by Carilyn Rome
Daily Lobo
For 12 years, Baila! Baila! has been teaching students across the Southwest the culture and technique of traditional Mexican, Latin and other forms of Hispanic dance.
The group has performed at Carnegie Hall, Disney World, Hollywood and in the Caribbean. Baila! Baila! also won the World Championship Dance Competition in 1999 and represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
The show was a collaboration of the color and excitement of traditional Mexican dance and Ballet Folklorico from northern and southern Mexico.
The first half of the performance featured pieces from the southern states of Veracruz, Guerrero and Colima and the regions of Costa and Sinaloa. The variety in this half of the show was one of its most striking qualities.
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One of the pieces "La Bamba," had couples with girls waving gorgeous fan skirts who, with their partners, used fast footwork to tie ribbons in different patterns with their feet.
This piece was a direct contrast to "Canto A Veracruz," where the couples maneuvered among each other in water-like patterns accompanied music that was similar to a waltz. It was beautiful to watch not only because of the patterns and the music, but the choreography was complex and engaging with the female dancers balanced candles on their heads.
The highlight of this half of the show, "El Zapateado Jarocho," could be described as Mexican step dance. Instead of using music, the dancers made rhythmic sound patterns with their feet. This piece stood out because it was much more contemporary than the others and gave the audience a chance to see how traditional Mexican dance fits into the modern era.
The second part of the show featured northern style dances from places like Chihuahua and the state of Jalisco. This half of the show was quite different from the other half. The girls' skirts were shorter and all the dancers wore boots and country western-style shirts.
The pieces in the second half were more aggressive - men were jumping over swords, women were being thrown over-head and everyone was yelling. This half of the show was more interactive because the songs were familiar to the audience.
A Baila! Baila! performance is an opportunity to experience an aspect of Mexican cultures most of us rarely have access to, presented in both traditional and contemporary form.
