Choreographing Mexico

Festive Performances and Dancing Histories of a Nation

Manuel R. Cuellar

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Hardback

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English

University of Texas Press
20 September 2022

Dance; History of the Americas

The years between 1910 and 1940 were formative for Mexico, with the ouster of Porfirio Diaz, the subsequent revolution, and the creation of the new state. Amid the upheaval, Mexican dance emerged as a key arena of contestation regarding what it meant to be Mexican. Through an analysis of written, photographic, choreographic, and cinematographic renderings of a festive Mexico, Choreographing Mexico examines how bodies in motion both performed and critiqued the nation.

Manuel Cuellar details the integration of Indigenous and regional dance styles into centennial celebrations, civic festivals, and popular films. Much of the time, this was a top-down affair, with cultural elites seeking to legitimate a hegemonic national character by incorporating traces of indigeneity. Yet dancers also used their moving bodies to challenge the official image of a Mexico full of manly vigor and free from racial and ethnic divisions. At home and abroad, dancers made nuanced articulations of female, Indigenous, Black, and even queer renditions of the nation. Cuellar reminds us of the ongoing political significance of movement and embodied experience, as folklorico maintains an important and still-contested place in Mexican and Mexican American identity today.

By: Manuel R. Cuellar
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 626g
ISBN: 9781477325162
ISBN 10: 1477325166
Pages: 372
Publication Date: 20 September 2022
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Manuel R. Cuellar is an associate professor of Spanish and Latin American literatures and cultures at George Washington University.

Reviews for Choreographing Mexico: Festive Performances and Dancing Histories of a Nation

Choreographing Mexico is a long-overdue critical study of Mexican traditional and regional dance known today as folklórico…[a] fascinating and well-researched volume...Cuellar proves that Mexican regional dance is a social embodiment that at times reproduces nationalistic tropes and at others critiques them. Choreographing Mexico is a rich exploration of how bodies in motion create and recreate the idea of a nation...Choreographing Mexico offers a welcome and new interdisciplinary look at folklórico dance as essential to Mexican cultural formations. The volume will be important for Mexicanists and scholars of dance and performance. Accessible to multiple audiences, Choreographing Mexico is for anyone interested in Mexican culture and anything Mexican. * Journal of Latin American Studies *