Episode 004 -- Indigenous folkloric dance in Pre-Columbian Mexico

Imagine it to be the late 15th Century or early 16th Centruy -- a time before the year 1519, before the arrival of the Spaniards to Mexico.
It is a cool and breezy afternoon in the central highland plateau of Mexico.
It is possibly the afternoon of the equinox, a religious feast day of tremendous magnitude in the religion of the people that inhabit a major metropolis of nearly one million people in the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztec empire.
The call from the conchas, or shell, alerts the people that the hour has arrived for the religious celebration to take place around the base of the pyramids in the center of the city. The entire population will be asked to participate.
From all the causeways that lead to the center of Tenochtitlan, the people come marching to be in the festivities in which they will pay thanks and homage to their deities.
Atop the top of the pyramid, at the teocalli, the smoke from a small fire can be seen; the high priests from the orden sacerdotal, or the sacerdotal order, await for the massing of the people.
When they are all together, the festivities begin –
-the incantations are given,
- the guerras floridas take place; these are the mock battles and mock wars fought with flowers and banners surrounded by flowers on bamboo or reed shafts carried by warriors and swung like knives and swords, instead of the real weapons;
- the human sacrifices are performed;
- and then the dance begins...

this podcast opens by setting the stage of the folkloric dances of the ancient Aztec empire -- what we call, las danzas indigenas – the folkloric dances of the indigenous tribes of Mexico.



This scenario took place in many of the indigenous tribal cities – from Tlaxcala to Cholula to Tenochtitlan, the central might of the Aztec empire, which is today Mexico City.

In this episode, we will cover the danzas indigenas, that is the pre-Columbian era of Mexican folklore and dance.

We cover 3 regions or tribes and their pre-Columbian dances: (1) the Aztecs with their dances honoring their deities called Quetzalcoatl and Huizilopotchli; (2) the Poblanos and their Danza de los Quetzales; and (3) the famous Danza del Venado of the Yaquis in the Northwestern desert areas of Sonora.

Different examples of the music are given in this podcast episode, as the recordings came from an outdoor, live performance of Ballet Folklorico groups in a free presentation at the large open-air ampitheatre in San Antonio, Texas.

This podcast also contains a brief discussion of the importance of folkloric dance to the indigenous peoples of Mexico, as well as how it set the stage of the evolution of what is today folklorico music and dance of Mexico, after the coming of the Spaniards and the Conquest of Mexico.

The pre-Columbian folklore dance is also shown in the repertoire of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.
This Ballet has been a great ambassador of Mexico to the world in promoting the folklorico music and dance of Mexico.