Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza


The Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza is an authentic cultural festival with food, music, dance, music, and crafts presented each spring by Senderos. This local festival is like the traditional fiestas celebrated each summer in Oaxaca, Mexico. Guelaguetza is a Zapotec word that means “a commitment of sharing and cooperation.” Guelaguetza is a celebration that honors the gods for sufficient rainfall and a bountiful harvest.

2023 Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza

Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza Santa Cruz 2022

The video includes new performances by Senderos’ Centeotl Danza y Baile & Ensamble Musical.

We have the honor to share Guelaguetza all the way from Oaxaca with performances by:

  • Danzantes from La Villa De Zaachila
  • Bailarines from Huajuapan de León y Tlaxiaco
  • Banda de Centro de Integración Social No. 8
  • Banda Filarmónica Infantil Juvenil “Macedonio Alcalá”

** This video is presented in Spanish. To watch with English captions**

  1. Enable captions by clicking on the CC icon.
  2. Click on the “Settings” icon, select “Subtitles/CC,” and then click “Auto Translate.” A list of languages you can translate into will be displayed. Select “English.”
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For the third year due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to be together in person in downtown Santa Cruz for our authentic food, music, dance, and crafts cultural festival like those held annually in Oaxaca, Mexico.

This production was made possible from support from Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Arts Council Santa Cruz County, California Arts Council, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Consul General de Mexico en San Jose, Santa Cruz City Schools, and many individual and business donors.

Guelaguetza Santa Cruz 2021

We invite you to our Guelaguetza 2021 Virtual, an indigenous Oaxacan dance and music festival.

This year’s event features new performances by Senderos’s Centeotl Danza y Baile and Ensamble Musical, as well as honored guest performances from Oaxaca by danzantes from La Villa De Zaachila and bailarines from Huajuapan de León y Tlaxiaco. The program begins with our beloved Banda de Música from Centro de Integración Social #8 (CIS) in the Sierra Norte mountains of Oaxaca.

Guelaguetza is Senderos’s gift to the community.

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 00:16 Recordando los lindos momentos con el CIS #8
  • 14:44 Organizacion Senderos
  • 19:00 Ensamble Musical Senderos
  • 34:16 Chinas Oaxaquenas
  • 43:20 Bebida Ancestral
  • 44:34 Danza de la Pluma Cosijoesa
  • 1:02:34 Centeotl – Huautla de Jimenez
  • 1:07:59 Centeotl – El Torito Serrano
  • 1:18:14 Sones y Jarabes de Tlaxiaco
  • 1:30:13 Centeotl – Istmo
  • 1:43:03 Centeotl – Pinotepa Nacional
  • 1:57:13 Kaiser invita a vacunarse
  • 1:58:50 Datos Historicos de la Danza de la Pluma
  • 2:09:26 Danza de la PlumaTeotzapotlan
  • 2:25:26 Datos sobre la Danza de la Pluma
  • 2:23:09 Centeotl – Flor de Pina
  • 2:41:24 La mujer de Zaachila
  • 2:41:57 Jarabe Mixteco
  • 2:52:54 Agradecimientos

Senderos dancers and musicians have been keeping the spirit of Guelaguetza year-round. The commitment of sharing and cooperation that Guelaguetza inspires is something that Senderos and so many in our community have been dedicated to throughout this pandemic. 

For the second year due to COVID restrictions we are not able to be together in person in downtown Santa Cruz, California. Guelaguetza is usually our biggest fundraising event which enables us to provide FREE cultural arts, education support and scholarships, and family support services, especially important during the last year. If you are inspired by the spirit of Guelaguetza, you can donate here. Thank you!

Enjoy Guelaguetza 2018 and 2019:

Why Guelaguetza in Santa Cruz? / We Are Guelaguetza

Read this wonderful Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) blog post by Helen Aldana, MAH’s Intercultural Programs Coordinator and President-Elect of the Senderos Board of Trustees. Watch this beautiful video Somos Guelaguetza (We Are Guelaguetza) by filmmaker Megan Martinez Goltz.