Within the broader context of the representation of Latinas in higher education, the purpose of this study is to investigate the post-secondary aspirations of Latinas who were involved in a community-based folklórico program. In addition, this study seeks to understand how participating in folklórico programs can influence the college and career aspirations of Latinas, if at all. Finally, this study examines the skills developed by participating in folklórico programs that are transferable to education and career goals or life in general. The theoretical framework of this study was Yosso’s (2005) concept of community cultural wealth and included the expansion of community cultural wealth by Rendon, Nora, and Kanagala (2014). The method of this study was an instrumental case study using individual semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and document analysis to collect data. The findings of this study described the influence of participation in community-based folklórico programs for Latinas, and the development of transferable skills. This study informs educational leaders about the importance of developing pathways to college for folklórico participants that are equipped with the skills, qualities, and capital necessary to be successful in higher education.

In the context of Chicanx experiences in the United States, where varying generations of Chicanxs experience bicultural realities, this study shows how embodied knowledge performed through the body’s movements in folklórico dance by Chicanx youth from multiple generations, acts as a mechanism for reconnecting youth to cultural ties, reevaluating educational practices, and emplacing within youth, the ability to foster the confidence to express and create imagined futures. Data collection incorporated a series of interviews with eight Chicanx youth and adults who have either taught or danced folklórico in the Phoenix, Los Angeles, or Coachella Valley areas. Interview participants revealed a strong sense of cultural orgullo that acts as a bedrock for their cultural identity affirmation and reclamation. This orgullo and other cultural knowledges such as familismo and collective consciousness were emphasized through pedagogies of embodiment. Dancers described learning these cultural knowledges not just through the embodiment of physical dance steps but through the embodiment of social customs honored by their folklórico communities. Much of these social customs centered around fostering and maintaining relationships of genuine, holistic caring. These relationships were foundational for personal, mental, and emotional growth of dancers. Through these relationships, individual identities found the support to thrive within collective communities. Given the influx of educational pedagogies that attempt to depersonalize, depoliticize, and de-emotionalize the education through the implementation of tracking systems, standardized tests, and culturally inaccessible curriculums, these stories suggest alternate forms of learning that may account for students’ entire well-being. While this project is very much about reclaiming historical pasts, it is also about re-envisioning educational possibilities, discovering inner potentials and building collective communities that recognize and rejoice in those potentials. Through this study, a deeper understanding of the functions of movement and dance will strengthen platforms that push arts education and ethnic studies to greater educationalist agendas.