Danna A. Levin Rojo
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitano-Azcapotzalco
The Matachines Dance in the Hispano-mestizo Community of Alcalde, New Mexico: Possible Origins and Contemporary Developments
The matachines dance is one of the few dances performed both by Pueblo and Hispanic people in New Mexico. Its origins and original meanings are obscure but it is commonly believed that it derives fom the “Danzas de Conquista,” introduced in Mexico by missionary priests as a theatrical resource to reinforce evaluation. Attending to the characters involved in the performance –which is a purely choreogaphic representation with no dialogue but has one dancer playing Malinche and another playing Monarca/Montezuma– it has been suggested that initially it was a representation of the triumph of Christians over Moctezuma thanks to the efforts of Doña Marina, la Malinche who is considered the first convert in New Spain. The dance is also performed in Arizona among the Yaqui and in many places within Mexico, especially among the Tarahumara, Tepehuano, Yaqui, Mayo, Cora, and Huichol Indians, as well as among mestizo communities in Zacatecas. In nineteenth century New Mexico many Pueblo villages and almost every Hispanic village had their own matachines group that would dance on the town’s annual feast day or during Christmas. Today the number has shrunk to less than two dozen villages, among them Alcalde, a small, 89% Hispanic village in Rio Arriba County located in the vicinity of San Juan Pueblo, the Tewa village where the conqueror Juan de Oñate first established his headquarters in 1598.
After discussing the possible European origins (Italian and Iberian-Arabic) of the matachines dance and the way it may have been introduced in New Mexico, this paper focuses on the Alcalde matachines performance, highlighting the aspects it shares with other Hispanic versions and the differences between these and the Pueblo Indian versions. Apart from recent developments that reflect current transformations in local gender relations brought about by modernization, it reflects upon the role that this ancient tradition plays today in the community as a social space for cultural resistance and identity reinforcement as well as the ideological and political meanings it has come to embody vis à vis the land struggles of the pre-USA Hispanic community all over the state territory.
