Serenata Colombiana is all about connections — to Colombia and its culture, to a Colombian charity, and to the UC Davis campus community.

The family entertainment program, Colombian Serenade in English, is sponsored by the UEPAGE Foundation, whose members include UC Davis students, alumni, faculty and staff, and their family members.

The 12th annual serenade is scheduled for this Saturday (Dec. 10). UEPAGE President Tina Castillo, academic and associate director of International English and Professional Programs at UC Davis Extension, said a portion of the serenade's proceeds will help support a microloan program for women and their families forcibly displaced by violence in Chocó, Colombia.

UC Davis has a connection to charity in Adriana Elisa Parra-Fox. She started the microloan program as her thesis project, en route to her doctorate in the Geography Graduate Group in 2010. Today she is a visiting scholar in the Department of Chicana/o Studies.

She is from Chocó, where she co-founded Funbichocó, the Foundation for the Well Being and Development of Chocó, which sponsors the microloan program.

The theme of this year's serenade is “The Barranquilla Moon," offering a taste of Colombian Carnival by paying tribute to the late Joe Arroyo and Estercita Forero, Carnival music icons who made their home in Barranquilla, Colombia.

The entertainment lineup for the 2012 serenade features Los Primos, presenting folkloric music and accompanying the Semillitas Youth Folkloric Dance Troupe and the Colombia Viva Dance Group.

The organizers said Colombia Viva, celebrating its 10th anniversary, will sizzle the stage with salsa dancing and dazzle the audience with a folkloric and carnival medley.

Invited guests from Fiesta Dance 'N Fitness will perform dance hall hip-hop and Afro-Colombian numbers. The program also includes child musicians as piano soloists and in a piano-violin duet.

The UEPAGE Foundation's Colombian Serenade is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. in the theatre at Davis High School, 315 W. 14th St.

By the way, if you are wondering about "UEPAGE," Castillo explained: "It doesn't stand for anything. It is an exclamation (pronounced way-pa-hay) that Colombians use when they're dancing, singing, having fun!"

Advance tickets ($12 adults, $7 children under 12) are available at The Avid Reader, 617 Second St., and Watermelon Music, 207 E St. Tickets at the door will cost $15 for adults and $10 for children under 12.

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