unleashed vision

Origins of
Mexican Dances

Research lecture presented in University of Alaska Anchorage

In the pre-Hispanic times to the sing and dance were call "IN CUICATL IN XOCHITL" (The sing and the flower), because that was an offering to be in contact with the natural manifestations (deities) the dance was considered a way of concentration in motion. Through this discipline they ask focusing very hard on their goals. The ritual dance was called Macehualiztli (deserving) and the popular dace was called Netotiliztli. The scudding and the whirling movements represent the fertility; the steps that go al the way to the floor represent the earth and the crops. The spinning on the air represent the soul, the steps back and forward the fire and zigzag steps the water.

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After the Mexican empire fall in 1521, The Franciscan missionaries prohibited the use of percussion instruments (huéhuetl y teponaztle) because the were consider pagan, And anyone who dare to play one of these instruments their hands would be cut as a punishment, around 1525 the missionaries introduced string instruments so they can perform their dances. To the indigenes the dances were sacred so they couldn’t play their music with just any instrument. Then in 1531 they create guitars from the armadillo shield because this was a sacred animal. this new instrument was named Conch -Concha (Mecalhuehetl, Zin-zin or Ayoyote) and also they ad the use of Spanish mandolins all under supervision of the missionaries. That is the reason because dancers were called Concheros.
Between 1579 - 1590 a descendent of the texcocan novelty called Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl gatherin the town

of San Miguel en Tlaxcala to the nobles survivors from the conquest, were they agree in how keep in the dances the ancestral knowledge at the same time spread military hierarchies and the organization of congregations of the dance. Between 1930-1940, The chiefs of the dance Manuel Pinda Escalona, Gabriel Osorio in Mexico city and Nativida Reyna in Querétaroand Guanajuato, retake the use of percussion instruments (huéhuetl y teponaztle) and get rid of the indumenta to retake the Aztec indumenta. They receive death treats form conservative concheros groups. And in occasion they end in jail. Thanks to them many of the old knowledge that Aztec dances use today were saved. Help to reborn the Aztec dance of religious tradition or Chichimeca Aztec dance with the original drums and the conchas (mandolins) that help to complete the sings and praises.

 These series of pictures were taken during the celebration of the new fire (Fuego Nuevo). Many head dancers of different dance groups like Malinalli, g Metepec and Monarch group gather together in Malinalco Mexico state for the celebration.


Origins of the Mexican Dances

When you talk about mexican dances always you talk about the Virgen de Guadalupe. In 1523, just two years after the Aztec capital of Tenochitlan fell to Hernán Cortés and his Conquistadors, the first Roman Catholic missionaries arrived to begin the religious conquest of Mexico.

December 9, 1531, Juan Diego crossed the barren hill called Tepeyac to attend Mass. He was brought to a sudden halt by a blinding light and the sound of unearthly music. Before him appeared an astounding vision--a beautiful dark-skinned woman who, calling the Indian "my son," declared herself to be the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She told Juan Diego it was her desire to have a church built on Tepeyac hill, and asked him to relay that message to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga.

on December 12, while rushing to find a priest to attend a seriously ill uncle, he took a short cut across the hill. The Virgin once again appeared and Juan Diego told her of the Bishop's request. The Virgin instructed him to pick roses from the usually sere and desolate hill and deliver them to Zumarraga as the sign.
Juan Diego gathered up the miraculous blossoms in his mantle and hurried off to complete his mission. Once again before the Bishop, he let the roses spill out before him. To the wonder of all assembled, a perfect image of La Virgen Morena (the Dark Virgin) was revealed emblazoned on Juan Diego's cloak.

By order of the Bishop, a small church was soon constructed on the site designated by the Virgin. Skeptics are quick to point out the unlikely coincidence of the Virgin's appearance on Tepeyac, the very site of an Aztec temple dedicated to Tonatzin (earth godess, mother of the gods and protectress of humanity) which had been devastated by order of Bishop Zumarraga.

Tonantzin the true face of Guadalupe

She is known as "Lady of the Serpent Skirt" The Aztec earth goddess had previously been worshiped in the location where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, and was an ancient great mother predecessor to the more contemporary dark madonna of the Americas. Tonantzin is the Nahuatl word for mother, and in Mexico today some people of Aztec heritage refer to Our Lady of Guadalupe as Tonantzin. This Aztec earth goddess was also known as Coatlicue. She was a mother goddess who gave birth to the Aztec gods, the moon and the stars and who also nursed the people as her children


Frequent Asked Questions

Q: Can you tell us what inspire you to be an insturctor?

I began to dance when I saw that in actuality the old knowledge of my ancestors exist in tradicional groups of dancers, now I am a dancer and I teach to my group and we dance in prehispanic rituals, cultural events and catolic events



Q: You think other types of races or cultures could join?

yes, because of the dances is universal, in case of the Aztec Dance, it let you integrate in the nature, it connect you between the earth and the sky, between terrenal things and spiritual things



Q:How did the dances came up with the moves and their names?

The moves are simbols of nature elements, some moves means histories of mitology nahuatl, some moves represent the traslation of stars or planets, anothers are the simbol of agriculture and others represent warrior dances to maintenence the equilibrium of forces of nature

Eduardo Gómez Montaño


Ana Prescod, Jamaica:
Hi I am currently doing a project on mexican dances and am asking if you would be so kind as to direct me to any source of information that you are aware of. I thank you for your time and hope that you will give me any assistant possible. Anna

  • "Dances of Mexico" by Guillermina Dickins, Edit. Monarca, México, 1995
  • "A Treasury of Mexican Folkways" by Frances Toor, Crown Publishers, NewYork, 1947
  • "Compiled from field research on Mexican Dances" By Secretaría de Educación pública, México D.F.
  • "Matemática y Simbolismo en la Danza Autoctona de México" by Everardo Lara
    González, México, 1999
  • "Las Danzas de Conquista" by Jesús Jáuregui, Edit. Fondo de Cultura
    Económica, México, 1996
  • "Ponte a Bailar, tú que Reinas, Antropología de la Danza Prehispánica" by
    María Sten, Edit. Joaquín Mortiz, México, 1990
  • "La Palabra de los Aztecas" by Patrick Johansson, Edit. Trillas, México 1998
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