5 Amazing Dances Performed by the Aztec People

2 Comments April 4, 2021 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

Oftentimes, we depict Aztec dancing as very solemn with a ritual purpose. Yet, the Aztecs danced different ways for many occasions. Spanish chronicler Fray Diego Durán (1537-1588) in his text God and Rites tells us about the many ceremonial and festive dances of the Aztec people. Although his writings are from the Spanish viewpoint, they give us valuable insight into the dances of this remarkable people. I am most interested in the dances performed for festive occasions since I am not familiar with any staged adaptations.

Joyful dances— Durán writes of a dance which he called dances of youth. These dances and songs spoke of love and flirtation. They were performed on happy occasions. Think about it, these are themes still popular today. I am amazed at how many songs today write of love lost and found (295).

Scandalous dances—One dance scandalized Durán in particular. He says it is known as Cuecuechcuicatl (tickling dance or dance of the itch). Durán describes this dance as “roguish” and compares it to the Spanish sarabande because dancers wriggle, grimace, and are immodest (295). The sarabande was outlawed in Spain in 1583 because it was thought of as depicting unbridled passions (Martinez-Hunter 81-82). In a poem written by the Italian Giambattista Marion called L’Adone he describes the sarabande as,

The girls with castanets, the men with tambourines, exhibit indecency in a thousand positions and gestures. They let the hips sway and the breasts knock together. They close their eyes and dance the kiss and the last fulfillment of love (Martinez-Hunter 83).

Using this description as a guide, we can get an idea of how the Cuecuechcuicatl was danced.

Comedic Dances—Durán calls the Dance of the Humpbacks comedic. He describes this dance as extremely merry and very funny. Here, men wear masks to represent old men (297). Many scholars believe he is referring to the Danza de los Viejitos. It is known as a humorous dance because young men wear masks over their face to disguise themselves as old men (Covarrubias n.p, Flores Barnes 25, 50, Toor 357). They dance gingerly as little old men using canes to walk slowly. Their canes have an animal carved at the handle (Toor 357). Then, the music which uses string instruments such as the jarana, skips to an up-beat tempo and the little old men begin to dance with vigor, strength, and speed until they pretend to collapse from fatigue (Covarrubias n.p, Flores Barnes 25, 50, Toor 357).

Acrobatic dances—In Durán’s writings he states that there is this dance that begins with a “simpleton who pretended to understand all his masters’ words backward, turning around his words” (297). Then, a juggler immediately follows this performance. Here, the juggler balances a log with his feet. He is so skillful at his tricks that he amazes the audience.

Imitation Dances–In another dance, the Aztecs painted themselves black or white or green. They wore feathers on their heads and their feet. Some women stand in the center while both men and women pretend to drink from jars and cups that they held in their hands. The dancers act as if they are drunk. Durán indicates that this dance was created for fun and amusement (297-298).

My Thoughts

Durán tells us that the Aztec people performed thousands of games, farces, comedies, and joyful songs. This small list reveals that the Aztec people danced for religious and secular events. They danced for all occasions not just solemn ones. I am discovering that I am always learning something new about the Aztec people.

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-García Ph.D.

Works Cited

Covarrubias, Luis. n.d. Mexican Native Dances. Mexico D.F.: Fischgrund.

Durán, Diego. 1977. The Book of God and Rites and the Ancient Calendar. Translated by Fernando Horcasitas, Doris Heyden, and Miguel León Portrilla. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Flores Barnes, Alura. 1935, “The Dances of Mexico: Dance of the Viejitos.” Real Mexico. 4(20): 26,50.

Martínez-Hunter, Sanjuanita. 2018. Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910). Edited by Gabriela Mendoza-García. San Bernardino: Mexico Lindo Press.

Scolieri, Paul A. 2013. Dancing the New World: Aztecs, Spaniards, and the Choreography of Conquest. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Toor, Frances. 1947. A Treasury of Mexican Folkways. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

For Further Reading please purchase the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself. It is available on Amazon.com. Please see link below.

https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

My Version of Valdiosera's Aguascalientes Design

Folklórico Meets Fashion Design (Part 2)

3 Comments March 7, 2021 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

I remember as a young folklorista feeling a bit perplexed at times. I mistakenly thought that all the costumes, music, and dance traditions came from a community of people. It was until I entered graduate school that I began to see the folklórico world in a different light. Here, I dug deep into research on Mexican cultural nationalism of the 1920s and the ways it influenced which dances were selected to represent the country of Mexico. Now, as I read through my texts I keep seeing the name Ramón Valdiosera, a fashion designer, appear alongside the creation of many folklórico costumes which are near to my heart. Some of his folklórico designs such as Veracruz Huasteca and Aguascalientes have become synonymous with the region/state of Mexico even though they were created for the stage. Wanting to learn more, I decided to write two blogs on this topic. This is my second blog post. Here, I write of Valdiosera’s costume designs to represent the states of Aguascalientes, Tabasco, and Quintana Roo.

Aguascalientes

The people living in Aguascalientes perform many traditional dances such as the matlachines, a version of the Danza de la Pluma, Danza de Conquista, Danza de los Indios and Danza de Chicahuales (both are similar to the Moors and Christians dance). Yet, Maestro José Luis Sustaita Luevano, writes that Aguacalientes did not have an official costume to represent the state until the 1970s when Validosera designed his creation. Valdiosera designed this costume based upon the dress called the Ranchera del Centro. Valdiosera created a white dress with a blouse having a high collar with puffed sleeves. The bodice has lace with a ruffle of the same fabric. The white skirt has a colorful petticoat of pastel or brilliant colors. Valdiosera designed the skirt to have motifs that represent Aguascalientes. The motifs worn today include: carnations, roses, grapes on a vine, balustrade of the garden of San Marcos, roosters, peach blossom, and the guayaba. The reason that folklórico groups often include grapes in their design is due to the fact that at one time the cultivation of grapes had an important economic impact in Aguascalientes. Nowadays, the growing of peach and guayabas are commonplace (Sustaita Luevano 8-9).

Traje de Gala de Tabasco

As Maestra Rosa del Carmen Dehesa remembers one day a few friends of Carlos Madrazo Becerra, Governor of Tabasco, told him that they felt that the regional costume was very humble and simple. They asked Madrazo to designate a dress representing Tabasco that was more stylish. Becerra had the idea to create a gala dress that incorporated the indigenous dress design elements of the women from Tabasco. Thus, he asked fashion designer Validosera to create an official dress of Tabasco. Valdiosera traveled for three months with Roberto Campos to the different communities of Tabasco. When he arrived in Tapijulapa which is a community in Tacotalpa, Tabasco, he loved the beautiful color blue worn there. Valdiosera based his dress design on the people of the community of Tamulté de las Sabanas and decided to utilize the blue of Tacotalpa.

