A 3-day pageant of music, dance, artwork advert ialogue like an Aztec model of SXSW. Beloved the Progressive jazz/Aztec drumming/flamenco dance fusion

The Michi-Cihuali Competition of dance, music, and artwork

Michi-Cihuali is the Aztec goddess of Lake Chapala, in Mexico, the queen of the wind and waters who protects Mexico’s largest lake and the water provide for nearly 4 million folks. She controls the winds, provides the fish life,  and calms or riles the waves as wanted. She is an area deity in Chapala and Ajijic –and her picture and celebrations of her are all around the space. She may be very a lot alive within the hearts and minds of the Mexicans and the expats.

So it was becoming that the cultural hub of Lakeside for pre-Hispanic artwork and music and dance and jazz and flamenco staged a three-day pageant to have a good time the goddess of the lake with Aztec dancing .

Every evening the pageant opened with an Aztec ceremony led by Sergio Hernández, the chief of the C-Olin indigenous Aztec dance troupe, honoring the water, the sky, the lake, and the mountains – the weather that come collectively to create and help the ecosystem of Lake Chapala. This was adopted by movies, dialogue teams with ecological consultants on the Lake, Aztec dancing classes for viewers members,  a go to by the native Sayacas (comedian characters who dance advert cavort and typically throw flour or glitter on audiences,) a tuba-led  Mexican get together band, Aztec tribal dances, genuine native meals, and far more.

It felt like a Mexican-Aztec model of South by Southwest, with out the company logos.

The highlights of the pageant got here on Sunday evening when Mexico-Metropolis-based flamenco dancer Marien Luevano joined he chief of the C-Olin Aztec dancers and members of the Trialogo progressive jazz  band for a espectáculo de danza .

Marien Luevano is the co-founder of Hojas de Té Flamenco Heart  in Mexico Metropolis  and is a pioneer in revolutionary and experimental flamenco. She has danced and taught dance all around the world. Sunday evening she blended revolutionary flamenco with fashionable dance and Aztec ceremonial dancing, powered by Aztec drums advert progressive jazz. I’ve by no means seen something prefer it.

The pageant closed with the ignition of a castillo (metal tower with fireworks on it that whirls and sings when  the fireworks are lit) made by native households.

By the tip of the pageant, all of us had the Aztec drumbeat imprinted on us like our heartbeats (it’s designed to symbolize the music of the corozón – the heartbeat). And all of us hoped that Mich-Cihuali is listening and can blow away the air pollution that threatens the lake and its bountiful variety of wildlife.

And no person talked about St. Patrick’s Day.

Patrick O’Heffernan

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