Relampago Del Cielo Inc

Relámpago del Cielo, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural arts organization which supports the study and preservation of traditional Mexican performing arts through our music, folklore and dance. We will serve as a cultural enrichment service to the community through outreach presentations and educational activities. “Where the roots remain strong!”

For 49 years, Relámpago del Cielo (RDC) has worked to cultivate and celebrate Mexican culture and community in Santa Ana and across Southern California through ballet folklórico dance and music. Over nearly 5 decades, RDC has touched the lives of generations in the community, offering low-cost Mexican ballet folklorico dance classes for all ages (from age 3 years to older adults) and all abilities, dance recitals, and special performances locally and even internationally. Beyond this core work providing world-class instruction and performances, RDC serves as a community and family for many of our students, parents, instructors and professional dancers. Every year, the student recital is highly anticipated by the students, parents and the community. This recital is an opportunity for students to showcase their accomplishments and learning from the prior year, performing on a stage to an audience of over 1,000 attendees. RDC also operates a professional dance company that provides an annual performance at the Musco Center at Chapman University as well as professional dance performances at a variety of venues and for a variety of customers (Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Bowers Museum to name a few) throughout the year.

It is important to note that RDC offers classes to any interested child regardless of physical ability or the family’s ability to pay. Financial aid is available to low-income families to cover tuition fees using a sliding scale. All families who meet prerequisite minimum annual income, as established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, qualify for assistance.

Relámpago del Cielo is dedicated to the study and preservation of traditional Mexican performing arts through our music, folklore and dance. Through ballet folklórico, we also serve as a cultural enrichment service to the community through outreach presentations and educational activities. Our motto is “Where the roots remain strong!” which exemplifies how the strength of our cultural heritage and connection to community and family provides a solid foundation from which our youth can grow and flourish. We are now the oldest operating non-profit grupo folklórico within the region and the largest in the United States. Over nearly 5 decades, RDC has touched the lives of generations in the community, offering low-cost Mexican ballet folklorico dance classes for all ages (from age 3 years to older adults) and all abilities, dance recitals, and special performances locally and even internationally. Beyond this core work providing world-class instruction and performances, RDC serves as a community and family for many of our students, parents, instructors and professional dancers. Furthermore, RDC’s program provides instruction in Mexican dance for approximately 300 students who participate in 12 class levels, from beginner to professional, each year. RDC also operates a professional dance company with approximately 50 members who provide professional dance performances at a variety of venues and for a variety of customers (Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, Musco Center at Chapman University, and Bowers Museum to name a few) throughout the year.

RDC prioritizes arts and culture programming which benefits the families and communities in Santa Ana and across Central Orange County. Central Santa Ana has been the home of RDC since our inception 49 years ago, and a large part of our work is focused on engaging and uplifting this historically underserved community and its residents. RDC was organized in 1975 when a movement of cultural empowerment blossomed in response to pervasive cultural bias which was embedded in history and institutional racism, both conscious and unconscious, and which persists today. RDC acknowledges that people of African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American heritage suffer disparities in access to art and performance spaces, as well as access to education, housing, criminal justice, health, wealth and employment opportunities. We are using dance as a vehicle to not only celebrate and demonstrate the richness of Mexican and indigenous-to-Mexico cultures, but also to educate and break through barriers created by denigrating characterizations of immigrant communities. In doing so, we lift up and support our students, our families and our community who report back to us that they are experiencing improved self-esteem, connection to family and culture, school performance, and hope for the future after participating in our programs.

The majority of RDC's students, instructors and company dancers reside in central Orange County communities, although some travel to our base in Santa Ana from all parts of Orange County as well as Riverside and Los Angeles Counties. Similarly, the majority of our performances are in central Orange County, although some audience members have traveled to see our work from surrounding counties, states and countries.