Dances 4

DANCE OF THE TUMBIS

In the lakeside area of Michoacan, one can find several artistic expressions regarding the topic of fishing. That is the case of the “Dance of the White Fish”, given that white fish is the main product of the local diet and economy. Tumbi means Young in Tarasco, so, this is a dance of young fishermen, who perform the act of fishing by dancing with a small net called Cheremekua.

Since this is a family net, its production is limited. They wear the net during the first part of the dance, that is, at the beginning or Inchapikua and while performing the act of fishing. Five songs are played, during which the huananchas (women) dance, making slow, rhythmical movements; the young people dance with great energy and vitality as they cover their faces with expressive masks.

Men wear calico trousers and shirts embroidered in different colours. They also wear a small hat decorated with ribbons and flowers and strong sandals. Women wear a woolen tangle, an embroidered apron and a shawl.

This dance is performed during the Day of the dead and at Christmas.


DANCE OF THE MAGPIE

This dance is performed by the young coras. They require a lot of energy and physical strength, since the dance lasts for three consecutive days. The chief of the tribe offers the dancers food and peyote.

These young dancers wear calico trousers and shirts, open on the sides. Both garments are embroidered in bright colours with figures of the gods. Their headdresses and hats are beautiful, like all the cora’s clothes.


DANCE OF THE DEER

The most interesting dance performed by the Yaquis from the states of Sonora and Sinaloa is that of the Deer or Game of the Deer and the Coyotes, as known in the region. This dance is a ritual expression to venerate the gods by venerating the nature.

The dancer playing the deer, who is the main character in the dance, wears a stuffed deer’s head on his head, fastened with straps under his chin.

The performance begins with the monotonous sound of a drum and a water bule. The musician playing the drum also plays a flute while the dancer playing the deer places a white cloth at the level of his eyes in order to cushion the weight of the stuffed deer’s head. When the dancer is ready, he takes two bule rattles and plays them rhythmically while he impressively performs some of the deer’s movements, such as: running, observing, and resting.

When the music changes, the deer goes a few steps back and the Coyotes appear. Then, a chasing game begins. The Coyote, making precise and cautious movements, lies in wait for the deer and attacks him. The deer tries to escape, making violent and nervous movements. They both show their extraordinary skills and their good sense of humor. The game ends when the deer dies.

This dance doesn’t have a detailed choreography; it is a free-creation dance where the performer just follows the beat of the music. The instruments that are used in this dance are a flute and some percussion instruments: a drum, a water bule and a raspador; besides, some small bells hang from the belt, which is placed over the blue girdle to hold the tangle that covers the dancers’ legs. When the dancers move their hips, they make the small bells sound, complementing the rhythm of the dance. They also have some strips from tenabaris (dry butterfly cocoons) tied to their ankles and bule rattles that they hold in their hands.

The deer’s head is decorated with colorful ribbons, scarves and natural or paper flowers. The dancer’s trunk is nude and several rosary beads or white chaquira necklaces with medals hang from his neck.

The Dance of the Deer usually alternates with the Dance of the Pascolas.


DANCE OF THE VOLADORES

The Corpus Christi Thursday has been established in Papantla, Veracruz, as the “day of the Volador (flying man)”. This amazing dance challenges the law of gravity, in order to honour father Sun and to ask for the arrival of the rainy season.

At the beginning, this ritual was known as kos’niin or flight of the dead”, and it is similar to the dance of the hua hua in the sense that both of them use a spinning apparatus, but the volador spins on an horizontal axis, while the hua hua does it on a verical axis, in a cross. Both dances were linked to the worship of the fertility gods.

The dance of the voladores constitutes the preliminary to the ceremony of flight and consists of a heel stamping similar to that of the dance of the viejitos and the dance of the negritos. Both the dance and the following ritual are performed by five men representig the four cardinal points and the axis that goes from the ground to the sky.

The ceremony begins by choosing the tree that will be used as a post; then, a hole is made in the ground and several elements are put into it: a small amount of corn, given that it is a fertility ritual, a stream of aguardiente (eau-de-vie) and a living turkey or black hen which will be crushed by the post when burying it; the blood is thought to be good for the voladores to get stronger. Several ropes are tied along the post, and on top of it, there is a wooden frame suspended by a platform.

Once the post, being 25 to 30 meters high, has been placed, the first dancer goes up, helped by the ropes tied to the post and stays on the platform on top. He invokes the four winds or the four cardinal points, then, he kneels down and leans back, obtaining a nearly horizontal position; in this position he plays the flute and the drum, in honour of the sun. The other four dancers climb up the post until they reach the wooden frames; then, they tie their feet and waist and begin spinning. While they spin, they untangle the ropes, so, they begin descending and, at the same time, they lean back until they are completelly upside down and they continue going down until they reach the ground.

Each volador goes around the post 13 times, which, multiplied by 4, make 52 turns; 52 is the number of the cicle in the Totonaca calendar. The rotation of the elements symbolizes the movement of the stars. The voladores wear white long cotton trousers, a white cotton shirt with tucks on the chest and a V-neck where a red scarf is tied. They also wear an ostentatious headdress by means of which they represent some birds related to the sun: the macaw, the eagle, the quetzal and the calandra lark.