Valdiosera’s design utilizes the traditional embroidered blouse and rebozo worn by the women of Tabasco. However, he designed the A-lined skirt to represent the state. The skirt is a dark blue color and has a thick waistband adorned with the tira bordada of Tabasco. The tira bordada is a strip of colorful embroidered flowers. Along the bottom of the skirt, are four strips of tira bordada with a ribbon sewn underneath each one. The color of the ribbons are the same colors used in the tira bordada. which are blue (representing rivers), green (representing mountains), yellow (representing Chontalpa), and red (representing the central region). Each ribbon on the dress represents a region of Tabasco (Información y fotos proporcionadas, García n.p., Zetina n.p.).

Valdiosera's Tabasco Design — Valdiosera’s Tabasco Design

Chetumal Traje de Quintana Roo

In 1959 Carmen Ochoa de Merino who was the wife of Quintana Roo’s Governor Aarón Merino phoned Valdiosera and commissioned him to design a dress to represent the state of Quintana Roo. According to Flor de Azalea Hadad Salgado, Director of the Artistic Laboratory “Chactemal” of the College of Arts and Culture A.C., this was important because Quintana Roo did not have an official dress to represent the state (Hadad Salgado n.p.) Valdiosera traveled to this area and was inspired by a Mayan statue of an indigenous women located in the island of Jaina, Campeche. La Chetumaleña is depicted on this sculpture wearing the traditional dress of Chetumal which was worn in the peninsula. Valdiosera used the pre-hispanic elements of the area in his design. He used a sort of brown linen or yute color for a tunic that reaches below the knees. The tunic is open on the sides without sleeves with a cape worn over the shoulders. Geometric shapes, adorn the shoulders and bottom of the cape as well as, the hem. These motifs can either be painted or embroidered. These motifs were chosen to symbolize fertility (Hadad Salgado, n.p., Verdayes Ortiz n.p., The Chetumaleña Monument). In 1981 this costume became famous when the beauty pageant contestant of Quintana Roo wore a version of this design in the Miss Mexico contest. She won first prize for traditional clothing (The Chetumaleña Monument).

Most importantly, in 1959 the same year that Valdiosera premiered his design, Maestro Rubén Dario composed music and lyrics to a song entitled Danza de la Chetumaleña Prehispánica. Also, Isabel “Bellita” Ferreyro Villamil who taught ballet and folklórico alongside Professor Omar Erosa who was a physical education teacher created the choreography to accompany the music and official dress. This dance was presented in December of 1959 in the Manuel Ávila Camacho Theater (Hadad Salgado n.p.).

My Thoughts

Do you notice that all three of the dress designs mentioned above were commissioned by government officials? I have so many questions to ask. For example, why is an official government sanctioned dress needed? Who gets left out when an official dress is chosen and why? What are the politics behind these types of decisions? Also, some of Valdiosera’s folklórico designs are beloved by the people and came to represent the state/regions (Veracruz Huasteca & Aguascalientes) while other designs are not as commonly utilized. What is the reason behind this? Regardless, I can’t help but admire the designs of Valdiosera.

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

Works Cited

“The Chetumaleña Monument,” Tu Chetumal. http://tuchetumal.com/en/chetumal-en/interesting-sites/monuments/the-chetumalena-monument/ (accessed February 25, 2021).

García, Manuel Javier. “En homenaje a Valdiosera: Creador del Traje Estilizado Tabasqueño.” Panorama Global de Noticias en Centla. https://www.facebook.com/groups/128426950889172/permalink/389621924769672/

(accessed February 25, 2021).

Hadad Salgado, Flor de Azalea. “El Traje Representative de Quinana Roo Prehispánico Inspirado en una Figurilla Maya del Preclásico.” Quintana Roo, México. https://quintanaroo.webnode.es/news/el-traje-representativo-de-quintana-roo-prehispanico-inspirado-en-una-fugurilla-maya-del-preclasico-por-flor-de-azalia-hadad-salgado-/ (accessed February 25, 2021).

“Información y fotos proporcionadas por la maestra Rosa del Carmen Dehesa,” De Tabasco Soy. https://detabascosoy.com/sitio/detabascosoy.com/traje-tipico/index.html (accessed February 25, 2021).

Sustaita Luevano, José Luis. “Monografia del Estado de Aguascalientes.” 25. Congreso Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos en Aguascalientes, México del 4 al 11 de Julio de 1998. Aguascalientes: Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos, 1998.

Verdayes Ortiz, Francisco. “Chetumaleña con Reminiscencia Prehispánica.” Turquesa News. https://turquesanews.mx/radar-peninsular/trajes-tipicos-identidad-casi-desconocida/ (accessed February 25, 2021).

Zetina, Eleyda. “El Origin de la Tira Bordada Tabasqueña.” Hey México. https://heymexico.mx/blogs/cultura/el-origen-de-la-tira-bordada (accessed February 25, 2021).

Further Reading

For additional readings please see the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself. Now available for purchase on Amazon. See the link below. https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Folklórico Meets Fashion Design (Part 1)

1 Comment February 7, 2021 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

Many years ago when I was first began teaching folklórico, I mistakenly thought that all the costumes we danced with were once used by a community of people. I had no idea that many of our beloved costumes were created specifically for the stage by maestra/os. Even a fashion designer named Ramón Valdiosera Berman created a few. Valdiosera designed costumes to represent Veracruz Huasteco, Aguascalientes, Tabasco, Nuevo Leon, and Quintana Roo. In this writing, I will tell a little bit about his designs and his choice of symbols for the costumes of Veracruz Huasteco and Nuevo Leon. In my up-coming writing, I will detail his costume designs representing Tabasco, Aguascalientes and Quintana Roo.

Ramón Valdiosera Berman (1918-2017) was a fashion designer, artist, historian, cartoonist, illustrator, and collector. His most famous contributions are in the field of fashion design. His designs were inspired by the colors, sights, and sounds of Mexico. He is the first Mexican to have his fashion collection premier in New York City in 1949. He also presented his fashion collections in Chicago, Puerto Rico and Canada. He designed costumes for many Mexican movies (“Ramon Valdiosera Berman: Ejemplo de Amor por México” n.p.). However, it is his designs for Mexican folklórico dances that piques my interest.

Please see video clip below.

