Leila Flores Dueñas (Vocalist/Bassist/Historian) was born in Kingsville, Texas. Her mother was a teacher and her father, a military officer whose career took them to many places in the USA, Europe, and Mexico. Traveling much throughout her childhood, she learned to appreciate other cultures and languages. As a child, she began studying ballet folklórico and artes plásticas at La Casa de Arte in Ciudad Victoria, the state capitol of Tamaulipas, México. Leila has sung, acted, danced, and choreographed in over thirty musicals such as Girl Crazy  and  Guys and Dolls.. She has played many lead roles such as Dolly in Hello Dolly, Queen Aggravane in Once Upon A Mattress, Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, and lead soloist in Side by Side by Sondhiem. In addition, Leila has sung as a mezzo-soprano soloist in classical musical groups such as the University of North Texas Chorale, University of Miami Chorale and the University of New Mexico University Chorus. She taught school in Texas and Florida and went on to graduate school, completing an MA and Ph. D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialty in multilingual studies, literacy education, bilingual education and qualitative research from the University of Texas at Austin. Leila is a professor at the University of New Mexico, where she currently teaches courses related to social justice & education, second language literacy, Hispanic Folklore in the Classroom, etc. Throughout her academic tenure at UNM, she has maintained a career in the arts singing in such groups as Las Flores del Valle, Mucho Corazón, and with Trío Latino. She has also provided musical direction and choreography for La Compania de Teatro de Albuquerque and for UNM’s production of La Posada Mágica.  She and Carol have also performed for the Gene Autry Theatre in Los Angeles, CA as corridistas of Western Song with Don Edwards.

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