Dancing across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos

by Olga Najera-Ramirez (Editor), Brenda M. Romero (Editor), Norma Elia Cantú (Editor)

Dancing across Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos focuses specifically on Mexican dance practices on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The essays explore various types of Mexican popular and traditional dances and address questions of authenticity, aesthetics, identity, interpretation, and research methodologies in dance performance. Contributors include not only noted scholars from a variety of disciplines but also several dance practitioners who reflect on their engagement with dance and reveal subtexts of dance culture. Capturing dance as a living expression, the volume's ethnographic approach highlights the importance of the cultural and social contexts in which dances are practiced. Contributors are Norma E. Cantú, Susan Cashion, María Teresa Ceseña, Xóchitl C. Chávez, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez, Renée de la Torre Castellanos, Peter J. García, Rudy F. García, Chris Goertzen, Martha González, Elisa Diana Huerta, Sydney Hutchinson, Marie "Keta" Miranda, Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Shakina Nayfack, Russell Rodríguez, Brenda M. Romero, Nancy Lee Chalfa Ruyter, José Sánchez Jiménez, and Alberto Zárate Rosales.

Genres: Nonfiction

445 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2009

Reviews

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to get this book for an International Dance class in college and, while reading the required reading sections of it, found my interest piqued enough to read through the entire book. Well researched and thoroughly explained ideas, this book is highly readable even for the layperson. It avoided the esoteric language typically found in academic books, making it a joy to read. I learned a lot about Mexican dances and increased my appreciation for multicultural dance forms.