Relámpago del Cielo Reflects on 50 Years, While Looking Toward the Future

Cynthia Rebolledo
Sep 17
7 min read

Relámpago del Cielo serves as a showcase of the preservation of ballet folklórico, establishing itself as a steward for those who want to study cultural dance.

Relámpago del Cielo Group members practice dancing with the large skirts worn during dances from the Jalisco region of Mexico. Photo by Cynthia Rebolledo, Culture OC

The dancers stood in position until the music started playing from a corner of the room. They began to tap out zapateado (footwork) with each trumpet blare from the recording of “El Son de la Negra,” the most famous song in the mariachi canon.

With their chests to the ceiling, dancers alternated between stamping and cascading in intricate rhythmic formations, emphatic and angular, executing a variety of harmonious variations matching each vihuela strum and guitarrón pluck. Mirrors caught and released the bodies as they moved in motion together and separately across the wooden floorboards.

As “La Negra” ended with a flourish of violins and horns and the dancers executed their final moves, Marlene Peña-Marin began to applause with satisfaction. “Good job,” the artistic director of Relámpago del Cielo told her dancers.

The 61-year-old is the face and feet of the Santa Ana dance company and performing arts nonprofit, which has served as a cultural institution for ballet folklórico for generations of Latino families in Orange County and beyond for 50 years. Starting with a group of community college bailadores who practiced at Santa Ana College, Rélampago now numbers over 320 students.

“I always tell the students we're representing a group of people and a community,” Peña-Marin said. “It's important that we represent it as authentically and as respectfully as possible, and when we go on that stage, we're bringing it to the stage.”

Since its emergence in the late 1950s, ballet folklórico – a stylized and choreographed dance deeply rooted in the regional folk dances and traditions of Mexico – has grown as a transnational artistic form of expression and identity on both sides of the United States-Mexico border. In Southern California, baile folklórico flourished with the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement.

Javier Sepúlveda Garibay, performing arts librarian at USC, says folklórico dance groups formed across the region on university campuses, cultural centers, and adapted as part of the elementary-school experience as a symbol of pride, community and cultural expression.

“People were looking for customs and aesthetic symbols that represented Mexican culture as an act of resistance, reclamation and rejection of assimilation,” he said. “Folklórico is loud, colorful and a testament to our culture and it took off.”

PHOTO 1: Rosie Chavarria Peña, founder of Relámpago del Cielo, with daughter Marlene Peña-Marin, its current leader. Photo by Marcos Lozano. PHOTO 2: Marlene Peña-Marin performing with the company circa 1986. PHOTO 3: The original Relámpago del Cielo dance group performing at Santa Ana College circa 1975. Photos courtesy of Relámpago del Cielo

Peña-Marin’s mother, Rosie Chavarria Peña, founded Relámpago in 1975 after decades of touring as a professional dancer. She performed at venues like the legendary Million Dollar Theater, the Beverly Hills and Bel Air hotels, San Francisco’s Sinaloa Night Club and the Calgary Stampede in Canada under the tutelage of Lilly Aguilar, an original cast member of the Padua Hills Mexican Players, a historic nonprofit theater that specialized in Mexican-themed musicals in Claremont and is considered the cradle of baile folklórico in Southern California.

What became Relámpago formed after a group of students from Santa Ana College asked Chavarria Peña to direct a professional performing group, a time when she says folklórico groups were few and far between in Orange County.

“If it wasn’t for that first group of people, this would have never happened,” says 83-year-old Chavarria Peña. “I never dreamt we would have made it this far. I’m really appreciative of the people I’ve met along the way.”

Chavarria Peña recalls the involved process of picking out a name for the group, “We had to come up with a name fast to sign a contract with UCI on the following day,” she says, shaking her head. “We decided to look at album covers and listen to records to get inspiration. After hours of listening to songs, we played “El Relámpago” and a student suggested “Relámpago del Cielo,” or “Lightning From the Sky” – that was it.” The organization had its share of challenges over the decades but remained resilient, at times focusing solely on teaching ballet fólklorico classes without a dance company.

Despite its success, Relámpago struggled to find a home of its own in Santa Ana. In 2001, the organization partnered with the Orange County School of the Arts and rented dance studios in exchange for helping the school reach more Latino students. “OCSA has been a beautiful blessing,” says Peña-Marin, who in 2002 became the director of the Ballet Folklórico Dance Conservatory at the school of the arts.

But she continues to dream for a place of their own, where students could take music and even creative writing classes.

“There are so many things we can do that speak to the culture, and we want to reach as many students as possible and help them in their journey of finding out who they are.”

