Event coverage

Fiesta Noche del Rio

Our photos of Fiesta Noche del Rio for Kiwanis Magazine, from backstage makeup and warm-ups along the River Walk to the folklorico dancers, Spanish fans and mariachis on the Arneson River Theatre stage. The Alamo Kiwanis Club has produced the summer show since 1957 to raise money for local children’s charities.

Folklorico dancers in bright ruffled dresses swirling their skirts during a performance

Folklorico dancers Bianca Hernandez, Kimberly Gutierrez, Priscilla Gamboa and Jennifer Castillo, from left, perform during Fiesta Noche del Rio, the Alamo Kiwanis Club’s summer show on the River Walk in San Antonio.

Setting the scene

Dancers in matching purple T-shirts rehearse on an open-air stone stage beside the river as a barge full of passengers glides past.

Dancers in purple rehearsal shirts run through a number on the Arneson River Theatre stage as a tour barge passes.

An older man in a white shirt places a white sign on the grassy stone steps of the outdoor theater, with Kiwanis banners along the top.

A volunteer sets out seat signs on the theater’s grass steps before the gates open.

Six microphone stands with red, purple, orange, green and black foam covers stand in a row against a white wall.

Six microphones with colored foam covers wait against a white wall for the show’s singers.

A hand holds a yellow seat cushion printed with the blue Fiesta Noche del Rio logo while a boy sits on a ledge behind it.

A hand holds a yellow Fiesta Noche del Rio seat cushion, ready for the stone steps, as a boy sits on a ledge behind it.

Backstage

A young woman in a purple T-shirt applies eye makeup in a mirror, with other dancers doing their makeup in the background.

A dancer puts on her false eyelashes in the dressing-room mirror while castmates do their makeup behind her.

A dancer in a purple shirt holds a makeup sponge to her cheek and talks while looking into a mirror.

A dancer finishes her makeup with a sponge, chatting with castmates in the mirror.

A young man in a purple T-shirt adjusts a woman’s eyelashes as she sits still with her eyes half closed.

A castmate helps a dancer with her eyelashes in the crowded dressing room.

Close-up of a dancer’s hands buckling a tan heeled shoe over an argyle sock, with pink running shoes on the floor.

A dancer buckles on her character shoes, her pink sneakers left on the floor.

A dancer reaches for a dress on a packed clothing rack of colorful ruffled folklorico dresses and white lace gowns.

A dancer pulls her next costume from a rack crowded with folklorico dresses.

Warming up by the river

A dancer in a purple T-shirt stretches one arm out and holds a white folding fan overhead, with other dancers behind her under the trees.

Dancers warm up with white fans on the River Walk before the show.

A dancer raises a white fan above her head in front of a stone wall with arched openings that hold bells.

A dancer practices with her fan beside the theater’s stone bell wall.

A dancer in a bright pink dress with rainbow ribbon trim holds her wide skirt out at both sides beside the river.

A dancer spreads the ribbon-trimmed skirt of her folklorico dress on the riverbank.

A smiling dancer in a red ruffled dress with ribbon stripes stands by the river, with a dancer in a green dress behind her.

Two dancers in red and green folklorico dresses wait their turn by the river.

Close view of bright pink and green ruffled skirts with ribbon stripes swirling as dancers spin.

Pink and green skirts swirl as dancers rehearse a folklorico number.

Before the show

A gray-haired man in glasses plays a classical guitar by the river, with an arched stone footbridge in the background.

A guitarist warms up beside the river, the theater’s arched stone bridge behind him.

Smiling dancers in colorful costumes stand in a line with their arms linked.

Performers in costume link arms and smile before showtime.

A young man in a white shirt and black vest stands hand in hand with a woman in a white lace dress and other dancers against a vine-covered wall.

Dancers in white and black join hands against a vine-covered wall before the show.

A large group of men and women in white guayabera shirts raise their arms and smile in front of an audience seated on stone steps.

Volunteers in matching white guayaberas wave to the crowd from the front of the theater steps.

Showtime

Four dancers in black, pink, red and green folklorico dresses spread their ruffled skirts wide as they dance on the stone stage.

Folklorico dancers swirl their ribbon-trimmed skirts across the Arneson River Theatre stage.

On the stone stage, two women in long turquoise dresses and two kneeling men in black vests surround a seated guitarist.

Two dancers in turquoise and two in black vests frame a guitarist on the stage.

On the lit stage, women in floral skirts holding white fans pose with men in red shirts in front of the stone wall.

The company strikes a pose with fans at the end of the number.

Dancers in black tops and red floral skirts, with red flowers in their hair, sweep white fans overhead.

Dancers in floral skirts, red flowers in their hair, raise white fans in a Spanish number.

A man in a white shirt holds a woman in a black ruffled dress in a low dip on a lit stone walkway at night, with another couple behind them.

A dancer dips his partner low on the riverside stage.

Four dancers in sparkling blue and white costumes with feather trim stride across a wooden stage under bright stage lights.

Dancers in blue-and-white feathered costumes sweep across the stage.

Pairs of dancers in blue shirts and black pants kick high on the stone stage at night.

Couples in blue shirts kick high in a lively partner number.

A line of dancers in blue, red and green dresses spins along the curved riverside walkway at night, their shadows on the stone.

The folklorico line dances along the curving riverbank in front of the stage.

Music on the river

Mariachi violinists in black suits play into microphones at night, a lit tower with a green roof rising behind them.

Mariachi violinists play with the lit-up Tower Life Building behind them.

A mariachi singer in a black suit sings into a microphone on the arched stone bridge, with violinists beside him and a lit tower behind.

A mariachi singer belts out a song from the stone footbridge over the river.

Couples dance on the stone riverbank at night while a mariachi band plays on the arched footbridge above them.

Audience members dance on the riverbank as the mariachis play from the bridge above.

Curtain call

The full cast stands in a long line on the lit riverside stage, with the audience on the dark steps across the water.

The whole cast lines up along the river for the finale.

A smiling dancer in a ruffled folklorico dress poses with audience members holding up phones as other performers mingle in the crowd.

After the show, fans crowd in for photos with the dancers and mariachis.

A small boy stands in front of a smiling mariachi band holding violins, a trumpet and guitars as a man takes his picture with a phone.

A boy stands in front of the smiling mariachi band as a man takes his picture with a phone after the finale.

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