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The first city in the New World, Veracruz was once Mexico's most important gateway. Founded in 1519 by Hernan Cortez. The Spaniards relied mostly on the vast indigenous labor force, but there was a small African slave market that left its cultural Mark on this Gulf of Mexico region.
La Bamba: A courtship dance, couple announces their engagement by dancing difficult steps and using only their feet to tie a long red ribbon into a beautiful bow.
La Bruja: The story of a good witch and her minions (helpers). The dancers pretend to be flying, spreading their skirts as if they were wings. The women dance with a flaming candle on their heads, while maintaining the rhythm of the music with their steps.
El Tilingo Lingo: This is one of the most difficult and tiresome dances from the state of Veracruz. Men dare women to imitate the same fast and complicated footwork. Mocking them, the song tells how easy Chinese and Gringos can do this dance.
From the Tropical forest of South of Mexico come dances with perhaps the greatest Mestizo influence. Simple themes, steps imitating fuana of the region, and costumes reflecting the Indian background combine to make Chiapas unique among the many cultural regions of Mexico.
El Bolonchon: A courtship dance that shows a group of boys attracted by a group of beautiful Indian girls. The girls show no interest until the Indian boys take from their bags the most treasured possession they have.
Mexico's northern region, home of the Vaquero or Mexican Cowboy, shares common cultural roots with the Southwestern United States. In the Northern states, we see the influence of European settlers in the waltzes and polkas.
El Tamatan: The northeast region of Mexico was heavily settled by Europeans who brought their own musical instruments and traditions. These combined with the native rhythm made them unique in their interpretation as dance pieces. They are a lot faster and complicated than their land of origin. From Scandinavia comes the schotish, known in Spanish as chotis. El Tamatan is a good example as how different this style of dance is performed in Mexico.
Jesusita in Chihuahua: After the run of the last century, In 1910 Mexicans fought a long and bloody civil war that would change the country forever. The revolution overthrew a dictatorship and produced such famous men as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Jesusita en Chihuahua honors a brave and special women that like many other women revolutionaries fought alongside of the men. Another famous revolutionary woman is known as "La Cucaracha".
La Capsula: Among the many musical style brought to Mexico by the Europeans were waltzes, polkas and muzurkas. La Capsula is a fast polka that shows the European influence.
Flor: A schotish or chotish that demostrates the French influence in Mexico during the 19th century. Flor is a social dance that uses a fan. The fan is used in a flirting manner.
El Circo: "The Circus" A fast paced polka, it contains many fast steps. It is a couple dance from Neuvo Leon.
El Raton Vaquero: "The cowboy mouse". A polka, when sung, tells the story of a trapped mouse that wants to be freed, because he speaks English. A musical piece whose author is Francisco Gavilondo Soler better known as El Grillito Cantor or The Cricket Singer. All of his musical pieces were composed for children in the format of short fairy tales. (Visit our links page for both the official and unofficial web sites of Cri-Crí).
Land of light, color and rhythm with its expressive songs, the regal color of its costumes, the charros, the mariachi music, shall always be the most representative of the festive spirit of Mexico. Guadalajara, capital city of the state of Jalisco, is the second most important city in the country.
La Negra: Jalisco is state rich in culture and traditions and it is considered the most representative of Mexico's national identity. "La Negra" or "The Black Girl" is a courtship dance with fast moving steps, in which the couples dance the story of their love. There is delicate and obvious coquettishness on the part of the girl. La Negra is a commonly used term of endearment
La Raspa: A very popular dance done by all in Mexico during celebrations. The festive combinations and the clapping of hands entices you to join the fun.
El Carretero: "the Carriage Driver" is a dance full of energy in which the strong beat of dancing feet are combined with the sound of clicking spurs. Enjoy this colorful dance in which circles in the choreography reminds us of wheels of a carriage long ago.
Las Alazanas: Is a word used to describe a white mare. Like many dances in Mexico, that try to imitate the movement of animals. Las Alazanas, uses steps that imitate horses and show us how graceful their movements can be.
La Iguana: This dance tells the story of a young Indian girl who is surprised by an iguana. The iguana transforms itself repeatedly from man to reptile. The Indian girl, although frighten, triumphs by killing it.
El Son del Gavilancillo: "The Dance of the Hawk" This dance has many implications. It represents and imitates flying hawks looking for prey. The song tells us they are looking for chicks, while telling all the other little birds not to get scared. In the dance, the men compete with one another in trying to catch the girl. The sarapes turn into wings and their steps are strong and aggressive.
Las Copetonas: "Las Copetonas" or "the Snobbish Ladies" is a dance in which you can appreciate the beauty of the women's costumes in the state of Jalisco. Each one of them has a different color and the dresses are heavy, weighing between 20 to 30 pounds. The steps are strong and complicated. The influence of Spanish flamenco dancing is evident.
La Culebra: Is the story of a town that becomes overrun with snakes. as the girls encounter them, they first try to shake them off with their skirts, the men in the field come to their rescue, killing many snakes with their hats.
El Jarabe Tapatio: known in the United States as the Mexican Hat Dance. The dynamics of courtship are obvious and and at some point in history considered daring. At one point the Catholic Church tried to forbid the performance of this dance. It has been so popular it has become a national symbol of Mexico. The man wears the charro outfit all decorated in silver proudly displaying that Mexico is and has been for centuries the first producer of silver in the world.
Los Machetes: The Machete Dance showcases the bravery of men. They impress the girls with their command of both steps and weapon. Women demonstrate their skills of dancing while moving their skirts in a strong decisive figure eight's all in a synchronized manner. Men strike razor sharp machetes while performing fast moving dance steps also in synchronization. The music from this state is interpreted by a Mariachi Band, which were typical musical group that became popular during the French invasion of Mexico in the year 1862. The French used a large group of musicians to play at their weddings. Marriage: from which the word became mexicanized into "Mariachi".
All text and images of this site is the property of Beatriz Amberman's Hispanic Folk Ballet.
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