Ventura High School’s Cesar Morales of Los Elegidos de Asis

Cesar Morales’s journey through dance

Kinda Mehael

Born in an Oaxacan household, Cesar Morales ‘24 has been familiar with “La Danza De Los Diablos” or “The Dance of the Devils” ever since he was a child.

“My parents are from Oaxaca, [Mexico] and I would watch [the dance] since I was a little kid and I just got interested in it and started dancing,” said Morales. “The Dance of the Devils” is a traditional dance from the town of San Miguel Cuevas, located in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. According to author Lujan Agusti, who studies Mexican masked dances, the Dance of the Devil was first created when the Spaniards brought Africans with them as slaves and persisted as a form of resistance. “During the days of freedom granted to them by their planters, the slaves went from a ton of portraits, animals, flowers and other random pictures. Summer Rose Hayashi ‘23 drew Anthony Terrones. Terrones was a VHS student who passed by different people from the VUSD. Minadeo sends an email out to the district, and anyone can send in anything, and it gets drawn, similarly to a commissioning system. Minadeo said, “People send pictures to me and I put them in photoshop and crop them so they can be gridded to the size that we need to sell them.”

“I take every picture that is sent in. That’s why we ended up with a lot of cats this year. It’s like a pet portrait year and they’re pretty hard,” said Minadeo. Ellie Toumeh ‘23 said, “I think the chalk festival should continue because it’s a cool activity and it allows the students to showcase their art for everyone to see.” His favorite portrait was “The Last Supper.” He said, “I just felt a connection to it and was intrigued by it because I have the picture at home.” Continued out to celebrate and dance,” wrote Agusti.

Although Morales has been dancing “La Danza De Los Diables” since he was a child, he has been dancing with Los Elegidos de Asis for the last six months. Los Elegidos de Asis, or “The Chosen Ones of Asis,” is a cultural dance group located in Ventura County, consisting of over 50 members. Although Morales has been in the group for only six months, Los Elegidos de Asis has been performing since 2015.

Los Elegidos de Asis perform in all types of events, such as weddings and quinces. “We usually dance at parties that we get invited to, like quinceaneras, weddings, stuff like that,” said Morales. On top of that, Los Elegidos de Asis have earned a lot of recognition. On the days of April 14 to 16, Los Elegidos de Asis performed at the Universe Multicultural Film Festival, a red carpet event held in Los Angeles, where they won Signature Culture of the Year. “Last week we performed at a red carpet ceremony, there were many celebrities there, and we got the award for being the best culture of the year,” said Morales.

VHS English teacher Paul Togneri said, “[Morales] is super friendly, amicable, and has a great sense of humor.” For fun, Morales likes to hang out with his friends, hang out in his bed and play with his dogs. Morales’ favorite classes at VHS include Metal Shop and Margaret Sellers’s English class. He likes to go to the mall for fun. Morales said, “Ms. Sellers’s class is really motivating for me. That’s why I like it.”