Haydée Palacios Vivas

Haydée Palacios Vivas (21 November 1945 – 23 September 2024) was a Nicaraguan dancer and folklorist, a promoter of folk dance. She was the founder of the Haydée Palacios Folkloric Ballet, with which she performed internationally.

She was a dance teacher at various educational institutions in her country, such as the Ramírez Goyena Institute, the Primero de Febrero School, and the National School of Commerce. She received national awards and distinctions for her cultural contributions and her work in preserving Nicaraguan folklore.

Biography Haydée Palacios Vivas was born in Masaya on 21 November 1945. Her mother was Haydée Vivas de Palacios, from whom she inherited her love of dance and teaching, and her father was Dagoberto Palacios Ruiz, a lawyer who opposed her pursuing an artistic career. From a young age, she participated in folk dances at festivals in Masaya.

She went on to teach folk dance at the Ramírez Goyena Institute, the Colegio Primero de Febrero (now named for Rigoberto López Pérez) and the National School of Commerce (now named for Manuel Olivares).

In 1971, with the help of a scholarship, she studied folklore at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. Similarly, in 1979 she was able to study at the Inter-American Institute of Ethnomusicology and Folklore in Venezuela. In 1985, she studied at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico, and in 1987 at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.

This folk ballet company has performed nationally and internationally, giving shows in countries such as the United States, Spain, Canada, and Bulgaria.

In 2015, she was named an Illustrious Citizen of the Capital of Nicaraguan Folklore in Masaya.

Palacios died on 23 September 2024.