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For Britany Rodriguez, Cinco de Mayo is great mainly because she gets to perform the tilingo lingo, a Mexican folk dance filled with swirling skirts.<\/p>\n
Britany, 8, and some two dozen other dancers kicked up a storm Sunday at the Rochester Hotel during a Cinco de Mayo celebration attended by about 100 guests, who enjoyed tamales, salsas, rice, beans and tres leches cakes.<\/p>\n
The Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico de Durango<\/a>, entertained the crowd, and Britany got her opportunity to kick a little tilingo lingo.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to do the circles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Flor Rodriguez, Britany\u2019s mother, said she got Britany and her sister Thalia, 16, involved in Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico about a year ago.<\/p>\n \u201cShe loves to dance, she loves to be a leader, she loves the different steps, and she loves the colorful dresses,\u201d Flor said of Britany.<\/p>\n Shirena Trujillo Long, coordinator of El Centro de Muchos Colores Hispano Resource Center, the group sponsoring Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico, said the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Rochester is a scaled down version of a larger fiesta once held annually in Santa Rita Park.<\/p>\n Looking out at the crowd, she said, \u201cI think this is an indication that people want a bigger celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n Trujillo Long said El Centro recently came off a fundraiser that brought in $5,800 to support Ballet Folkl\u00f3rcio.<\/p>\n The next class for Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico begins in August and runs through December. It cost $60 per participant and registration can be handled online by going to Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico website and clicking registration on the pull down menu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Deedee deHaro Brown, who originally formed Ballet Folkl\u00f3rico in the mid 1990s, said it was initially formed as part of the Durango Latino Education Coalition as an after-school program intended to help keep kids in school.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started a dance group and we wanted it to be culturally relevant,\u201d she said. \u201cWe teach the history of the dances and their connection to the heritage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n