Born in El Paso, Rosa Ramirez Guerrero is best known as an artist, dance historian and humanitarian. Also an educator, she taught for El Paso ISD, El Paso Community College and at The University of Texas at El Paso. Throughout her efforts, Rosa placed importance on cultural awareness. “My belief was to lift the spirit, soul and self-esteem of any student I had in my path. I would make them proud of who they were,” Rosa reflected.
Rosa recalls her own teachers in the 1940s and ’50s were not encouraging. At that time, students were punished for speaking Spanish in school, fueling Rosa’s desire to become a teacher herself.
As a result, Rosa was the first of seven children in her family to graduate and earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. “I developed a strong sense of leadership in high school and wanted to continue that as a freshman dance major at Texas State College for Women [now Texas Woman’s University],” Rosa recalled. “My counselor told me I was too pushy and aggressive.”
Hearing this took a toll on Rosa’s self-esteem. Around this time, however, she met her would-be husband, Sergio, and the couple married in 1954. The coach and modern dance instructor would be her soul mate for 62 years, until his passing in 2016.
With Sergio’s support, Rosa started the first folklórico dance group in El Paso in 1970. Burges High School was the first school for the folklórico, sponsored by the Spanish National Honor Society. “We practiced during lunch. Then at El Paso Community College, with the support of Dr. Alfredo de los Santos. We danced at the barracks at Logan Heights, where Ft. Bliss had loaned the college some space,” Rosa outlined. “Then in 1972 at Our Lady of the Light, the first chapel there, and then at St. Joseph’s Church with my first real folklórico.”
Calling it the International Folklórico Dance Group, Rosa served as artistic director and truly began to fulfill her mission of cultural acceptance. “I felt many Mexican Americans did not know their culture, or they denied it. If I could share how I felt my culture through dance, they could also build a sense of pride in their heritage through music, dance, folklore, language, literature, the arts, etc.” Rosa said.
Rosa went on to develop the 1974 film, Tapestry, based upon creating cultural harmony, and was honored with a national award for documentary filmmaking. She was a featured dancer in the film, which now has a sequel, Tapestry II.
In 1991, Rosa’s International Folklórico performed at the Kennedy Center. “We were told we were the first folklórico in the nation to perform there!” Rosa noted.
In 1992, Rosa Guerrero Elementary was dedicated by Governor Ann Richards. “That was the naming of the first elementary school for a Latina in El Paso. I still cannot believe it,” Rosa enthused.
Awarded a lifetime membership with the Texas PTA, Rosa credited her parents as her first teachers. “They were the best dancers in the world, I thought. My father knew so many steps, so much music, so much culture, too.”
Rosa officially started dance classes at age 6, and her dance career spanned 78 years. “I still dance sitting down, especially tap, Irish jigs, waltzes, folklórico footsteps called zapateados, Spanish taconeos and all the arm and hand movements possible!” Rosa exclaimed.
Through the years, Rosa has received local, national and international honors, including being named a Distinguished Alumni of The University of Texas at El Paso, inductee into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, the LULAC Arts and Humanities Award, the NEA Human Civil Rights George I. Sanchez Memorial Award and the Mexican Consulate Ohtli Award for her work with Mexican Americans and other minorities. “There should be mandatory human relations classes for all Americans,” Rosa suggested as a significant way to move the country forward in cultural acceptance.
Rosa said seeing her own children — two teachers and a Christian musician — help in their communities makes her as proud as any of her achievements. “Cultural understanding and respect for each other begins in the home,” Rosa credited. “That is where we begin to stop racism.”
Written by Angel Morris
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