Design of Veracruz, Huasteco

According to Rodolfo Carrillo Vazquez, Don Raúl Pazzi headed a committee in which the members asked Ramón Valdiosera to design a dress to represent Veracruz Huasteco. This costume was presented in the first Feria y Exposición Regional de Pánuco in 1961. The costume that he designed incorporated images of the four Huastecas. Here, he decided to include an apron, fan, and necklace to represent the jarocha from Veracruz. The quechquémetl (indigenous blouse) and the many colores of the petob (headdress) worn on the head of the woman represent San Luis Potosi. Valdiosera decided that the fringe alongside the quechquémetl would represent the cuera Tamualipeca. Finally, the apron and quechquémetl are both adorned with an embroidered flower (retama) representing Hidalgo. The men utilize a dress shirt that is called a guayabera that is typically found in the Huasteca region. It has four pleats which symbolize the union of the four Huastecas. He wears a red bandanna and a hat of the area. Valdiosera chose to costume the men wearing white pants and a white guayabera to give the outfit an elegant look, as well as to symbolize the purity of spirit of the people of Veracruz (Carillo Vasquez 54-55).

The following are photographs of Don Raúl Pazzi and Dr. Patricia del C. Florencia Pulido along with a few other dance partners as they perform using the costume designed by Valdiosera. (All photos are taken from the internet.)

Designing a Costume Representing Nuevo León Central

Nuevo León has many costumes to represent its people. Yet, the costume designed by Valdiosera is very distinctive. Raúl Rangel Frías who was the governor of Nuevo León from 1955 to 1961 alongside the Cervecería Cuahtémoc organization insisted that Valdiosera create a costume to represent the state of Nuevo León. It was presented during the celebration of the “fiestas de la cerveza” in 1956. The committee of this fiesta was headed Raúl Rangel Frías (59).

Valdiosera designed a short, puffed sleeve blouse for the women. He took inspiration from the blouse worn by the peasant women which had a rounded neckline. Valdiosera designed a flowered band that adorns the edges of the sleeves and the neckline. The shimmery, silk skirt has a gold colored waistband that ties with a bow in back. The upper portion of the skirt has a gold fabric sewn upon it. The gold colors of the fabric represent the arid soil. The rest of the skirt is white in color and has gold, green, and blue zig zagged ribbons in rows. The hem of the white fabric skirt is jagged. Valdiosera designed this hem to form an “m” which is a symbolic representation of the mountains of Nuevo León called the Cerro de la Silla, as well as the Western Sierra Madre. Then, Valdiosera designed a layer of deep, blue silk fabric with a straight hem. The woman wears a fan and her hair is pulled back in braids with flowers and a cachiril de carey upon her head completes the look.

Valdiosera decided that the men would wear khaki pants alongside a cowboy shirt of a similar design to what is worn in that region. He designed the shirt to be made of cotton but with blue panels on the shoulders and a portion of the back. A strip of blue fabric is sewn alongside the front of the shirt where the buttons are located. Gold trim adorns the blue fabric. Valdiosera designed cowboy details long both sides of the shoulders. The men wear a bandana and a cowboy hat.

This costume was used by dance groups for the first time at the Confrontación de Danza Folklórica de los Centros de Seguridad y Bienestar Social del IMSS and at the national level in Mexico in the Teatro Tepeyac in June 1970. Afterwards, the Ballet Folklorico Magesterial de la Sección 21 del S.N.T.E. utilized this costume during a performance representing Nuevo León at the 8^th annual Juegos Nacionales y Juegos Culturales del Magisterio celebrating the city of Victoria, Tamualipas in October of 1981. From then on, many folklórico groups have utilized this costume in to represent Nuevo León, Central (Guerrero Hernández 59-60).

My Thoughts

It truly amazes me the ways in which folklórico dance, costume, and music are in a state of continuous re-invention and creation. Don Raúl Pazzi was instrumental in formulating a new way of dancing the huapangos from Veracruz. He wanted a representative costume to accompany his choreography. Furthermore, the governor of Nuevo León wanted a distinct costume to represent his state at the “fiestas de la cerveza.” They both asked Valdiosera for his input and help in creating a costume to represent their state. These costumes were not worn by a community of people but overtime have come to represent them.

Written by: Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

Works Cited

Carillo Vasquez, Rodolfo. “Veracruz Huasteco.” 28. Congreso Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos en Veracruz, Veracruz, México del 30 de junio al 7 de julio de 2001. Veracruz: Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos, 2001.

Guerrero Hernández, Jaime. ed. 2003. “Indumentarias de Nuevo León.” In Nuevo León: Textos del Folklore. Monterrey: Asociación Nacional de Maestros de Danza Popular Mexicana A.C.

“Ramón Valdiosera Berman.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqbbF8NC_9k

“Ramón Valdiosera Berman: Ejemplo de Amor por México.” Movimiento Cuidadano. Accessed on January 21, 2021. https://movimientociudadano.mx/federal/boletines/ramon-valdiosera-berman-ejemplo-de-amor-por-mexico

Further Reading

Dancing Throughout Mexican History (132-1910)

To learn more about Mexican dance history, please purchase the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself. It is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Please see the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Are Folklórico Performances Merely Happy Dances?

Leave a comment December 6, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

One time “my so called friend” attended my dance concert. This “friend” happened to sit next to my cousin. My cousin told me what she had overhead. After seeing my folklórico concert “my so called friend” stated, “why does folklórico only have happy dances? Don’t they show any other emotions?” After hearing this I was completely flabbergasted. Then, I became really, really angry. A few days later, I had the chance to confront her and this is what I said.

“Although it may appear that our dances are merely happy dances, nothing can be further from the truth. These dances reveal the ways in which our people have adapted, survived, and thrived throughout history.”

Dancing Reveals our Adaptability

It may appear that we are merely performing “happy” because oftentimes we depict scenes at a festival or party. Yet, I argue that these “happy” dances show the perseverance and adaptability of our people. Our dance teachers and scholars have told us of the Indigenous, Spanish, and African influences in many of the dances of Veracruz and Guerrero.

For instance, María de los Angeles Luna Ramirez notes by the 17^th century, inquisition records point to certain genres of music that were performed by the mulattos and practiced in different areas in Veracruz and other part of New Spain. Sones like the el chuchumbe, el jarabe gatuno, and others can be considered direct antecedents to the diverse sones that populated the national territory of what we now know as the son jarocho. She cites the scholarship of Santiago de Murcia who states that by the middle of the 18^th century the sones de la tierra developed from the afro-mestizo people in what is now known as el son jarocho. The Spanish brought the sevillanas, fandiguillos, bulerías, garrotines, and a type of zapateado movement that was infused with African improvisational, rhythmic elements. All of this was the foundation for the music and dances of the son jarocho (Luna Ramirez 2003, 47).

Veracruz- Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico Juvenil

In addition, Orqueida Gessel Figuera Gomez states that in Guerrero in the Costa Chica, the people dance the sones de artesa. These dances are a combination of “chilena” and the Mexican son combined with the tribal dances of the African people who arrived to this region as Spanish slaves. These African people fled from slavery and settled along the coast. (Figuera Gomez 2001, 69).

