Meet our Mid-Valley: Paula Sumoza's journey to build a casa for Latinos in Oregon

This is part of a series introducing readers to individuals who are passionate about our Mid-Valley community.

Inside the former ARCHES building on Madison St. NE in Salem, Paola Sumoza and her nonprofit are setting down roots for a new home centered around Mexican heritage.

Sumoza is a co-founder and director of Casa de la Cultura Tlanese, a family-owned and operated cultural center that began in 2004.

The nonprofit offers folkloric and traditional Mexican dance classes organized into six groups. About 50 students are currently enrolled, Sumoza said. There’s a class for children as young as 4 years old and another for adults older than 34. There's also a group of mixed ages dancer who form their most advanced performing group. Local Salem residents have likely seen the group performing at the World Beat Festival.

The group learns dances from all across Mexico.

"Mexico is very diverse. People tend to focus on, when they think of Mexico, they might focus on mariachi, which is part of our culture, but we have more than that," Sumoza said. Every state has its own culture, its own food and traditions.

Casa de la Cultura Tlanese teaches different dances, emphasizing learning the meaning behind the different traditional performances and costumes.

Sumoza gives credit to her mother, Maria Victoria Sumoza, known as "Doña Vicky," for working behind the scenes to make sure clothes are accurate and bringing general order to what can be a chaotic endeavor.

Sumoza was born in Mexico City. Her family immigrated to Oregon in 1995 when she was six years old. Raised in Oregon, mostly in Salem, she remembers being part of Northwest Ballet Folklorico around 1997. The group disappeared as she and her peers became older, focused on other activities by the time they reached high school.

She reconnected with dancers and started organizing performances for school assemblies at North Salem High School.

"I've always been passionate about my culture, my identity," Sumoza said.

As some of the dancers graduated, they organized performances at Chemeketa Community College, recruiting additional dancers as the years went on. The group got bigger and bigger until Sumoza said they decided to make the organization official in 2004. She was dedicated even as she attended Western Oregon University, the few years she spent away from Salem.

Six years ago the organization moved into the space on Madison St. It is still relatively empty, the concrete floors only recently changed. They'll spend the rest of the month adding dance studio mirrors and brainstorming murals to add.

"It takes a while. Takes money," Sumoza joked.

She joined the Oregon Youth Authority a year ago as its statewide Hispanic Services Coordinator. It is another extension of the work she has been doing for two decades, Sumoza said, working with youth and helping them and the community connect to their culture and learn about where they come from and who they are.

"Life puts you where you need to be," Sumoza said about joining the OYA.

Suzoma is looking forward to expanding to feature plays in Spanish next year.

"Anything that has to do with arts is very important, especially Latino arts. We want to bring more workshops," she said.

Last month, they partnered with the Instituto Estatal de la Cultura de Guanajuato from Mexico and hosted a workshop to learn a style of music from Veracruz known as Son Jarocho. In August they also hosted their first dance competition.

29-year-old Rosa Gomez has been dancing with the group since she was 18. Gomez joined, she said, after seeing a performance. At the last World Beat Festival, she was able to dance with her mom on stage for the first time after her mom joined the adult group. Jackeline Perez, 22, and Jessica Perez, 20, are more recent members.

Angel Martinez, 28, only joined a year ago, convinced for most of his youth and adulthood that he had two left feet, he joked.

They referred to the group as a family, a place for anyone of all ages and for every member of a household to come and dance together.

Suzoma said it has been exciting seeing some of the youth who joined Casa de la Cultura Tlanese grow into a new generation of leaders in the group. Board members consist of some of those first students.

She said youth like her struggled to find a place in Oregon when the organization first started, but she hopes Casa de la Cultura Tlanese can continue being a space for Latino youth and adults.

Her goal is continue nurturing a place they can call "our casa," she said. It will happen "poco a poquito," or little by little, Sumoza said.

To learn more about the organization email casatlanese@gmail.com

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Meet our Mid-Valley: Teaching Mexican heritage in Oregon