Lan Yu

The first time I encountered Mexican ballet folklorico was at a fiesta on a campus in a small town in Texas. The female dancers’ blouses was so wonderful. Although the basic movements of the dances were not complicated, the design of the costume gives a dazzling show of color and shape.

Later I came to California and there were more chances of seeing ballet folklorico. I found that not only the females’ dances were pretty, so were the men’s.

One day at the Cinco de Mayo festival in front of the Seaside City Hall, I asked the dancers where they practiced. They summoned the teacher who told me it was on Monday and Friday at the Oldemeyer Center. I asked how much the class costed. They said it was free. It surprised me, for most dance classes charged a fee.

I did not go there until August. I saw two girls from other countries, which assured me that for a Chinese to learn Mexican dance was not something bizarre.

The teacher, Ana Garcia, looked familiar. I later remembered she was one of the dancers in the Flor de Pina dance that I saw at a fiesta in Camel Mission in 2000.

There were more females and young people than males and adults. When I entered the room, they recognized me and asked if I was to join them. “I’ll try,” I said. They were practicing Flor de Naranjas and asked me to join. Ana had to take care of everyone and occasionally did she give me specific instructions. Luckily the dance was not complicated and I soon learned the basics by following them.

Then the music changed to a kind of tap dance (Later I learned it was from Veracruz) and the studio was filled with the sound of zapateado. In Mexican dance, you do not keep your arms frozen to your body like in the Irish tap dance, but swing them back and forth. The swinging has to be well matched with the music. I was at a loss and did not know where to put my feet and arms. After one practice, I perspired a lot. I thought then, I had to come again just for this perspiration. It was good exercise.

On September 6th I left for China. Before that I practiced three times with the group, just following others to learn the basics. I had no idea about how to move on stage.

I came back a month later and continued to dance with the group. It was soon Dia del Muertos. Ana said we had presentations and I would be in it. I almost fainted. I was there for exercising, but I was not the type who can say “No”, so I agreed hesitatingly. The good thing was that she asked me to be only in Flor de Naranjas, in whichi six pairs of men and women move in a line. The women held a bowl of petals and sprinkle them on the floor. The men, with their hands in back, followed. Then the women put down the bowl and men and women faced each other and walked diagonally. Then they moved forward, backward, made a few turns and that was it. The music followed an unchanging pattern, one two three four five, one two three four five. I had recorded it on tape and could practice at home.

I liked, however, the dances that used zapateado, but I was not as quick as teenagers or young people in their twenties. There was another dance that I can surely learn. It was neither fast nor slow, or sometimes fast and sometimes slow. A man and a woman danced facing each other and also chasing each other. There was the imitation of bull fighting. The man wore a sombrero and a colorful poncho. I had seen that dance in Carmel and recorded most of it. The girl in that dance was very lovely, with a sweet smile. The man was very handsome. Their coordination of steps was very good.

Another dance, called Nayarit, was quick and lively. Women in their blouses danced with Spanish fans. Each man held two machetes. The men need to flap the machetes around their body and below their legs. Sometimes, there was a fighting scene and then there was the throwing and catching of the machetes. I could by no means learn how to do it. In a practice I danced it and Ana told me to clap my hands around my body. At the presentation I learned what it really meant. The Day of the Dead was next to Halloween. It was not as solemn as the Chinese day of the dead, but full of merry making. Many people applied white paint to their faces to make them look like skulls. Skull candies were sold. Mexicans welcome their dead to come back and have fun.

In the presentation there were Veracruz dances in which women held black fans and wore white dresses with a black apron embroidered with flowers. I like them very much. Thw women looked like ladies in a imperial court.

After the presentation, I went up to Ana to return the costumes. She said:” You keep them and bring them for the next presentation.” I was dazed.

Ever since then, I have been with this group, called El Sol de Lulac on most of its presentations. I have come to enjoy them and actually always look forward to the next presentation.

Learning Ballet Folklorico has made me to be more interested in Mexican culture. I am not picking up Spanish whenever I can, from newspapers, radio broadcasts, telenovelas, shop assistants in Mexican grocery stores. I love it. I also visited Mexico around Christmas in 2004. I went to Guanajuato, Mexico City and Cuernavaca. I love the hustle and bustle of the capital and enjoyed riding the metro. It reminded me of Beijing. I think I should visit the country again.

Our group is small, given the fact that there are so many Mexicans in Seaside. The spirit of this group to preserved Mexican tradition and to serve local community is worth praising. It also deserved any help that the local government, business and community can give. I look forward to that myself.