Recent scholarship has pointed to the possibility that the sones and jarabes of Jalisco, as well as the huapangos of the Huasteca region as having African alongside Indigenous and Spanish influences (Please see my blog post called Recovering the African Presence in Folklorico Dance). Gabriel Saldívar in La Historia de Música (1934), believes that it is quite possible that African people living in Mexico after the first half of the seventeenth century greatly influenced the development of the son (265). Susan Cashion mentions in The Son and the Jarabe: Mestizo Dance Forms in Jalisco, Mexico (1967) that for many years’ scholars thought that no African-derived body movements supported his argument (34). However, recently scholars such as J. Arturo Chamorro Escalante in Mariachi Antiguo, Jarabe, y Son: Símbolos Compartidos y Tradición Musicale en las Identidades Jalisciences (2000) have begun to argue the contrary. Chamorro Escalante suggests that there are indeed African influences in the sones and jarabes from the state of Jalisco. Furthermore, Patricia de Carmen Florencia Pulida in Crónica Histórica del Huapango (1994) argues “it is my opinion when I observe the Huapango, it has an African influences from the past that are a result of the fusion with the Spanish and Indigenous influences. These elements have ensured its own unique regional style” (Del Carmen Florencia Pulido 1994, 28). These ideas of the dances of Jalisco and the Huasteca region as having African inspired movements were negated for years. Yet, these movements of our Spanish, Indigenous, and African ancestors remain within our dancing body.

Jalisco-Gabriela Mendozs-Garcia Ballet Folklorico

Revealing our Bodily Presence

Guillermo Bonfil Batalla in México Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization (1996) argues that an indigenous presence is evident in the social and cultural aspects of Mexico. He tells us that “the presence of Indian culture is, in some aspects, so commonplace and omnipresent that one rarely stops to think about its profound significance, or about the long historical process that made possible its persistence in social sectors that assume a non-Indian identity today” (22).

Let’s take his argument and apply it to the dances of Veracruz, Guerrero, and Huasteca areas of Mexico. Although Bonfil Batalla focuses on the Indigenous presence in Mexican society, I note the ways in which throughout Mexican history the presence of our Spanish, Indigenous and African ancestors remain within our dancing bodies. By calling these dances “happy” dances we ignore the continuing historical and political processes that make them appear so. Although these dances appear as “happy” dances, the movements, gritos, and musical rhythms reveal the ways in which our ancestors survived and adapted to political turmoil, unrest, and the changing times. The mere fact that these dances have evolved and are still performed today, show us of the strength and determination of our people.

My Thoughts

Folklórico dances may seem to portray merely “happy” dances but they reveal so much more. To really understand our dances, you have to learn our history. Our dancing bodies tells our history of how our people survived conquest, slavery, colonization, violence, poverty, discrimination, etc. These are dances of survival! Some of us may put on a smiling face because this is one way we survive the cruelties of the world. On the dance floor we can forget all our troubles for just a brief moment. This is a profound survival mechanism used throughout history and that many of us continue to use today.

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

Photo credit: David Martinez, Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

Works Cited

Bonfil Batalla, Guillermo. 1996. Mèxico Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization. Translated by Philip A.Dennis. Austin: University of Texas at Austin Press.

Del Carmen Florencía Pulido, Patricia. 1994. Crónica Histórica del Huapango. Tamualipas: Universidad Autónoma de Tamualipas.

De los Angeles Luna Ramirez, María. “Son Jarocho Tradicional.” 30. Congreso Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos en Xalapa, Veracruz, México del 12 al 19 de Julio de 2003. Veracruz: Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklórico, 2003.

Figuera Gomez, Orqueida Gessel. “Guerrero-Tixtla.” 28. Congreso Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos en Veracruz, Veracruz, México del 30 de Junio al 7 de Julio de 2001. Veracruz: Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklórico, 2001.

Cashion, Susan Valarie. 1967. “The Son and the Jarabe: Mestizo Dance Forms of Jalisco, Mexico.” MA thesis. University of California at Los Angeles.

Escalante Chamorro, Arturo J. 2000. Mariachi Antiguo, Jarabe, y Son: Símbolos Compartidos y Tradición Musicale en las Identidades Jalisciences. Zapopan: El Colegio de Jalisco, 2000.

Saldívar, Gabriel. (1934) 1987. Historia de la Música. México. Reprint. D.F.: SEP Ediciones Gernika.

To read more, please see the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and myself. To purchase click on the link below: https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Nationalization of Folklórico Dance

4 Comments October 4, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

Imagine this….you are the President of Mexico, Álvaro Obregón (1920-1923), your country survived a bloody revolution. In fact, you still have to quell a few up-risings here and there. Your countrymen and women identify more with their region than with the nation. You realize that your people need to unite culturally and politically. They must identify with the nation of Mexico. What do you do?

A Bit of History

To solve this dilemma, Obregón appointed José Vasconcelos to serve as the Secretary of Public Education (1920-1924). Not only was Vasconcelos instrumental in helping combat illiteracy, he also began the Cultural Nationalist Movement. What better way to unite the country than through music and dance? Vasconcelos wanted to be sure that every child enrolled in public school was taught folkloric dances. So, he started programs to train Physical Education teachers to teach Mexican folklórico dances. Vasconcelos even developed the Cultural Missions whereby a team of teachers including a Physical Education teacher would travel to a rural area in Mexico to teach. They were also instructed to document and collect the dances of the rural people (Mendoza-Garcia 324-329). What happened as a result of this emphasis?

The result was an officially sanctioned vision of Mexico that was supported by folklórico music and dances designated to represent the nation. Ricardo Pérez Montfort in Avatares del Nacionalismo Cultural: Cinco Ensayos (2000) argues that the national culture defined “Mexicanness” as coming from the pueblo. In the 1920s, the pueblo was thought of as being rural, provincial, poor, marginalized, yet experienced by the majority. Education was the key to consolidate and modernize the pueblo, and thus the nation itself. In addition, Pérez Montfort suggests that the use of the image of the pueblo became synonymous with the stereotyped image of “Mexicanness” which was invoked by the political leaders of Mexico to legitimize public policy (Avatares 35-45; Estampas 113). Rural Mexico was invoked in the music of the Mariachi band, as well as in the popular songs such as huapangos, corridos, and sones that are accompanied by the indigenous and folkloric dances (Sáenz 20-23). Folklórico flourished under this romanticized, idealized vision of Mexico.

china poblana in 1920s and 1930s — China Poblana in 1931 in Mexico City

Picking the Dances to Represent

Pablo Parga in Cuerpo Vestido de un Nación. Danza Folklorica y Nacionalismo Mexicano (1921-1939) (2004) argues the elites specifically chose which dances were to represent the regions of Mexico. In fact, they designated the Jarochos to represent Veracruz, the huapangos to represent the huasteca region, as well as, the charro and china poblana to represent the nation. Thus, many of our beloved folklórico dances that we perform to were actually hand-picked to represent the nation. In fact, Alura Flores de Angeles “Godmother of Mexican Dance” (1905-2000) indicated to folklorist Ron Houston that in 1924 the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) established a committee to standardize the Jarabe Tapatío. The committee chose the steps, music, and sequence of motifs of the Jarabe Tapatío which would be taught to school children. Furthermore, in her accounts of the history of the Jarabe Tapatío, Flores de Angeles states that in 1924 the Mexican government commissioned the SEP to synthesize the much shorter two and a half minute Jarabe Tapatío from the six minute version of the Jarabe Largo Ranchero. She indicated that she was a part of this committee (Mendoza-Garcia 323). Thus, much of what we know as folklórico today was born out of these ideas of what dances should represent the nation.

