Cultural Workshops Overview

As complementary activities, cultural workshops are offered for two hours per day, Monday through Thursday, and last for two weeks. These workshops reinforce the knowledge acquired in the classroom, and, above all, are hours of direct contact between the student and Oaxacan culture.

Our regular year-round workshops are *::

History of Mexico

In this workshop, the students and the professor study the past, stopping to analyze specific events throughout the history of Mexico which have determined the present state of the country.

Mexican Music

The Mexican Music workshop offers a sonorous tour of the musical repertoire of Mexico, from the pre-Hispanic era with wind instruments and percussion, through the electronic and digital music age, all the way to the contemporary Mexican musicians of our day.

Ceramics

In the Ceramics workshop, students experience contact with locally produced clay, which, using traditional techniques, they model and transform into utensils and decorative figures.

Oaxacan Cooking

The Oaxacan Cooking workshop instructs the student how to select and purchase food products in the city markets and how to prepare traditional dishes using typical recipes of the region.

Textile Weaving

In this workshop students learn the techniques of traditional back-strap loom weaving from various regions of the state of Oaxaca and create their own designs in figures or combinations of colors.

Salsa and Merengue Dancing

This workshop introduces the student to basic steps, which are easy to apply in the world of popular dances in Mexico, such as Salsa and Merengue.

Our special seasonal workshops run in Summer, Fall and Winter:

Mexican Cinema

This workshop offers a study of different periods of Mexican cinema, actors, directors, screenplay authors and films which are observed through a cultural and historical perspective.

Oaxacan Painters

In the workshop Oaxacan Painters, students study the pictoral phenomenon in the state of Oaxaca and the most important artists, beginning in the pre-Hispanic world, through colonialism, the 19th century, and modernity.

Making Kites

In this workshop, students learn to construct kites with traditional materials and to fly them in the autumn winds within the city of Oaxaca.

Making Masks

In this special October workshop, students learn to create masks using simple techniques and decorate them with traditional themes surrounding the celebration of the Day of the Dead. Students get to show off their masks in a parade around the Instituto at the end of this workshop.

Making Piñatas

In this workshop, students learn to construct piñatas with sheets of clay and colored paper, with the traditional motifs of the Christmas celebration. During a Christmas celebration at the Instituto, the students break the piñatas.

* Please note that our workshops are offered according to availability and student interest.