Over the years, generation after generation, this dance has remained popular; this tradition is preserved with pride and it has gone beyond the bounds of time and distance.


DANCE OF THE DEVILS

The dance of the Devils that is performed in Oaxaca is a combination of afro-mixed traditions and some traditions from Sonora. It was originally danced in honour of the god Ruja, venerated by the black people, who were exploited as slaves during the colonial period and who were given harder work than the indigenous slaves. Nowadays, it is performed in the celebrations of the Day of the dead; the devils visit the altars in the houses, dance and eat from the offering.

This dance is performed by 16 people who play the devils, their chief and the Minga. They perform abrupt steps, bending over and getting up, jumping and turning and frightening people, specially children, who are shocked by the strength of this dance. The music is played with a harmonica, a cow’s jawbone and a teconte (a kind of drum that produces rhythmical sounds by rubbing it with a long stick).

The devils’ outfit consists of brown, worn out clothes, with fringes on the edges. Red scarves are worn on several parts of their bodies: on one hand, on the waist, on the neck or on the head. All of them wear a wooden devil mask that has horns and a beard made of horsehair. The chief of the devils wears chaps and a binza. The Minga wears a woven blouse with a shawl on her shoulders and a fringed skirt with white lace.

She always holds a doll representing her daughter.


DANCE OF THE JEWS OR JUVIASI

The Mayos traditionally perform the dance of the Jewish (Juviasi) that symbolizes the evil, the sins. The dancers wear grotesque masks that are made of goat leather. They want to be purified in order to stop being Juviasi and become Mayos.

When the ceremony ends, they take their masks off and burn them, symbolizing the liberation from the evil.

The Jews wear an everyday shirt and trousers, a black cotton wide belt, a scarf folded in a triangle and tied as to cover the mouth and nose and a rectangular piece of cloth on their head; they also wear a leather belt where some pieces of cord are inserted, forming a weave which some bugles of reed hang from.

The instruments used in this dance are different kinds of leather-patched wooden drums.


DANCE OF THE VEGAS

This dance recreates the times when a guerilla gang attacked the region during the French Intervention in 19th century; the gang leader’s last name was Vega, so, the group was named after him. The dancer´s outfit is that of the soldiers around the middle of the century and the choreography was probably taken from an older one.


DANCE OF THE CHARROS

Ever since the colonial period and even after the independence, the indigenous were not allowed to wear the charro costume; only the landowners, foremen and other people considered as “reasoning people were allowed to do so. The indigenous people were allowed to wear the charro costume only during the celebrations where dances took place; the dancers could dress themselves up in the landowner’s clothes, as long as they looked elegant during the traditional festivities.

That’s what the dance of the charros is about.


THE CHILENAS

In the Costa Chica, a region comprising parts of the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, a kind of dance, known as chilena, is performed. Unlike the pure traditional prehispanic dances, chilenas come from the mixed race.

The dance which chilenas come from is known as cueca or zamacueca, that is Chile’s national folk dance. Many South American ships heading for California around the middle of the nineteenth century stopped over in the mexican ports of Huatulco and Acapulco during the gold fever. That situation involved a long cross-cultural process, eventually making room for the mexican coastal chilena, a combination of the chilena’s initial elements with the influence of the Costa Chica region: the particular musical style of the area as well as the natural mexican craftiness. The steps also evolved, as they suggest a love story culminating with a song where the couple stamps their heels.

Since 1983, the Festival of the Chilena takes place every year on October 18. This festival is the only one of its kind in Mexico, recreating the poems, songs and dances brought into the country by the Chilean immigrants that arrived in the Minizo Port during the eighteenth century.

The women’s outfit for the mixed race chilenas consists of an embroidered blouse with figures of flowers and some animals. The skirt is long and it is made of bright-coloured satin or poplin, decorated with lace and ribbons. Women’s hair is braided with ribbons; the outfit is complemented by earrings, gold chains and a scarf. Men wear trousers and a loose-fitting shirt tied to their waist, a palm hat and a red scarf.


THE SONES

The sones, jarabes and chilenas are dances performed in the coast of Oaxaca. Among the first, the sones from Pochutla stand out. Sones are characterized by their profane, lively, typically mixed music, which expresses flirting between men and women; with the exception of some choreographical features, they never touch each other.

In the sones, there is a combination of instrumental music periods and voice periods. During the instrumental moments there is a heavy tapping, while in the voice parts the dancers may have a rest, or go for a walk.

The music is played by a wind band, but other instruments are also used: the guitar, the violin, the cajon, the cantaro and the coffee leaf, which produces a sound similar to that of the saxophone. Women’s traditional outfit consists of a skirt, an underskirt and a “mixed-race” blouse. Men wear trousers, a loose-fitting shirt, a palm hat and a scarf; both men and women wear sandals.


THE JARABE MIXTECO

The jarabe is a lively and festive dance that has become popular since the nineteenth century. The Jarabe Mixteco is particularly picaresque and it demands an excellent physical condition to perform it. This dance is about the love conquest and the courage it takes to consummate it.