If you ever wanted to learn how to dance in a more professional way than the usual college student method of twitching, writhing and looking vacant, you might get your chance this week.
The UA School of Music is hosting this year’s Viva Arizona! Hispanic Performing Arts Conference, a five-day event celebrating the musical side of Tucson’s Hispanic heritage that includes dance and music workshops and a couple of special music events.
The conference kicks off today at the School of Music and School of Dance with the first of a series of professionally-taught workshops which will last through Saturday. The workshops cost $65 a session, with discounts for multiple classes or groups.
The dance workshops will teach flamenco, salsa, hip-hop and folklorico, while the music workshops will focus on mariachi, Tejano, classical, flamenco guitar and trio (boleros). Don’t get any ideas, though: You have to bring your own musical instruments.
The conference will also host the Viva Arizona! Concert, 100 Years of Hispanic Musical Memories, at Centennial Hall Saturday at 7 p.m. Many of the professionals teaching the workshops will be performing at the concert, which features live music, multimedia presentations and, of course, dancing.
The night’s lineup includes Tejano singers Olga Flores and Lorenzo Mendez, Los Gallegos, Las Vegas’s Mariachi Plata, the Los Hermanos Perez Trio, the Viva Arizona! dancers and more.
Reserved seats are $15 to $25 in advance, with discounts for seniors and children.
The conference ends Sunday with the Elisa Gastellum Memorial Foundation dinner at El Casino Ballroom, 437 E. 26th St., from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can buy tickets at the Viva Hispanic Performing Arts Center, 706 E. 46th St.
Tickets are $10. All proceeds from the dinner go to the foundation established for Gastellum, a young Tucson mariachi performer who was killed in a car accident in February.
Registration packets for the conference and a full schedule of events are available at www.vivaazworkshops.com. For more information, call Julie Gallego at 520-544-9543.
