Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D. is a Folklorista, Artist, and Scholar. As a young adult, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia performed in the Laredo Ballet Folklórico, El Grupo de Danza y Arte Folklórico de la Universidad de Tejas (UT Ballet Folklórico), and Roy Lozano’s Ballet Folklórico de Tejas. She earned a Bachelor and Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Upon graduation from the University of Texas at Austin,  she returned to Laredo, Texas. Dr. Mendoza-Garcia and six university students founded the Texas A&M International University Ballet Folklórico (TAMIU) in 1996. She served as the Director of the Texas A&M International University Ballet Folklórico from 1996 to 2007. She also directed a folklorico dance group for children in Laredo, Texas, known as the TAMIU Ballet Folklórico Juvenil from 1997 to 2007. Dr. Mendoza-Garcia is a member of the Asociacion Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos and has served on the Executive board of this organization as Membership Chair and Vice-President.

In 2013, she earned a doctoral degree in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Mendoza-Garcia began her own folklorico dance company in Laredo, Texas in 2013 after finishing her doctoral studies. She has presented her scholarly research at the Congress on Research in Dance, National Association for Chicana/o Studies, Dance Studies Association, Sal Castro Memorial Conference on the Emerging Historiography of the Chicano Movement, the Global Reach of the Fandango, and more. She is currently a member of the Dance Studies Association and the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos.

In 2016, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia was inducted to the City of Laredo, Commission for Women Hall of Fame representing Arts/Media/Communication for all her contributions in promoting Mexican folkloric dance to the community of Laredo, Texas. In 2018, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia was a recipient of the Preservation of Folklore Customs and Traditions Award by the Webb County Heritage Foundation for her efforts in promoting the history of Mexico through dance.

In July 2019 Dr. Mendoza-Garcia presented her choreography called “Chicano Power” (Copyright) before members of the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos conference in McAllen, Texas. This choreography is based upon her research with folkloristas during the Chicano Movement of the 1970s. Their performance before a crowd of esteemed colleagues and maestros from Mexico was highly acclaimed.

In September of 2019, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia was recognized as an Outstanding Women in Business representing Arts and Culture by the Laredo Morning Times. This is the inaugural issue whereby the Laredo Morning Times celebrating Laredo women in business.

In 2022, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia and the Webb County Heritage Foundation won the Dance Studies Association’s Dance in the Public Sphere award for their documentary entitled “History and Folklore.” During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Webb County Heritage Foundation and the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico collaborated to produce a digital series in which dancers of the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklórico performed outside six different historic landmarks in Laredo, Texas. Each episode of this series begins with a brief introduction, a description of the historic significance behind a local landmark, an explanation of the history of the dances, and a performance. This six-part series premiered on Facebook during Laredo’s founders’ week in May of 2021. The Dance Studies Awards committee explains,

“The committee was impressed with how this project illuminates the possibilities of collaboration among dancers and institutions, as Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia and her group Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklórico worked with the Webb Historical society to tell a story of the music, movements, and histories that bring people and families across Mexico and the U.S. together. The History and Folklore series educates audiences about the history and diversity of Mexican dance and unifies communities by encouraging pride in their cultural heritage while, through the wonders of the internet, also introduces new audiences to dance forms in specific historical, cultural, and geographic contexts.”

In August of 2022, New York City Artist, Nicholas Sanchez, visited Laredo, Texas specifically to photograph the dancers of the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico in traditional dress. He painted the dancers in 5×7 format and in gigantic mural like paintings which appear very realistic. These works have been sold to museums and private collectors. They have been on display at New York City galleries and in the Hamptons.

In October of 2022, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia was selected as a keynote speaker for the first ever Folklorico Symposium held at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and organized by Dr. Norma Cantu and Olga Najera-Ramirez. She presented her writings on the multiple meanings of folklorico dance during the Chicano Movement. In addition, her dancers were invited to present a full-length concert called Chicana/o Historias at the Guadalupe Cultural Center as part of this event. A jam-packed concert watched as dancers of the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico traced the history of the Chicanx people performing Matachines dances, and her own original choreographic work on the Chicano Movement, and dancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, dancers of the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico performed “Dancing during Quarantine” (copyright) for the members of the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos conference in McAllen, Texas. This original choreographic work, Dr. Mendoza-Garcia comments on the way folkloristas survived the COVID-19 pandemic by dancing.