Michigan. A graduate of the Michigan State University School of Education, the pairing of performance and education is important to Lorenzo’s creative practice.

Lorenzo’s role in dance began as a student, first learning Mexican folkloric dance in his local community and then studying ballet, castanets, and other forms as a college student. He traveled every summer to Mexico City to study intensively. Lorenzo moved to Mexico City to deepen his studies of baile folklórico (also known as ballet folklórico), zapateado, and flamenco, studying dance with the Escuela de Danza Instituto de Mizoc and with the world-renowned Ballet Folklórico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez. While living in Mexico City, Lorenzo gained a broader understanding of the cluster of cultural forms known as Mexican folkloric dance. This term encompasses dances of the indigenous Mayan and Aztec cultures of Mexico, Mestizo dances (Spanish mixed with Indigenous dances), and colonial Bailes de Época European dances (schottische, waltz, redova, polka, mazurka). Lorenzo also studied Spanish flamenco and Latino dances of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Venezuela, including the cha-cha-cha, merengue, paso doble, cumbia, and salsa.

Rather than stay in Mexico City to pursue a professional career as a performer or teach in a conservatory setting, Lorenzo chose to return home and use his dancing as a means to increase visibility for Mexican-American, Latinx, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Michigan. Lorenzo transitioned to a teaching role, bringing information and insight about Mexican folkloric and Latin dance back to the Latinx communities of greater Lansing and southeast Michigan. He taught in college programs and at weekend workshops, also working with dance companies (Rieces Mexicanas de Detroit). He formed his own dance company Ballet Folklorico Lopez, formed Sabor Latino as co-director, danced with Ballet Hispanico, and was part of a Spanish dance ensemble under the director of Maria Mills. His contribution has spanned generations of presenting thorough dance, choreography, costuming and information, representing a variety of Latino dance forms of which very few in Michigan have accomplished. As part of his experience, he has also directed major Latino dance concerts in connection with the State of Michigan Department of Education, Lansing Community College, Cristo Rey Community Center, Mexican Patriotic Committee of Lansing, and Latino Festival of Grand Rapids.

However, it is as a community leader that Lorenzo has contributed most effectively. He is a presence that helps amplify the voices of Mexican-American and queer communities in Lansing, serving on mayor Andy Shor’s committee for the arts, working with Suits and the City (a Lansing 2SLGBTQIA+ organization), among many other affiliations and involvements. Lorenzo is a consummate community organizer, he connects entities with his characteristic grace, charm, and self-deprecating humor. Lorenzo often points out that these are traits one learns on the dance floor– how to hold oneself, how to lead responsively, how to listen, and knowing when to use a light touch or when to hold focus. Lorenzo’s background in the diverse range of Mexican folkloric and Latin dance practices have poised him a community leader, emerging from his life as a traditional dancer. As the co-chair of Michigan Pride, Lorenzo works all year to prepare Lansing’s annual June festival celebrating gender and sexual diversity. He was awarded the 2019 Lansing City Pulse LGBTQ Inclusion Award and the 2020 Talentos Latinos Activist Award from Latinos en Michigan TV. In 2023, he was awarded the Arts and Culture Award from Cafecito Caliente, a Mid-Michigan Latino business networking group. Through his warmth and dedication to these communities, combined with his supreme artistry and inclusive spirit, Lorenzo has become a leader traversing the axis of race, sex, and gender.

- Nic Gareiss, ed. Micah Ling, 2023