A 9-year-old boy in San Bernardino is enjoying newly earned fame after the video of him preparing to perform folklorico or Mexican folk dance garnered attention on social media.
When Isaac Rodriguez’s mother captured the dance rehearsal video of her son and his classmates last week, she did not expect the video to generate over 2 million views.
“I thought something was going on with his (social media) account, but another mom said, ‘No, it’s just his video is going viral,” said Avida Gonzalez, Isaac’s mother. “Even though I’m putting him out there, I want to protect him, too, by filtering comments and all that.”
To hone his skills — work on his elaborate dance steps — the Bonnie Oehl Elementary School student gets one-on-one lessons from his teacher Lizbeth Soria as he prepares for an upcoming performance in Las Vegas.
The tiny dancer of 3 years experience in folklorico said he feels proud of his culture when he wears his full charro attire topped with a sombrero.
And his mom hopes learning Mexican folk dance is not only fun for the 4th grader but serves as a reminder of where he comes from.
“For me when he wears the outfits, it represents his ancestors and grandparents that came from Mexico as immigrants and made a life here,” the proud mother said.