About the Book:Dancing across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos focuses specifically on Mexican dance practices on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The essays explore various types of Mexican popular and traditional dances and address questions of authenticity, aesthetics, identity, interpretation, and research methodologies in dance performance. Contributors include not only noted scholars from a variety of disciplines but also several dance practitioners who reflect on their engagement with dance and reveal subtexts of dance culture. Capturing dance as a living expression, the volume’s ethnographic approach highlights the importance of the cultural and social contexts in which dances are practiced. Contributors are Norma E. Cant, Susan Cashion, Mara Teresa Cesea, Xchitl C. Chvez, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez, Rene de la Torre Castellanos, Peter J. Garca, Rudy F. Garca, Chris Goertzen, Martha Gonzlez, Elisa Diana Huerta, Sydney Hutchinson, Marie “Keta” Miranda, Olga Njera-Ramrez, Shakina Nayfack, Russell Rodrguez, Brenda M. Romero, Nancy Lee Chalfa Ruyter, Jos Snchez Jimnez, and Alberto Zrate Rosales.Table of Contents: Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiiiOlga Najera-Ramirez, Norma E. Cantu, and Brenda M. RomeroPart I: Contested Identities 1. Embodied Recuperations: Performance, Indigeneity, and Danza Azteca 3 Elisa Diana Huerta 2. The Zapopan Dancers: Reinventing an Indigenous Line of Descent 19 Renee de la Torre Castellanos 3. La Feria de Enero: Rethinking Gender in a Ritual Festival 48 Xochitl C. Chavez 4. Dancing to “Whittier Boulevard”: Choreographing Social Identity 66 Marie “Keta” Miranda 5. Creating Agency and Identity in Danza Azteca 80 Maria Teresa CesenaPart II: Dimensions of Space and Place 6. The Semiotics of Land and Place: Matachines Dancing in Laredo, Texas 97 Norma E. Cantu 7. Dancing to the Heights: Performing Zapotec Identity, Aesthetics, and Religiosity 116 Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez 8. Traditional Dances of the Sierra Norte of Puebla: Identity and Gender Relations 138 Alberto Zarate Rosales 9. Por Que Estas Aqui?: Dancing through History, Identity, and the Politics of Place in Butoh Ritual Mexicano 148 Shakina Nayfack 10. El Baile de los Elotes: The Corn Dance 165 Jose Sanchez JimenezPart III: Trajectories of Tradition 11. The Matachines Danza as Intercultural Discourse 185 Brenda M. Romero 12. The Ballet Folklorico de Mexico and the Construction of the Mexican Nation through Dance 206 Sydney Hutchinson 13. Dancing Culture: A Personal Perspective on Folklorico 226 Rudy F. Garcia 14. The Mexican Danzon: Restrained Sensuality 237 Susan Cashion 15. Gender as a Theme in the Modern Dance Choreography of Barro Rojo 256 Nancy Lee Chalfa RuyterPart IV: Politics of Traditional and Innovation 16. Staging Authenticty: Theorizing the Development of Mexican Folklorico Dance 277 Olga Najera-Ramirez 17. Dance, Politics, and Cultural Tourism in Oaxaca’s Guelgauetza 293 Chris Goerizen 18. Bailando para San Lorenzo: Nuevo Mexicano Popular Traditional Musics, Ritual Contexts, and Dancing during Bernalillo Fiesta Time 318 Peter J. Garcia 19. Folklorico in the United States: Cultural Preservation and Disillusion 335 Russell Rodriguez 20. Zapateado Afro-Chicana Fandango Style: Self-Reflective Moments in Zapateado 359 Martha Gonzalez Epilogue 379 Selected Bibliography on Folk, Ritual, and Social Dance in Greater Mexico 383 Works Cited 403 Contributors 431 Index 437