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:
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
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.
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