Mexican folkloric dancers

A fellow co-worker invited me to see a Mexican Folklore Dance program. As I sat and watched 20 different dance groups from all over Mexico show off their colorful skirts and tap-dance-like steps, I felt time take me from the present to the past. The dances are a mixture of the ancient Mayan and Aztec rituals of rhythmic movement done to please the gods. The dances developed after one of the most influential factors in the indigenous culture: the Spanish colonization. The Spanish brought with them (among other things) the dances they knew: the waltz, ballet and polka. Mix those with ancient dances and you get a fascinating display of men and women — and sometimes girls and boys — who reinvent their ancestral past. The women wear long, braided hair (fake if need be), skirts big enough to hide a dining room table and colorful ribbons in their hair and woven through their blouses. The men wear well-designed button-down shirts, sombreros and decorated pants. Both wear shoes that tap tap tap or pound pound pound to the beat of music you won’t hear riding through the neighborhood.

I have now gone twice to see folklore dancing, maybe seeing a total of 25 different dances. Like snowflakes, each proves different from its predecessor. The world around me seems to be put on pause as I watch these dedicated and talented men and women show off. One could argue this cultural art form can be an escape from reality. But I would argue they are much more than that. For unlike a Blockbuster hit, this art demands something from both the performer and the audience. It demands us to look back at history, to reach back and connect with those who lived on the land we now occupy.

Gena Thomas is a women’s coop laborer and faith-based coffee shop co-manager with her husband. For more on her experiences, check out her blog.

But first, let me start by giving you some information about the island past and present as well as bit more about my life here. Ambergris Caye is the largest of some 200 cayes (pronounced as “key,” meaning an island) along the coast of Belize. It is about 25 miles long and a little over a mile wide in some places and four miles at the widest point. Ambergris Caye is located on the Caribbean Sea just off the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Being on the barrier reef makes the island a popular spot for snorkeling and divers. It is 190 miles long and is home to the second largest living coral reef in the world.

Back in Mayan times, Ambergris Caye was a trading post and the Maya dug the narrow channel that separates Mexico and Belize to provide a trade route from the bay of Chetumal to the Caribbean. Following the Maya were whalers, pirates and the ancestors of present day residents,  many of whom were fishermen and worked in the coconut plantations.

Two reasons why we chose Ambergris Caye were 1) everyone spoke English and 2) we were easily able to find a furnished apartment that was a mere 10 minute walk from the beautiful blue Caribbean sea.  I came as prepared for our new life as I could be, and packed everything but the kitchen sink. I could only fit so much in four suitcases and I stuck with the essentials – cutlery, pots, sheets, books and all the little things we needed to establish ourselves in our new place.

We arrived in January 2006 and I was in heaven. We had finally moved away from winter and ended up in a fun, quirky and tropical place. I felt at home immediately. There’s nothing like trading in snow and winter boots for sunshine and flip flops to make a girl happy.