Ohhhhh…many moons ago, about 16 years back, the Aztlán Academy was invited to participate in the annual Christmas parade. Our director recorded a potpourri of 4 songs and we dressed in our finely embroidered Chiapas dresses. It was pure chaos trying to line up all 40 dancers – about 12 children, 18 teenagers, and 10 adults. Once we had accomplished that, we naively stood around waiting for the procession to begin. We were certain this was going to be so much fun with the added benefit of appearing on TV.
Suddenly, the line in front of us began to move, and I mean really move. We were behind a pack of vintage cars that were creeping by at a mere 5 miles per hour – about 4 1/2 mph faster than we could dance and advance comfortably. Quite frankly, for the first two-thirds of the route, we danced-ran.
The route was lined by men with walkie-talkies, barking instructions to all the participants. They pushed us to go faster, to minimize the growing gap between the autos and ourselves. It was nearly impossible to keep up. My lungs seared with that gripping sting that attacks you when your heart is pumping too fast and you don’t breath enough oxygen. On top of that, it was cold, probably about 38 degrees. Being in costume, we had little protection; the chill in the air was brutal, our eyes burned and our noses ran.
It took the distance of 2 blocks before we even arrived to the area where the spectators were lined up. The music played on a real boom-box. A large, gold-colored, ghetto box that probably weighed 15 pounds, one that my mom lent to the Academy for the occasion. (Whatever happened to boom boxes?)
As we arrived to where the crowd was, we fell into more trouble. The thousands of voices nearly drowned out the music. We could barely hear the melodies. Apparently, the spectators could hear the songs -evident from watching the home video Mom filmed and the live TV recording I had programmed on the VCR. We however were handicapped by the combination of the public’s noise, the wind in our ears, and the thudding of our own hearts.
At one point, I looked up at the sky and prayed that I didn’t collapse. I don’t know how long the parade route was, but I felt we would never make it to the finish line. In the final leg of the procession, things slowed down. It was time to advance around the main grandstand, Christmas in the Park. The pace was cut in half and finally we were able to actually dance. It was a short trip around the Park and just like that, we were done.
So what is this all about? I had to share my story to ensure that any reader would recognize that I appreciate what it takes to participate in such an event. Today, I watched a dance group in the Rose Bowl Parade. They had a dozen dancers or more in three different costumes: Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Jalisco. They all danced to Veracruz music using the same steps and skirt movements. It’s the mixture of the regions that bothered me. It’s something that seems to happen more and more. I know that at the heart of things, this group just wanted to showcase the variety of regions they represent, but in doing so and in such a fashion, they did a disservice to each one. They are not the first to do something like this, but being that it was televised makes it worse. Last year, we were witness to a performance that was supposed to be a display of cultural dances of Costa Rica. The music, dance and costumes were actually from Sinaloa, Mx. It was an event meant to tie together sister cities around the world. It is likely that almost no one knew the difference. However, if I were from Costa Rica, I would have been offended or at the very least disappointed.
The whole point of “folklorico” – more appropriately called “danza regional” or “baile tipico” is to preserve the traditional arts and customs of the people of México based on the geographic and cultural distinctions found in each region. The most recognizable difference from region to region begins with costuming and musical instrumentation. Character plays a huge part as well from the dancers’ postures and footwork, to the interaction between the sexes. Commonly, people define these regions via state divisions. As is natural to all of the human species, populations do have a blending of certain customs that are not controlled by political lines dividing the states (further complicating things, there are even sub-cultures in most regions).
Three of the largest “Huastecan” influences are found in the border-sharing states of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí. The costumes in each of these areas differ quite a bit from each other, yet many of the Huapango songs are interpreted in all three with the same instruments, generally differing in style and tempo. The lyrics can also play a part in the distinction as those who live closer to the sea (Tamaulipas) may often invent verses of fishing in Puerto el Mezquital and of the playas of Miramar, while those who live in the forested mountains of Hidalgo will create rhymes about the Sierra Madre.