China Poblana in 2020 in the United States

Parga notes that an unofficial version of Mexican music and dance remained within the pueblo. This unofficial version stands in opposition to the official sanctified ideas promoted by the state. He suggests that when the nation began to nationalize the folklórico dances of Mexico, a “it has to be this way” kind of thinking developed. Parga remarks that believing that the dances ” has to be this way” developed from the elites who picked the dances to represent Mexico. He argues it is very centralistic and patriarchal way of thought.

My Ideas

I am very intrigued by the ways in which folklórico dance was nationalized by the state. I ask the following questions. What dances were chosen and why? Who gets left out of this official narrative? What gets erased? What is the political reason behind this? Montfort argues that it is time to re-envision what dances belong to the nation (Breves Comentarios 192). What do you think?

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia, Ph.D.

For additional readings please purchase the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself.

Works Cited

Mendoza-Garcia, Gabriela. 2016. “The Jarabe Tapatío: Imagining Race, Nation, Class, and Gender in 1920s Mexico.” edited by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young, 319-342. Oxford University Press.

Parga, Pablo. 2004. Cuerpo Vestido de un Nación. Danza Folklorica y Nacionalismo Mexicano (1921-1939). Mexico: Conalculta/fonca.

Pérez Montfort, Ricardo. 2005. “Breves Comentarios al Libro Cuerpo Vestido de Nación.” Desacatos. 19: 189-192.

—.—. 2000. Avatares Del Nacionalismo Cultural: Cinco Ensayos. Mexico, D.F.: CIDHEM.

—. —. 1994. Estampas Del Nacionalismo Popular Mexicano: Ensayos Sobre Cultura Popular Y Nacionalismo.” Mexico,D.F.: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios.

Sáenz, Moisés. 1939. Mexico Integro. Peru: Imprenta Torres Aguirre.

Life Lessons from Two Folkloristas

2 Comments June 7, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

Looking back on my life so far, I can honestly say that I have had big successes but at the same time huge, heartbreaking professional failures. Personally, I feel that I still have so much more to accomplish. For this reason, I am always looking for inspiration from folkloristas to help me navigate my journey through life. Alura Flores de Angeles “Godmother of Mexican Dance” and Amalia Hernández of the Ballet Folklórico de Mexico are two examples of strong women who recovered from huge personal and professional obstacles to fulfill their ambitious dreams.

Alura Flores de Angeles “Godmother of Mexican Dance”

Alura Flors de Angeles Courtesy of The Society of Folk Dance Historians Collection

It was the late 1920s, Alura Flores de Angeles had graduated from the National Autonomaus University (UNAM) with a degree in Physical Education. With this degree she was taught the rules and regulations of many different types of sports plus a few Mexican folklórico dances. At that time, Physical Education instructors were also in charge of teaching folklórico in public schools. Flores de Angeles was married to Alfonso Canales who she had met when studying at the university. They had a four year old son. Flores de Angeles was teaching and coaching in the public schools. This is the late 1920s and early 1930s when women were encouraged to become wives and mothers. Teaching was an acceptable profession for women but only if they were unmarried and chaste. Once married, women were expected to abandon their careers and focus on motherhood. Flores de Angeles did not abide by these gender expectations. Instead, she continued teaching even after her marriage.

Six years after she was married, her husband was murdered. Flores de Angeles now widowed was left as sole support her young son and her mother. This could have broken anyone down. What did she do? Right away, Flores de Angeles enlisted the help of mother for the care of her son. She continued teaching Physical Education in public schools. In the early 1930s, she traveled with the Cultural Missions to rural areas such as Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristóbal de las Casas. Here, she taught Physical Education and collected the dances of the rural people. She had to leave her son and mother for months at a time when she traveled to rural areas. Flores de Angeles would later teach folklórico classes at UNAM for over fifty years. With much sacrifice, Flores de Angeles was able to provide for her family and successfully support her son’s education (Mendoza-Garcia 2013, 332-337; Houston 2017, 247-248).

Amalia Hernández, Ballet Folklórico de México

“Amalia Hernández: Tres Formas de Conocer la Vida y la Obra…”

Hernández began her teaching career in 1948 when the director of the National Institute of Fine Arts invited her to teach at the Academia de Danza Mexicana. Here, she worked alongside her former dance teachers Nellie and Gloria Campobello, Waldeen, and others. It is during this time period that Hernández choreographed her famous work called Sonatas. She used the folk dances of Michoacan as an inspiration for this piece. Yet, in 1951 there was a change in leadership at the Academia de Danza Mexicana. Miguel Covarrubias was the director. He thought that dance should use a modern, universal language to express the nation of Mexico as revolutionary, nationalistic, and indigenous. He believed that only modern dance could accomplish this. Hernández felt limited by these new ideas. In fact, she was specifically told to set her Sonatas choreography to contemporary music instead of folk music. So, what did she do? Hernández decided to leave the Academica de Danza Mexicana and start her own independent company. This company is now known as the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez (Tortajada Quiroz 2012, 515-516, Tortajada Qurioz n.d., 60-61).

My Thoughts: Flores de Angeles and Hernández are examples of strong, powerful folkloristas. They each faced personal and professional challenges in their lives head on. Flores de Angeles at a very young age was widowed and the sole support of her family. She traveled away from home for weeks at a time to provide for her family. She sacrificed so much. Hernández was not afraid to take professional risks. It must not have been easy to leave her teaching position at the Academica de Danza Mexicana to start her own dance company. She left the security of a monthly paycheck for the unknown. Yet, this did not stop her.

During this pandemic, it is time for all of us to reassess our goals. Many of us have had to close our studios or have opted to teach on-line. We face the challenges of paying rent at our studio with little or no income generated. We also face many personal struggles. Yet, I think we need to look back these two great folkloristas who overcame so much and allow their life stories to inspire us in our own endeavors.

