MARCH REGISTRATION CLOSED! Stay tuned for what’s coming next!
Enrollment deadline: Saturday, February 27, 2021
Scholarship deadline: Saturday, February 23, 2021
Dates: Saturdays in March at 11am
Cost: $85 for 4 week class series (No Drop Ins)
Age range: 7-11 years old
Meso-American Instrument Making & Storytelling with Maestro Ernesto Olmos
This class is part of La Peña’s Mundo Musicales Kids Class Series, whose curriculum is designed to develop musicianship, physical coordination, self-expression, bilingual literacy/pronunciation skills, multicultural awareness and a strong sense of identity. Maestro Ernesto will provide the children with an introduction to Mesoamerican instruments including whistles, ocarinas, flutes, Mayan trumpets and maracas. They will learn and practice native Meso-American music and percussion. Students will make their own instrument inspired by native storytelling and legends from Oaxaca, Mexico that teach children about environmentalism from a native perspective.
Please note: Some supplies are required for this class, and you are responsible for purchasing those supplies. If you need further clarification or help finding the supplies, please contact us.
Supplies needed:
- 3 Large Plastic Eggs
- Colored Pipe Cleaners
- Popcorn Kernels
- Rubber Bands
- Feathers for Crafting
- White, yellow, red and black construction paper
- Scissors
- Colored markers
- Black pipe cleaners
- White glue
- Printables: [PDF version] or [Docx version]
Teacher Bio: Ernesto Olmos
Ernesto Hernandez Olmos was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico. He is a multi-talented artist, specializing in many cultural art forms of the pre-Columbian peoples of Meso-America including music, dance, storytelling, sculpture, painting and making traditional instruments out of wood and clay. He contemparizes the traditional music forms from Oaxaca in addition to creating his own compositions and makes instruments based on Meso-American design including flutes, drums and whistles fashioned from wood, clay, gourds and bone. His music/dance group, Besh Beni (Jaguar of Light) creates Toltec, Zapotec and Mistec inspired performances for schools, cultural events and traditional gatherings throughout California and internationally. Ernesto is a stimulating and interactive teacher; he educates youth and adults about native cultures as they create enjoyable art with a cultural message. He is an inspired painter and has created hundreds of paintings in oil, acrylic, pastels – virtually any media that he can find he enjoys exploring. He has created three murals in Oakland, including one at the MacArthur Bart Station specially commissioned by the City of Oakland, and one mural in Berkeley. He has been based in the Bay Area since 1997.
Juliana Mendonca is a Venezuelan Contemporary Dance performer, choreographer and teacher specializing in Latin dance, contemporary dance, as well as yoga and body expression for children. She graduated with a degree in dance from the University Institute of Caracas, Venezuela in 2005 and is also a certified Yoga instructor. She taught in the Performing Arts Department of the University of the Andes in Mérida, Venezuela 2012-2015 and at the Traditional Dance Program of the National University for the Arts in 2008. In 2005, Juliana co-founded Raíz de Agua, a music and dance company, which is her principal artistic endeavor. Since then, she has performed mostly as a solo artist with the Company and through dance has found a way to connect her creativity to spirit and nature, compounded with a unique feminine and artistic self-awareness. Juliana has worked in collaboration with other artists and companies such as Sarta de Cuentas, an Afro- Venezuelan contemporary dance company, Fundación Andróginos, a physical theater company and played the leading role in Xarop, a movie about Venezuelan Llanero music and dance. She has also worked in a wide variety of projects and events in conventional and non-conventional spaces such as plazas, galleries, museums, parks and national and international festivals. Juliana is currently based in Oakland, California.