So the offense that was committed today was in taking three completely different regions that have little to nothing in common and mixing them by allowing all three sets of dancers to perform to the same music and executing the same steps. If this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, picture something very obvious, such as a movie actress playing the part of a Southern Belle speaking with a New York accent. How about a California Valley Girl using a dialect from South Dakota, “dat’d be mighty strange, yah, don’tcha know.” (commercial break, I crack up at the movie “Fargo” -can’t understand more than half of the dialogue.)
Thanks to technology, television and the World Wide Web, our world has certainly gotten much smaller. Pop culture is a phenomenon that didn’t exist until the early 1950’s. Through the mass media, practices, trends and innovations spread like wild fire at the speed of light. For instance, many slang terms and catch phrases are shared around the globe despite language differences.
This wave is a new kind of evolution, one that has never existed before. I don’t take issue with the modernization of the world. But I am saddened by what gets lost during this process. As traditions are left farther and farther behind, it is increasingly important that those of us who choose to educate the newer generations remain true to the past. We must respect historical truths and the identities of the peoples we represent. Otherwise, what’s the point? One would think it’d be easier to do so since we have access to a world of knowledge that our predecessors didn’t have. In actuality, this is likely the avenue through which all gets muddled and tossed back and forth.
As an observer, it is easy to be critical without providing a solution, but that’s not my intention. Here is my suggestion for future events. Next time, I would recommend 30 seconds of music cuts from each region. According to the music, each group of costumed dancers will have their moment in the “spot-light” while accurately portraying each state individually.
For those of you who kept reading and are not sure how this message applies to society at large, imagine the future 100 years from now. Due to an inaccurate detail that gets cycled around the world or one person’s creative license, our great-great-great grandchild could actually believe that Al Gore invented the internet. Remember, retractions, misprints and corrections usually come in small print and at the back of most publications. While I love the tune, Ritchie Valens did not invent La Bamba either. His version of the song certainly changed the way the world viewed Rock and Roll, yet most people are unaware that this song has lived and breathed in Veracruz, México for more than 300 years.
Lucien Bouchard and his wife – Canadian politicians – will potentially be known as serial killers due to an error in a Hong Kong newspaper. Their photo appeared labeling them as Fred and Rosemary West, the headline caption read: Cheerful, Charming, Odd-job Man Driven by Sex and Sadism”. The story went on to describe the couple as the responsible parties of several gruesome murders. In actuality, the photo is of Bouchard – one of Canada’s most recognizable political figures who was seeking the job of premier of Quebec. I don’t know about you, but should I go down in history, should there ever be public record of my life or experience, I want it to be accurate. Two words: Richard Gere and gerbil.
Locally, here in San José, the Aztlán Academy participated in a very controversial fight over a book written by once mayor Thomas McEnry. In The California Cavalier, he took a real historical figure, Thomas Fallon, and fictionalized his story and participation in the founding of San José de Guadalupe, California during the Mexican-American war. Through a so-called military journal belonging to the war captain, he invented a series of events and details that have never been substantiated.
This book was published as a non-fiction piece and thence circulated through out the public library system and even introduced into the educational curriculum of the surrounding school districts. Why is this a big deal? Because this book then lead to the installment of a statue to commemorate this falsified hero. Still confused? This was a multi-million dollar project funded by the tax payers of San José. Despite our exploding population, schools are being shut down. Music programs, art programs and physical education are disappearing. Students don’t have enough texts available to them and our teachers pay for much of their supplies out-of-pocket. Yet based on one fantasy of one man, millions of dollars were lost. That book is still in print with one added detail. In very small print, almost at the back of the book is a phrase admitting the book is a work of fictional interpretation based on historical events. The book has been re-assigned to the fiction area.
Not interested politically? What about socially…another way of enforcing racial prejudices is through tales that cast a class of people as criminals or dirty or dumb. How many of you remember the scientist who actually wrote a book claiming that black people were less intelligent than those of European descent? Can you imagine if this ended up on the school’s reading list.
It may seem like a large leap to tie this all together, but I don’t think so. Everything is connected and even the smallest detail or event affects all others. Call me crazy, but this really bugged me I guess.
