Mexican folk dance company based in London, UKES

A community resource

Directory of Mexican folk dance groups in Europe

A public record of the folklórico groups working across Europe — currently 38 groups in 12 countries. It is free to use, free to be listed in, and maintained by This is Mexico! on behalf of the wider community.

Groups listed
38
Countries
12

Why this exists

Mexican folklórico is danced far beyond Mexico, but the groups that keep it alive abroad are often invisible to one another. A dancer moving from one country to another has had no reliable way of finding out whether anyone nearby is dancing at all, and groups within a few hours of each other have gone years without knowing the other exists.

This directory is an attempt to fix that. It records who is dancing, where, and how to reach them — so that dancers can find groups, groups can find each other, and researchers, institutions and promoters have somewhere accurate to look.

Built on the work of Sharon Benítez

This directory follows the research of Sharon Benítez, a musician, dancer, educator and anthropologist, and Managing Director of Casita de las Artes in San José, California. She holds an MA in Dance Anthropology from the University of Roehampton London.

Her work has involved Mexican folk dance and music ensembles across California and Europe, documenting the experiences of the Mexican diaspora — how cultural values are embodied in a new geographical context, and how the movement of people shapes dance forms, dancers’ identities and the communities they build. Her research pays particular attention to diaspora communities in the United Kingdom and the European Union.

It was that work which made clear how much of this network existed without being written down anywhere. We are grateful for it, and this directory would not exist without it.

How it is compiled

  • Entries begin with the groups we meet through the annualEncuentro Folklórico Mexicano, and are extended by desk research.
  • Every detail is drawn from publicly available sources — a group’s own website or public social profile, an official register, or press coverage.
  • Where we cannot corroborate a group’s location, we leave the field blank rather than guess. Entries without a confirmed country are withheld entirely.
  • Any group can ask to have its entry corrected or removed, and we will act on it promptly.

Something wrong, missing, or a group we have overlooked?Tell us — corrections are as welcome as additions.

The directory

Showing 38 of 38 groups

Add or amend an entry

If you run a group in Europe and would like to be listed, or you are listed and would rather not be, get in touch and we will update the directory.

Get in touch