Oaxaca Contemporary Dance Festival

Cowboy hats and Crinoline skirts
whirled around the stage.

Currently, there is a contemporary dance festival happening in Oaxaca. Dance troops from France, Spain, Czechoslovakia and the United States are in town, along with performers from across Mexico.

On Wednesday, my friend Aome and I watched a free street performance, for a while. Then we went to the Teatro Juarez to see a performance by the French dance troop.

The street performance we watched, although not contemporary, was excellent. The dancers were from Chihuahua, Durango, and a few of the other northern states, where there are still cowboys and cowgirls. The dances looked like a kind of Mexican square dance. Their synchronization was perfect. In unision, all the dancers stomped their booted feet.

I snapped a few photos of the dancers performing on the corner Cinco de Mayo and Constitución, but inside the theatre, I didn't take any photos. In Canada, it is typical hear an announcement before a performance that tells the audience all cell phones must be turned off, and no photos or videos are to be taken.

This being Mexico, things are quite different. People drifted in during the performance, and many attendees were opening their cell phones, which gave off distracting light. Photos were taken, and videos were shot. I must add here that Teatro Juarez is a well-designed, modern theatre that is well used. So, although Mexican audiences are different, they are sophisticated.

For $50 pesos, which is less than $5 Canadian dollars, I certainly could not complain about the price. The performance was what I'd expect, and I enjoyed the evening.