To read more on Mexican dance and history, please purchase the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) as written by Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter and edited by myself. It is available on amazon.com. For more information, please click on the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Works Cited
“Amalia Hernandez: Tres Formas de Conocer la Vida y Obra del Iconico de la Danza Mexicana.” n.d. Seccion Amarilla .https://blog.seccionamarilla.com.mx/amalia-hernandez-vida-y-obra/

Houston, Ron. 2017. Folk Dances of Mexico for Grupos Folkloricos: Dances Introduced by Alura Flores and her Students. Austin: The Society of Folk Dance Historians.

Mendoza-Garcia, Gabriela. 2016. “The Jarabe Tapatío: Imagining Race, Nation, Class, and Gender in 1920s Mexico.” In The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity, edited by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young, 319-343. New York: Oxford University Press.

Society of Folk Dance Historians Photograph Collection. Austin, Texas.

Tortajada Quiroz, Margarita. 2012. Frutos de Mujer: Las Mujeres en la Danza Escénica. México: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura.

—.—. n.d. “Amalia Hernández: Audacia y Fuerza Creativa.”

A Note to Folkloristas–We Will Persevere

4 Comments March 29, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

I could never have imagined the position that we are in–never in my wildest dreams. It began with me seeing all the postings on Facebook of my colleagues in California cancelling their concerts, classes, and even events. I noticed my friends in other states began to do the same. In Texas, Governor Abbot declared that all public schools would be closed until April 3^rd. That is when it hit home! I suspended all my dance classes. I began to share warm-up exercises, zapateado techniques, and even host a few Facebook live on-line classes just so that we wouldn’t completely stop dancing folklórico entirely. I had to re-think this entire situation. And these are my thoughts.

We come from a very strong people. Our people have overcome conquest, colonization, and even genocide. We adapted and survived the European colonization of the Americas, the Spanish inquisition, the War of Independence from Spain, the Reform Wars, the Mexican-American War, the Mexican Revolution, etc. In the United States, our people are both native people and immigrants to this country. We struggled and fought in many wars such as the American Revolution, American Indian Wars, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, the Gulf War, etc. We protested and fought for our civil rights during the Chicano Movement. We continue this fight even today. Our music and dance traditions continuously transform. They are inspired by the political events around us. We did not stop dancing in times of hardship. During the Spanish Inquisition, our people were punished with three hundred lashes with a whip, fined, and put in jail for singing and dancing the jarabes. This did not stop us from playing our music, singing our songs, and dancing.

Our people survived small pox which killed millions of indigenous people throughout the Americas in the 1500s. In Tenochtitlán approximately 150,000 died of small pox. We are the survivors of the measles, syphilis, influenza, etc. Throughout this decimation our ancestors continued dancing. Perhaps the reason we express so much joy in our dances is because our people turned to music and dance as a survival mechanism. Think about it, for a few hours they could leave their problems behind them while they danced. We should do the same

So, we shall too overcome this pandemic. As Folkloristas we are the storytellers, the shamans, the bearers of our cultural dance traditions in the twenty-first century. We will adapt, change, and continue dancing just as our ancestors before us. We will persevere!

Written by: Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

To read more about Mexican dance history, please purchase the book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter and edited by myself. It is available on amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Dancing Folklorico: A Way of Speaking with the Body

1 Comment March 1, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

What does it mean to speak with the dancing body?

That is a question I was posed my first quarter as a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside. Yes, we discussed, debated this issue and even analyzed writings by current scholars. Yet, it was until I began my own research that I found that Nellie and Gloria Campobello, two Mexican dance maestras, had already begun this conversation in 1940.

Nellie and Gloria Campobello

Nellie Campobello was born in 1900 while Gloria Campobello was born in 1911. Nellie would later write a book of poems called Cartucho: Relatos de la Lucha en el Norte de México (1931) describing her experiences of having lived through the Mexican Revolution. Both sisters investigated Indigenous dances, taught in the Cultural Missions and were employed as teachers in the National Music and Dance Section of the Department of Fine Arts of the Secretary of Public Education. Later on, the Campobello sisters would be instrumental in forming the National Ballet of Mexico with Gloria becoming known as Mexico’s first prima ballerina.

To read more on the Campobellos please read my blog posts: Dancing our Gender within Folklorico Dance

Speaking with the Body

In the book Ritmos Indígenas de México (1940), the Campobellos argue that for the indigenouos people, movement is the principal form of expression. They have their own distinct ways of speaking, moving, and gesturing that parallels language. The Campobellos declare that the indigenous people speak more with the body than with their tongue. They advocate observing the indigenous people as they dance to understand their rhythms. Body movement is a sacred language to the indigenous people. The Campobellos believe that through the analysis of movement you learn their secret beauty and pain inscribed in every movement (12-13). Let’s take the Campobello’s arguments a bit further. How does folklorico dance speak with the body?

Nowadays, Dance scholars believe that through a careful study of dance movements, you can understand the joy, pain, cultural, and even political stance of a people. So, we must analyze every zapateado, skirt flourish, even grito to hear the dancing body.

These groundbreaking ideas espoused by the Campobellos in 1940 are utilized by Dance scholars today when we study dance. Sixty-seven years after the Campobellos wrote Ritmos Indígenas de México, Diana Taylor argues the same ideas in her book The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (2007). Here, she writes of the importance the indigenous people placed on the body to re-tell histories. She also declares we must all study the dancing body because the body is an archive that stores and disseminates memories, a sense of our identity, and our social knowledge (Taylor 2-3). So, our folklorico dances retain within their zapateados and movements memories of our ancestor’s histories. When we dance we tell stories of our identity and reveal our society’s customs.

How do we speak with our dancing bodies?

Speaking with our body — Photo of dancers of the Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico Infantil

Barbara Browning in Samba: Resistance in Motion(1995) compares dance to a form of “bodily dialogue” in which many bodily meanings are spoken simultaneously and in different languages (2). Think about that, when we dance folklórico our body has many meaning that are spoken on multiple levels, at different tempos and rhythms. What are we saying when we dance? It is up to us to think, study, and analyze these movements to find out what they are telling us.

My Thoughts

The Campobellos wrote about indigenous people and the ways in which dance made meaning for them. Yet, their ideas can be applied to all dance forms. Perhaps we should really sit back listen to our zapateados, hear the music, and connect with oral/written histories to really understand what our dances are saying. What do our folklórico dances say about us as a people? What do they say about our histories? What would it mean to us if we really listen to our dancing bodies and allow them to speak? Without saying a single word, our folklorico dancing bodies tell us so much.

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

The book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself is available for purchase on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Works Cited

Browning, Barbara. 1995. Samba: Resistance in Motion. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.

