Juan Alejandro Rax Jul
Artist-in-Residence 2025
Dance of the Macaws—Danza de las Guacamayas

A conversation with the keeper of the Dance of the Macaws: A pre-contact Maya
tradition still practiced in the Maya-Pocomchí community in Guatemala
15 March to 06 April 2025

Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas is excited and honored to bring Juan Alejandro Rax Jul, primary dancer and keeper of La Danza de las Guacamayas (The Dance of the
Macaws) from Santa Cruz Verapaz, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. His efforts in 2023 precipitated the dance’s designation as Patrimonio Cultural Intangible de la Nación — Intangible Cultural Treasure of Guatemala, due to its documented pre-contact roots, oral history, and continuous presentation by the Santa Cruz Verapaz community. This is a special opportunity to learn directly from this generation’s culture bearer, Juan Alejandro Rax, during a one or two day stay in your community. This interactive program will interest teachers and students of Native American cultures, Latin American Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology at the university and upper primary, middle, and high school levels. Alejandro Rax will be in the US and will be available for presentations, conversations, and dance workshops from March 15 to April 08, 2025. Raíces staff will collaborate with you to tailor each program to your curriculum and make teacher resources available to facilitate lesson plans.

 

About Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas

For 34 years, Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas has promoted, increased awareness, and celebrated all that is rich, dynamic and beautiful in Latin American culture. We do more than simply present music, dance, and visual arts performances and workshops: we explain and give context to these art forms to educate groups of all ages.

We present in schools, universities, museums, businesses, government agencies, and community festivals with artists from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, the Caribbean region, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. We also develop lecture-presentations explaining these colorful and diverse traditions. Contact us at info@raicesculturales.org for more information and how we can develop a successful program for your audience!

We accomplish our mission with programs in Philadelphia such as the Noche de Bohemia and Feria del Barrio (as a sponsoring organization), our ongoing partnership with the Down Jersey Folklife Center at WheatonArts, and our Washington, DC activities including at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair. Your generous contribution helps us build on these programs and increase our reach to both Latino and non-Latino audiences. As always, thank you for your support!  

Share your passion for Latin American art and culture by becoming a supporter today!

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We enjoyed our first Noche de Bohemia on October 18, exploring the Latin bolero! Our next Noche de Bohemia will take place on Friday, February 7 at 6 pm at AMLA at Esperanza in Philadelphia.  Thank you for your interest!

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We were at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which featured a marimba concert by Marimba Maya AWAL and traditional Guatemalan kites made by visual artist Ubaldo Sánchez. The event took place at the National Mall in Washington, DC, from Wednesday, June 27 to Monday, July 1. The annual Festival draws a large, enthusiastic crowd and is an experience that you don’t want to miss next year! For more information, go to https://festival.si.edu/

See NPR article featuring Ubaldo and other visual artists at https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/07/06/g-s1-8220/indigenous-smithsonian-folklife-festival-artists-skateboarders

The 40th annual Feria del Barrio took place on Sunday, September 8, 2024 in Philadelphia at Taller Puertorriqueño at 2600 N. 5th St. (5th and Huntingdon Sts.) feriadelbarrio.org