The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Plumas forever...

It is always such an honor and delight to see the danzantes de pluma in Teotitlan del Valle.  And this week is extra special as a new group presents its first performances as they begin a three year commitment.  
The village is celebrating its annual recognition of la Presiosa Sangre de Cristo and the church atrium was packed to see these excellent dancers.  There are eleven dancers in this group, nine danzantes led by Moctezuma, Rene Alaves Lazaro,
A wonderful dancer with sharp clean footwork,
Joining him are La Malinche, Yaretzi Bazan Ruiz,
And her alter-ego Doña Marina, Jimena Vicinete Lazaro, here with one of the subalternos.
On Wednesday the wind was quite strong and the penachos, headdresses, caught the wind and the strain on the dancers' faces was obvious. 
It will be so much fun following this group and getting to know them all, starting with Maximo Ruiz Hernandez.
Let's dance! ¡Y viva Teotitlan del Valle!

2 comments:

Clever Monkey said...

Splendid photos! (as were Shannon's and Norma's)
Are the headdresses made anew every three years, or passed from one group of dancers to the next? I have a vague recollection - maybe too vague to be real - of one of you bloggers showing something of the making of the headdresses.

As I can't be in Oaxaca in person, I'm so thankful get to see life there through your eyes (the grand things like this, and the modest things of daily living). By the way, I was so enthralled by your humming bird solar lights, that I found them on the internet, and four homes here now have them, one in Calif. and three in Pennsylvania, where it turns out they stand up to the winters.
Diane

Christopher Stowens said...

Gracias for the kind words. The penachos are new for every group and each dancer ends up with two of them, sometimes three. They are all hand made in the village and cost about $5000 MP each.