Campobello, Nellie. 1940. Cartucho: Relatos de la Lucha en el Norte de México. México: E.D.I.A.P.S.A.

Campobello, Nellie and Gloria Campobello. 1940. Ritmos Indígenas de México. México.

Taylor, Diana. 2003. The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas. Durham: Duke University Press.

Cupid’s Arrow: Folklórico Choreographies to Love

Leave a comment February 2, 2020 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

February is the season of love. What better way to celebrate the season than by recognizing a few folklórico choreographies that are beloved by many. For this blog post, I describe my four favorite folklórico choreographies that have been set by talented maestro(a)s. I chose these works because of their tremendous influence throughout the folklórico community. So, let’s recognize a few iconic folklórico choreographies by amazing artists who have influenced us all.

*Técnica Raza

Rafael Zamarripa Castañeda, Ballet Folklórico de la Universidad de Colima

Rafael Zamarripa Castañeda founded the Ballet Folklórico de la Universidad de Colima in 1981. He has choreographed many dance suites. Yet, it is his development of a folklórico technique called Técnica Raza that is my favorite of all his contributions. I learned elements of Técnica Raza from him at the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos (ANGF) conference in 2002. Here, dancers learn sophisticated folklórico zapateado sequences that utilize the heel, toe, and entire body as they travel across the floor. Designed to increase spatial awareness, enhance motor ability, and especially encourage clear zapateado footwork sequences this technique is a wonderful tool for dance training (Director’s Class ANGF Dance Workshop, June 29-July 6, 2002; https://www.tecnicaraza.com/founder).

*Although Técnica Raza is a series of folklórico dance training techniques, I have included this as a choreographic work because I have seen folklórico dance groups perform it on stage. Plus, these techniques required choreographic skill to develop and teach.

Revolución

Amalia Hernández, Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández

Las Adelitas — Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ballet Folklorico Teen/Adult Beginners

Amalia Hernández founded the Ballet Folklórico de Mexíco in 1952. (Aguirre and Escalona, 1994, 16-42). One of Hernández’s most famous choreographies depicts the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) using song and dance. Hernández choreographed this suite based upon her own family stories. It is very close to her heart. In this iconic dance piece she utilized the corridos of the era. The corridos are musical ballads that sing of the heroes/heroines of the war, love lost and found etc. She usually begins La Revolución showcasing the aristocrats dancing the ballroom dances of the epoch. Then, the revolutionaries or peasants interrupt the scene carrying rifles while the aristocrats rush off stage. The music changes to the corridos of the time period alongside dancing which has intricate footwork and skirt work elements (Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández: Sesenta y Cuatro Aniversario). Of this suite one of her most beloved is a tribute to the soldaderas called Las Adelitas. These women who fought along men in battle during the Mexican Revolution are depicted as strong, brave, and fierce. So many folklórico groups in Mexico and the United States have followed her lead in depicting the dances and soldaderas during the Mexican Revolutionary War.

El Bolonchon

Alura Flores de Angeles “Godmother of Mexican Dance,” Cultural Missions

We cannot forget the contributions of Kinesiology teachers in the 1920s and 1930s who were sent by the Secretaría de Educación Pública to rural communities to teach. The Cultural Missions consisted of a group of teachers in different disciplines plus a social worker to rural areas where public education was lacking. Flores de Angeles was a part of one of these missions. She remembers teaching physical education classes to all. In addition, she was instructed to collect the dances of the rural people. She was sent to Chiapas, Mexico in San Juan Chamula. At the time she was a single mother because her husband had recently passed away. While her son was living with his grandmother, Flores de Angeles traveled with this group of educators to teach. She is most famous for learning El Bolonchon during the festival of the Virgen de Asunción. She choreographed it for the stage. These efforts mark the very beginnings of the folklórico movement that we know of today (Mendoza-García, 85-102).

To read more about Flores de Angeles, please read the following posts:

Alura Flores de Angeles “Godmother of Mexican Dance” (1905-2000)

Teaching Folklorico Dance as a Living Practice

Las Michoacanas: Recovering the Writings of Alura Flores de Angeles

Calabaceados de Baja California

Juan Gil Martínez Tadeo, El Grupo de Danza Folklórica Kicukpaico

In the 1960s in La Misión, Baja California, Mario Ramón Reyes Meléndez spoke with the elders of this community who stated that the varsouvianna, polka, and shotis were the traditional dances of this region. Yet, he noticed that in this community the youth danced calabaceados (Valdovinos García, 125-126). These dances are performed by cowboys and cowgirls to musica norteña. They dance with much flexibility kicking their legs in the air and stomping the heel of the boot on the floor (Martínez Tadeo, 41-42). In 1979, Mario Ramón Reyes Meléndez organized the first festival called La Fiesta de la Misión in La Misión, Baja California. Here, the youth danced calabaceados. In 1982, he invited Juan Gil Martínez Tadeo to choreograph these calabaceados for the stage. In 1991, Martínez Tadeo started El Grupo de Danza Folklórica Kicukpaico and they performed a dance suite representing the calabaceados of La Misión, Baja California. According to Raúl Valdovines García in El Baile Calabaceado: Tradicion de la Fiesta de Vaquero (2017), calabaceados were not considered part of the folklórico repertory for a long time. It was until Martínez Tadeo choreographed these dances for the stage, that they gradually were adopted into the folklórico repertoire of companies in Mexico (17, 21, 37, 126-127, 129-131). I know it is hard to imagine the folklórico community without the calabaceados because they have become a part of the identity of the people of Baja California.

My Thoughts

I think that these choreographic works are iconic in our folklórico community. I cannot imagine what the folklórico world would be like without the choreographic contributions of these maestra/os. Yes, there are so many more maestra(o)s with iconic dance choreographies that I did not mention. These are just a few. What choreographies are your favorite?

Written by: Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia, Ph.D.

The book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself is available for purchase on amazon. Please click on the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Works Cited

Aguirre Cristiani, and Felipe Segura Escalona.1994. El Ballet Folklórico de Mexico de Amalia Hernández. México D.F.: Fomento Cultural Banamex. A.C.

Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos Conference XXIX Director’s Class Workshop. 2002.

Ballet Folklórico de Mexico de Amalia Hernández: Sesenta y Cuatro Aniversario. DVD. Disc 1. Documental.

Martínez Tadeo, Juan Gil. Calabaceados de Baja California. In Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos Conference XXIX Syllabus. 2002. 42-44.

Mendoza-García, Gabriela. Bodily Renderings of the Jarabe Tapatío in Early Twentieth-Century Mexico and the Millennial United States: Race, Nation, Class, and Gender. PhD. diss. University of California, Riverside, 2013.

