Tucson Meet Yourself is back for another year of traditional arts and performances celebrating the many vibrant cultures and communities of Tucson.
The festivities start at 11 a.m. Oct. 17 and run all weekend long. As always, this year's schedule is packed with artists and presenters. In addition to nearly 50 food vendors, you can also enjoy dance performances, live music, cultural demonstrations, and works from dozens of local artists.
Bella Bracken performs with the Siva Maia Polynesian Dancers.
“The festival really highlights the connections that we have, and the ways that we come together,” said Kimi Eisele, the communications manager for Tucson Meet Yourself.
To accommodate the nearly 50 live performances of traditional dance and music, there will be three stages situated around downtown’s The two main stages will be located on Stone Avenue and Church Avenue, and there will be an additional third stage, called the Folklife Here Pavilion, near the dining tent on Pennington Street.
Tucson Meet Yourself festivities in downtown Tucson.
The pavilion will host a wide variety of folklife presentations throughout the weekend, including participatory conversations and demonstrations during the day, and performances and workshops at night.
“There's a presentation about how Folklife can build neighborhood solidarity on Tucson's south side,” Eisele said. “There's a woman who will be demonstrating, and talking about, keeping bees and producing honey in the borderlands.”
Many of the music and dance performers taking the stage for this year’s event are regular participants at Tucson Meet Yourself.
“We do have performers that have been with us for many, many years,” Eisele said.
One such group is Gertie and the T.O. Boyz, famous for their traditional Tohono O’odham Waila music, and blend of Norteño, cumbia and polka sounds.
“It's a special performance,” Eisele said. “A lot of the crowd from the Tohono O'odham community comes to support that.”
Another long-time favorite, she said, is Lajkonik Polish Folk Ensemble, which brings Polish traditional dancing to life on stage.
“They're a high-powered, high-energy performance. People always love them,” Eisele said.
The Yaqui Ceremonial Deer Dancers are also returning this year. The deer dance of the Yaqui and Mayo people of Sonora is not just a performance but a ceremonial and sacred blessing. The Tucson Meet Yourself festival is one of the only places it can be seen outside of its ceremonial context.
“We're also doing some other cool things on the stages this year, which is to bring together some groups that you might not normally associate with each other,” Eisele said.
Dancers with the UA K-Pop dance croup, UnderSkore, perform at Tucson Meet Yourself.
Om Shanti, the University of Arizona’s premier Bollywood fusion dance team, and UnderSkore, the official K-pop dance team on campus, will perform collaboratively on the stage, uniting two global dance cultures to create a “high-energy, cross-cultural celebration of movement, music, and identity.”
“We're really using the stage and the performance to showcase the distinctions between these traditions, but also the overlap,” Eisele said. “So that's kind of a fun thing that's happening.”
Annabella Martinez, a dancer with Compañia de Danza Folklórica.
Other performers you can see over the weekend include: Calpulli Tonantzin, an Aztec dance group; music and dance groups with the Chinese Cultural Festival; Grupo Folklórico Miztontli, the only Mexican folklorico dance group at the University of Arizona; Odaiko Sonora, Tucson’s Japanese taiko ensemble drumming group; Mariachi Pueblo Viejo; Seven Pipers Scottish Dancers & Tucson District Pipe Band; Tucson Scandinavian Dancers; and Roman Orona, Sampson Sinquah, Adrian Wall and Keith Secola in the Indigenous showcase “All My Relations;” and many, many more.
There are also some new additions to the festival line-up this year, Eisele said, including the Vavages Family Band.
The Vavages Family Band is a multi-generational band carrying on the O’odham tradition of waila music. Their music includes a mix of instrumental cumbia, Mexican folk, classic mariachi, and a few original songs.
Tina Andrews and her uncle, Isaac Vavages, will also share a piece of their family history, with a presentation at the Folklife Here Pavilion, about the famous waila band the Gu-Achi Fiddlers, and Tina’s grandfather, who played second fiddle in the band.
“They were a pretty famous Waila band, and now she and her current family members have resurrected it,” Eisele said.
Another group making their Tucson Meet Yourself debut is the Shalom choir.
Founded by a family that spent more than 17 years in a Tanzanian refugee camp after fleeing war in the Congo, the group blends traditional Congolese gospel with contemporary genres like soul, jazz and folk music.
“We heard them perform at an event this spring, and then they reached out to perform,” Eisele said. “They've got the right feel for Tucson Meet Yourself.”
On top of the main stage line-ups, Eisele said there will also be two new “micro pavilions" this year.
“One of them celebrates flamenco culture from Spain. So there'll be live performances, a film showing, you can do workshops and learn how to do some basic flamenco stuff. There's a taste of paella, also,” she said.
“And then there's another cultural micro pavilion, which is from Peru, and that will be similar — performances, workshops, and speakers celebrating Peruvian culture.”
If you’re planning to bring the whole family, Eisele said to check out the Saturday matinee at the Fox Theatre.
“It's called ‘Song of the Sea,’ it’s based on Irish folklore,” Eisele said. “There'll be a pre-show performance by Tucson Irish musicians.”
There's also hands-on activities for kids and families in the folk arts area throughout the weekend.
Teresa M. Choyguha, a Tohono O’odham potter and jeweler.
As for artists and local creatives, you can shop dozens of makers selling pottery, Yaqui clay dolls, papel picado, beadwork, paintings, Navajo and Apache jewelry, origami, woodcarving, basketry, henna, and much more.
For event schedules, stage maps, artist lineups, and any other need-to-know information about this weekend's festivities, you can visit the