The current Relámpago del Cielo dance company performing. Photo courtesy of Relámpago del Cielo

For now, the dance company is focused on navigating the retraction of a $17,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, one of many arts organizations in Orange County that suffered the same loss.

“It is very scary for a nonprofit in this administration,” says Relámpago treasurer Lenora Peña Sanchez, who joined her sister Marlene and the board of directors in 2020 after a 30-year career in law enforcement. “They clearly don't see the benefits of the arts, which has been proven over and over again to be beneficial for our youth. It's so upsetting – what a shame it would be for this organization that has thrived for decades to be crumbled by one administration.”

Peña Sanchez added that they reached out to Rep. Lou Correa, whose district encompasses Santa Ana, to appeal the grant’s rescission. “We’re not giving up and we are fighting the fight,” she says.

Today, Relámpago serves as a showcase of preservation, establishing itself as a steward for those who want to study cultural dance. The organization has become an incubator for students, teachers and professional advancement.

Peña-Marin, a second-generation dancer, credits her mother, who retired as Relámpago’s artistic director in 1988, for cultivating her cultural awareness and commitment to community, and emphasizes that the success of the nonprofit is familial.

Every Saturday morning, the quad outside the practice studio is bustling with hundreds of families. The parent committee sets up tables to sell homemade food, drinks and snacks to raise funds for events. In 2006, Relámpago started an all-skill levels class for parents who were interested in learning baile folklórico.

“RDC really means family,” Peña-Marin says. “I have my former students that are adults now coming back and bringing their children. It’s amazing just to feel like, ‘OK, we’re doing something right.’”

PHOTO 1: Marlene Peña-Marin, Relámpago del Cielo artistic director, leads the dance company from the front of the studio. PHOTOS 2 - 4: Members of Relámpago del Cielo Grupo Folklórico practice intricate footwork. PHOTO 5: Dancers rehearse with their voluminous skirts. PHOTO 6: Relámpago del Cielo parent Kimberly Kensy, sells donuts outside in the OCSA quad to raise funds for the program. PHOTO 7: Young dancers in Relámpago del Cielo's level two class practice their toe heel steps.

Photos by Cynthia Rebolledo, Culture OC

Among those students is Amanda Brambila, who started with RDC when she was three, taught as an instructor, worked as a performance program coordinator and now brings her 6-year-old daughter for classes.

"I've grown up with this place," Brambila says. “And now I get to watch my daughter perform and be a part of Relámpago and carry on the tradition. I cry every time I watch her perform – I’m so proud that she loves and embraces the beauty of the culture.”

The Peña family is now in its third generation thanks to Marlene’s daughters, Madeline and Melina, who are both dancers in the company.

Madeline vividly recalls going to the studio with her mother when she was a little girl and watching her dance.

“She looked so powerful – it was that moment that I knew this is what I wanted to do,” says the 29-year-old Madeline. “My mom is so strong. I’ve seen her go through so much to get Relámpago where it is today. I’m excited to continue that and bring it to the next level.”

Melina, who also teaches, aims to expand RDC’s reach with her sister.

“We make a good team because we balance each other out,” says the 24-year-old. “Madeline is one of the best choreographers I’ve ever seen and her work speaks for itself – she’s an artist. I’m more matter of fact. I feel like her and I can continue this legacy together as a team and take on the responsibility that comes with that.”

To commemorate its 50th anniversary, RDC will host a yearlong celebration of events starting with a free culture festival and dance concert at Valley High School’s auditorium in Santa Ana at 4 p.m. Sept. 20. The festival will include artisans, food trucks, children's activities and community resources. It will be followed by an Exposition of Costumes at Santa Ana College Dec. 13 that will showcase RDC’s collection of vestuarios (dance clothing) over the last half century.

PHOTO 1: Luz Peralta Mendez' dress that her mother and sister helped hand embroider will be on display for RDC's Exposition of Costumes. PHOTO 2: Luz Peralta Mendez, original Relampago Del Cielo member, dancing. Photos courtesy of Luz Peralta Mendez

Luz Peralta Mendez, RDC vice president and founding dancer, says she is looking forward to seeing the dress her mom and sister hand-sewed for her. “Many times we had to make our own costumes,” says the 75-year-old. “My mom and sister, who have since passed, helped me make this beautiful dress that had giant embroidered flowers and thousands of sequins that represented Tehuantepec, one of the eight distinct regions of Oaxaca. It's a memory that I will always cherish.”

The yearlong festivities will continue with a student showcase Feb. 7 at Santa Ana High and a 50th Anniversary Concert in August 2026 at Musco Center for the Arts.

“It takes a village,” says Peña-Marin, surveying her dancers as they took a water break. “We’ve collectively worked to put everything in place and build a foundation to be around for one hundred years or more.”