With drawn and feathered hats, masks and colorful dresses, Celso Cardozo and his companions prepare to dance the Chinelo dance.
“More than anything else, it’s making our culture known,” Cardozo said.
Culture that originates in the state of Morelos in Mexico from which most of the members come.
“We are the Chinelos of San Pedro,” the members said.
Los Chinelos de San Pedro started in Queens in 2011 dancing in carnivals and honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, but with the success they have had, they present folk dances at various social events.
Cardozo.
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“It’s a very nice feeling because everyone has their own dress, their own theme,” Cardozo added.
The dresses are made of Shakira tala and covered with sequins that create designs of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Aztec symbols.
“He references and makes fun of the Spaniards,” Cardozo said.
Masks showing the image of the Spaniards during the colonization period were used by the inhabitants of Morelos as a form of liberation to mock their oppressors while dancing.
During these eleven years many things have changed in the designs of these traditional costumes which were previously designed here in New York but in the last five years they have been brought from Mexico.
The clothes are made by the artisan hands of their compatriots to make them more modern and also offer them work.
Mexican artisans.
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“One way to help them is to pay them for the work they do and it’s a very complicated and beautiful job,” Cardozo said.
The chinello jump consists in jumping easily with the toes to the rhythm of the music.
Celso says that although everyone works and arrives tired at events, the most important thing is to introduce New Yorkers to a little bit of Mexico.
“Oh, we forget everything because in that time frame we are the life of the party, we have to give people joy,” concluded Cardozo.
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