Los Lupen̄os de San José was co-founded (and initially directed) by Susan Cashion and Ramón Morones in 1969 as Los Lupen̄os Dancers. Originally beginning as a study and performance group of Mexican dance and culture under the guidance of Daniel Galan, Consul General of Mexico in San Jose, and assisted by Guadalupe Suarez, a local civic leader in Mexican affairs, Los Lupen̄os de San José also branched out to engage in community outreach and opened a school called Escuela de Danza y Cultura (School of Dance and Culture). The style of dance Los Lupen̄os de San José practices, teaches, and performs was a novel genre in the 1950's created by Amalia Hernandez of Mexico City as a new style of Mexican traditional dance which she named Ballet Folklórico. At the University of Guadalajara, Cashion and Morones met and studied this style of dance under the tutelage of Rafael Zamarripa who advanced the fledgling dance form at the university. Susan Cashio, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, originally studied dance at the University of California, Los Angeles where she received a Fulbright scholarship to do research on Mexican dance at the University of Guadalajara. It was there she met Ramón Morones, a native of Guadalajara, and following Zamarripa's philosophy they worked to create original choreographies and theatrical settings based on traditional Mexican dance. Dr. Cashion is currently a Dance Department faculty member at Stanford University. Los Lupen̄os de San José experienced rapid growth during its first decade by participating extensively in Mexican community activities throughout the San Francisco Bay area and representing the City of San Jose at the Spokane World's Fair and Carnaval in Veracruz. In 1972, Los Lupen̄os de San José co-founded the Asociación de Grupos Folklóricos, and several years later participated in the creation of Danzantes Unidos, an annual California Mexican dance festival. Since then, in spite of funding problems, it has continued to create original dance suites, teach new students, and perform in numerous venues. In 2006 Los Lupen̄os de San José was dissolved by its board of directors, and taken under the wing of the Mexican Heritage Corporation as the resident dance company of the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Under this agreement Los Lupen̄os de San José became a permanent performance component of the San Jose Mariachi Festival.
From the description of Los Lupen̄os de San José records 1969-2008. (San Jose Public Library). WorldCat record id: 429934501