Valdovinos García, Raúl. 2017. El Baile Calabaceado: Tradición de la Fiesta del Vaquero. Baja California: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

Zamarripa Castañeda, Rafael. n.d, Técnica Raza. https://www.tecnicaraza.com/founder (accessed January 28, 2020).

Dancing our Gender within Folklórico

2 Comments December 22, 2019 Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia

A few year back I met up with a friend of my during the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos conference in Arizona. We talked about our families, and the challenges of teaching dance. At that time her son was two years old and mine was about five years. I told her that my son was taking folklórico classes with me. She told me that she was reluctant to enroll her son in folklórico. Surprised, I asked why. She responded, “what do you do with heteronormativity?” I have to admit, I was taken aback. But then, we had a wonderful conversation.

What is heteronormativity?

According to scholars Berlant and Warner, in Sex in Public (1998) they argue that heteronormativity is this underlined idea that male/female couples are the norm. This permeates our laws, customs, and even our dances (552-558). Yes, in our folklórico dances especially the bailes or social dances of Mexico we represent male/female couple relationships as the norm.

Dancing our Gender

Without even realizing it, many of the dances especially the social ones require men and women as dancing partners. In fact, men often dance with their legs wide apart, have their chest held out, and their torso bent forward to catch the woman in a kiss. Their long, blasting gritos and whistles fill the air as they dance. Women match the speed of the male yet they dance with their legs closer together, must move their arms and wrists in skirt work movements that complement the dance. Depending on the type of dance, women can be told to keep their gaze down to the floor with a shy expression while the man romantically pursues her. We perform specific gender role expectations as we dance. In fact, when we perform the bailes of Mexico we even reinforce heteronormativity—this expectation that men and women are a romantic couple. Very seldom is any other alternative given.

Campobello Sisters: Challenging Heteronormativity

Campobello Sisters in 1930 Dancing Jarabe Tapatio

One famous sister duo to challenge heteronormativity was Nellie and Gloria Campobello. Nellie Campobello was born in 1900 while Gloria Campbello was born in 1911(Tapía 3,7, 9). In 1930, the sisters were employed as teachers in the National Music and Dance Section of the Department of Fine Arts of the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) (Tortajada Quiroz 276).

According to Frances Toor in A Treasury of Mexican Folkways (1947) Nellie and Gloria Campobello premiered their own version of the Jarabe Tapatío as part of their work with the Department of Fine Arts of the SEP in 1930. Nellie performed the role of the Charro and Gloria performed the role of the China Poblana (Tortajada Quiroz 277). They danced together as a couple. I have to ask myself did Nellie take on the characteristics of the Charro and try to woo her sister Gloria when dancing? Was this female/female version of the Jarabe Tapatío well received?

I found a newspaper article written by Carlos del Rio in the 1930 about the sisters’ dance. Del Rio stated:

Nellie and Gloria Campobello discovered the true jarabe and they danced it without fear, passionately. The lack of a male dancer did not stop them. What helped Nellie was her experience with the outdoors, her taste of adventure, her silhouette as an admirable man who pursues, wins, and dominates the woman in a final joy (38). ^[i]

Well, it appears that Del Rio loved this interpretation of two women dancing the Jarabe Tapatío together. Del Rio was elated that the sisters did not need a male dancer for their duets. According to Del Rio, Nellie did take on the characteristics of the Charro she was described as adopting a behavior that was entirely masculine on stage because she pursued the woman, defeated her, dominated her and then ended the dance joyously.^[ii]

There are many reasons why this dance might have been accepted. For example, the fact that they were sisters dancing together might have made it acceptable for them to perform this dance. In addition, it could be that the sisters might not have deliberately danced the Jarabe Tapatío to challenge heteronormativity but it could certainly have been read this way by those in the audience.

Campobello Sisters Performing the Jarabe Tapatío

Challenging Heteronormativity in the 21^st Century

What do we do today to challenge heteronormativity? There are a few folklórico groups in the United States and Mexico that challenge heteronormativity. I spoke with Arturo Magaña of the Ensamble Folklórico Colibri whose purpose is “to create an artistic outlet for the LBGT community to express their heritage” (A. Magaña, pers. comm.). This dance group performs the dances of Mexico with its dancers choosing the gender roles. In this group sometimes their dancers perform with female/female partners, male/male partners or sometimes they dance with male/female partners.

More specifically, Magaña has challenged heteronormativity within his choreography. So for example, in his version of El Alcaraban from Chiapas. Instead of women/men couples courting each other, he choreographed a love dance between male/male couple. In his choreographic works, Magaña is not afraid to even go a step further. For example, instead of depicting the traditional Nayarit wedding with the female bride and male groom dancing at their wedding reception. Magaña choreographed a full cuadro of Nayarit depicting a lesbian wedding to tell the stories of the LBGT community. Magaña tells me that his work is accepted in embraced throughout California. To my surprise, he says that 99% of the negative reactions come from folkloristas (A. Magaña, pers. comm.).

My Thoughts

I can’t help but wonder why we (folkloristas) are the ones who are the most resistant to challenging heteronormativity. What are we holding onto? I think that as folkloristas we need to recognize the ways in which we reinforce heteronormativity in our teaching and our dances. It’s essential to point these instances out to our students, to ask questions, and most of all to have conversations and discussions. This is how we grow as folkloristas.

So, I go back to the original question. What do you do with heteronormativity?

Written by Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia Ph.D.

The book Dancing Throughout Mexican History (1325-1910) is now available for purchase on Amazon. It is written by Sanjuanita Martínez-Hunter and edited by myself. https://www.amazon.com/author/gabrielamendozagarcia

Works Cited

Berlant, Lauren and Michael Warner. 1998. “Sex in Public.” Critical Inquiry 24 (2): 547-566.

Del Rio, Carlos. “Nelly y Gloria Campobello-Creadora de Danzas.” Revistas de Revistas: El Semanario Nacional.October 12. 1930.

Magaña, Arturo. 2019. Interview by author: December 13.

Tapía, Minverva. “Nellie Campobello: A Mexican Political Dance Pioneer.” MFA thesis. University of California at Irvine, 2006.

Toor, Frances. 1947. A Treasury of Mexican Folkways. New York: Crown Publishing.

Tortajada Quiroz, Margarita. 2001. Frutos de Mujer:Las Mujeres en la Danza Escenica. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura.

[i] This is my translation.

[ii] Later in life, Nellie Campobello served as Director of Mexico’s National School of Dance for forty-five years and directed the Mexico City Ballet. Gloria Campobello is remembered as having been Mexico’s first prima ballerina and taught at Mexico’s National School of dance (Tapia 24, 1, 11-13). The Campobello sisters would become celebrated as prominent dancers, educators, choreographers, researchers, and writers.

Mexico

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