Havanah Hughes and Natalie Swihart

Folk Dance: Father Music, Mother Dances By Rosa Guerrero and Social and The Political
Dimensions of Folklorico Dance: The Binational Dialectic of Residual and Emergent Culture
By Olga Najera Ramirez
Summary of First Reading:
A. Folklore is not an actual dance. The meaning of folk is people and the meaning of
lore is the life and history of the people. Folklore is an ethnic dance. People from
around the world use their own culture to dance and even use other countries cultures in a
mixed dance. An example of this is tap dance. The American tap dance is blended from
Irish clogging and Spanish zapateos (footwork). Folk dancing is a great way to have fun
and feel like you are in tuned with your own culture but putting in your own twist to it.
America is a melting pot, it is a very diverse country with many cultures creating the
United States. Folklore shows the diversity of Americans, but also using different cultures
to make up a new dance.
Summary of Second Reading:
As it stated in the conclusion, the Mexican folk dance in general, and folklorico dance in
particular, is in serious need of attention. Folklorico dance has tended to be viewed as
insignificant because it is a reconstructed tradition that is often associated with
commercialization of folklore for tourist consumption. The key point, however, is that it has
been used and applied as folklore by various groups for different political ends and has
played a pivotal role in the hegemonic struggle in two nations.
B. Relation

The readings connected to our own life by being raised to do and know different dances
that go with our culture. Natalies family is from Germany, so as a child she was taught the
German Polka. Which maintains low steps, and appears more conservative while still quite
merry. Havanah was born in Dallas, Texas, she knew how to square dance from a very young
age, which is a mix of cultures from France and Spanish areas. That came together to create
square dance in America. Mostly everyone who is in America came from a different country,
we all bring our own cultures here and mix it with other cultures as well to make a new dance
craze.
C. Discussion Questions
1. Melting pot or tapestry? Which one do you think comprises our country, and why?
Pg. 185 in some ways a trick question, it is both
2. Why call these dances folk dances? Might there be a better term, and why?
Pg. 185
3. If you have ever participated in folk dancing, describe your experience of moving with
others. If you never have experienced dancing in a group doing a folk dance, what would you
think you could gain?
4. After reading the second passage do you look at the Mexican culture differently?
5. Do you think the Mexican heritage took folklorico too seriously? Do you think
America needs to make folklorico more serious dance form?

D. Reading Challenges
The difficult reading challenges that we faced in the first reading was not understanding the
different vocabulary used. That was the only issue we really faced in the first reading. The
second reading we had to do, we faced more reading challenges. The first challenge we faced
was the length of the second passage. It was difficult to actually start the second reading. The last
challenge that we faced was the Spanish words that we could not pronounce. To help our group
members out with the strange vocab words is to give examples of some of the words we found
confusing. To help the group with the length, we will give them a breakdown of each section in
the second reading. These two ways will help our group members understand the readings better.
E. Terms and Definitions
1. folk- people, show the group what the term folklore actually means
2. lore- the life and history of the people, show the group what the term folklore actually
means
3. folklorico- tied to strong feelings of pride, affection, and cohesiveness, show the group
where the word folklore actually came from which is from Spanish countries.
4. pocho- defining the Mexican-American Latino as not having a language, a culture, a
country, or a sense of being and belonging, this shows the group how dances that come to
America are mixed.
5. melting pot- immigrants and all indigenous peoples lose their old world identity and
language in order to become Americans this shows the group how much America is very

diverse and how most of the people living in America came from different countries around the
world.
6. cuadros-sets in a performance, each of which consists of music and dances representative of a
particular region and/or historical period in the Mexican cultural heritage. This shows the group
how there are many different heritages in the Mexican culture alone.
7. Secretaria de Educacion Publica(SEP)- it collect folk dances from throughout Mexico and saw
to it that folk dance was taught in the public schools. This shows the group how dance is so
important to the Mexican culture.
8. Carpas- a combination of improvisational theater and variety show, by and for the
entertainment of the common people, that emerged from the nationalistic sentiment during the
post-Revolutionary era. This term shows the group that even during trouble times, the Mexican
culture still thrived in dancing.