{"id":2640,"date":"2014-10-04T00:45:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-04T00:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2640"},"modified":"2014-10-04T00:48:51","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T00:48:51","slug":"nacho-estrada-and-maclovio-visit-the-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2640","title":{"rendered":"Nacho Estrada and Maclovio Visit the Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Special Performance at Harlingen Cultural Center<\/h3>\n

photos and story by Bill Keltner\/La Feria News<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Professional

Professional Ventriloquist Nacho Estrada with Maclovio<\/p><\/div>\n

To say that Harlingen native Nacho Estrada is a professional ventriloquist is an understatement. Estrada and his friends have been entertaining audiences from coast to coast at national teachers, principals, and educational conventions since his graduation from Harlingen High School in 1967.<\/p>\n

His exceptional talent for the art of ventriloquism and his dedication to \u201cteach children with humor and love\u201d got him invited to present his unique show to schools, universities and television program in all states, whereupon he got more invitations.<\/p>\n

This performer and his friend Maclovio put on an outstanding show last week for a private party at the Art and Cultural Center of the Harlingen Public Library. The show was emotional, hilarious and educational all at the same time. The retired, professional ventriloquist shared his personal story with LA FERIA NEWS<\/a>. It is a fascinating and inspiring narrative.<\/p>\n

Estrada said that his interest in ventriloquism and its potential for bringing joy and laughter to people began when he was a boy in school. \u201cThere was a local salesman who practiced ventriloquism just for fun, who got me interested in the art,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t remember his name, but he explained that the word \u2018ventriloquist\u2019 is derived from the Latin words venter and loqui, which mean \u2018belly speaking\u201d or \u2018speaking from the belly.\u201d He showed me the basics of using the diaphragm combined with the tongue to give the illusion of projecting the voice both far and near.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Maclovio\u2019s

Maclovio\u2019s \u201cNo drugs and No bullying\u201d show<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was so excited that I decided to try it at school,\u201d he said. Estrada digressed to confess that he had been known as the class clown before learning the art of projecting his voice. So, his next planned prank wasn\u2019t that far out-of-character. The next day, he relates, he used the distant-voice technique .<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I did was the next day during class, I made my voice sound as if it were coming from the public address system,\u201d he said. \u201cI simply called myself out of class–and to my amazement, it worked! And I was hooked: Later, I learned more about ventriloquism through correspondence courses, and then took it up professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estrada combined his talent with his sincere interest in helping children and their teachers appreciate the importance of education, good moral values and how to respond to the world-wide plague of \u2018bullying\u2019 in the classroom. In his act he uses dolls like the \u201ccranky old-man\u201d and his star performer \u201cMaclovio.\u201d Most ventriloquists call their partners \u201cdummies.\u201d Maclovio, however, resents that term and demands to be called, \u201ca Doll.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Association of Ventriloquists recognized his outstanding talent at one of their national conventions by awarding him their top honor\u2014\u201cVentriloquist of the Year.\u201d Estrada was the first Hispanic to get that award.<\/p>\n

\"Attentive

Attentive crowd laughs and enjoys the show.<\/p><\/div>\n

Estrada also was accepted and trained to be the first Hispanic Ronald McDonald in the State of Texas. He loved the job of combining clowning and throwing his voice. He did it for seven years all over Texas. \u201cI love teaching and entertaining children,\u201d he said. \u201cMy style of teaching involves a lot of humor and love–it is the best way to solve problems in school and at home.\u201d he preaches, \u201cplus, you\u2019ve got to throw in a lot of hugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember clearly one little boy that came up to me after a show, who wanted a big hug from me and Maclovio,\u201d he said. \u201cAs he left, he told me, \u2018I\u2019ve never had a hug from my father or mother in my life. That one really got to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nacho Estrada now lives in San Antonio, but still has family in Harlingen. He is on record as \u201cretired,\u201d but still gets calls every week to come and present a show for a school somewhere. \u201c I guess as long as I can, I\u2019ll try to get my message across to those who are as interested in education with humor and love as I am,\u201d he said, as he packed up to go home to San Antonio with Maclovio and his friends.<\/p>\n

For more information about Nacho and his friends, they are available at 210-626-1256 or visit them at www.maclovio.com<\/a>. You never know who will answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special Performance at Harlingen Cultural Center photos and story by Bill Keltner\/La Feria News To say that Harlingen native Nacho Estrada is a professional ventriloquist is an understatement. Estrada and his friends have been entertaining audiences from coast to coast at national teachers, principals, and educational conventions since his graduation from Harlingen High School in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-exclusive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2645,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2640\/revisions\/2645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}