PRIDE

Since 2015 Nashville, Tennessee has been home to Dr. Olga Tapia. Although Nashville is known all over the world as the “Music City”, and home to legendary country music venue The Grand Ole Opry, this was not the music Olga grew up listening to in her native town of Hayward, CA. Olga was born and raised in the East Bay Area, and was educated in local schools. Olga’s father was from Texas, of Mexican descent and her mother was an immigrant from Coahuila, México. Although both her parents spoke fluent Spanish, Olga recalls growing up in a time in which children were discouraged from speaking Spanish in order to assimilate into mainstream America. Her parents’ generation did this as a way of protecting their children from being the subjects of racism which was prevalent against Mexicans at that time. Olga recalls her family and friends gathering for picnics in Hayward’s Memorial Park. Her father and others brought guitars and sang Spanish language corridos, or traditional ballads bringing joy and nostalgia to the elders spending the afternoon together. Olga remembers feeling embarrassed at that time.

Upon graduating from Sunset High School in 1967, Olga enrolled at Chabot Community College then transferred to California State University Hayward at the height of the Chicano movement.  It was there that she met Professor Susan (Susie) Cashion who was teaching dance including lessons in traditional Mexican folk dance. Olga remembers that they met in a regular classroom in which they had to push the desks to the side to make room to dance. Olga never felt athletic nor joyful of physical activity but once she started taking dance classes, she quickly recognized how baile folklórico not only taught her grace and coordination, but simultaneously built physical strength and endurance. This was the beginning of a lifetime commitment to maintaining a physical regimen to maximize her health and fitness.

A year after graduating from Cal State Hayward in 1972, Olga moved to San José to complete her masters. Before moving, she had already started dancing with Los Lupeños de San José, learning directly from co-founders Susie Cashion and Ramón Morones. She learned about her ancestral Mexican roots through the customs, traditions, and music related to dance. The Chicano movement, synonymous with this time of her life, was about expressing a deep sense of pride in oneself and one’s culture. She started to re-learn Spanish and spread what she knew to others. She remembers being teased by some of her fellow Chicano students in college for not being a fluent Spanish speaker. Olga credits Los Lupeños for helping her overcome that uneasiness and reflects how this even encouraged her to attempt to maintain the language and culture with her daughter years later.

I felt very self-conscious every time I spoke Spanish. No one in Los Lupeños ever teased me about my Spanish. I was encouraged to speak it and I was happy to be surrounded by dancers and their families who spoke Spanish with ease.

As a member of Los Lupeños Olga traveled to Guadalajara, México and studied dance at la Universidad de Guadalajara, Ramón’s alma mater, under the renowned maestro Rafael Zamarripa. She performed with Los Lupeños at various events including her favorite performance at the San José Civic Auditorium (1972) as well as at the World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington (1974). Many of the friendships that she made during these years remain with her today. She fondly recalls learning sewing tips and techniques from her mother, Esperanza Perez.  Olga, who was the costume mistress for Los Lupeños during that time, called on her mother’s expertise to replicate Susie’s own leather Tamaulipas costume into a faux suede version used for performances. Olga vividly recalls the red satin pants she and her mother sewed for the dancers while Ramón and the men made the feathered headdresses for La Danza de La Pluma. Of all of the wonderful memories Olga has, her favorite is the first time Los Lupeños performed in the San José Civic Auditorium (1972-1973). Olga remembers peeking from the wings to see the audience and seeing thousands of people waiting for the performance to begin. She was dressed in her Michoacán costume and her knees started to shake. She had never been so nervous in her life, but the nervousness disappeared as soon as she stepped onto the stage and danced to the live music provided by Mariachi UCLAtlán. Hearing the applause of the audience filled her with pride and confidence. Olga feels that she also learned discipline and self-respect. These combined lessons have helped her throughout her life, and she has put them into practice as a dance teacher herself, yielding the same positive results.

Olga traveled to México on her own and studied Spanish at the University of Guadalajara where she also took private folklórico dance classes with one of the university’s ballet folklórico dancers. She later went on to earn a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the School of Education at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Through the years Olga has continued to spread the pride and knowledge of her culture that she learned from her time with Los Lupeños as she lived in different states in the USA.

Through the years Olga attempted to dance Mexican folklórico in other places but found that the traditional style that Los Lupeños was known for was hard to find elsewhere. In 1994, she returned to San José to perform in Los Lupeños’ 25^th Anniversary Concert at the Center for Performing Arts. She recalls jumping right in and not missing a beat since the signature style of the performing company remained true to what she was familiar with and had been taught under co-founders, Susie and Ramón.

Olga built a career working in higher education in various positions related to student services. She’s now retired from UC Berkeley and is currently the owner of an online store ¡Ay Chinaca! where she sells her own unique artwork. Olga states,

Ramón Morones was an inspiring artist and I was impressed by the designs he made for stage sets and publications.

Olga credits her experience as costume mistress with Los Lupeños for introducing her to the art of costume making and design. This is a talent she has refined through the years and carries into the designs she creates for her online store. The pride in her ancestral Mexican heritage is evident in the art she creates.

Olga’s life was impacted profoundly by her experience as a dancer with Los Lupeños and she continues to share her knowledge of Mexican culture with her family and community. Olga states,

When I hear the music of the mariachi I am filled with pride and joy and I just want to cry with emotion.

She now thinks back to those picnics in Memorial Park and appreciates how cool they were. She says,

Without my folklórico experience I would have never learned to appreciate that.

Today, at age 74, Dr. Olga Tapia lives an active lifestyle working out 5-6 days per week. Being physically fit was something she learned as a young dancer that still holds true today. She is in great health and takes no medication. She continues to share her knowledge of Mexican culture with her family and community, and is thrilled that her own adult daughter, Rebecca, grew up with the benefit of always feeling proud of her Mexican roots.