The José Limón Dance Company is one of the most prestigious in the United States and, curiously, none of its choreographers in recent years had been of Mexican origin.
“This means that, in 75 years, despite the fact that José Limón was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, a Mexican choreographer had never worked in the company. And this is a cosmic process, it is a process of decolonization and, well, it is an event unprecedented”, explains the talented Mexican dancer and choreographer, Raúl Tamez, who was living in New York to carry out this project by special request of the dance company.
“The work is called Migrant mother, is a very sensitive, powerful and magical work. We work on the theme of the mother, of the Virgin of Guadalupe and also the coalition between Guadalupe and Coatlicule. She this is the goddess of fertility in Aztec mythology. And well, her name is also Migrant Mother because we are talking about the migratory phenomenon: those who die in the desert and those who die on the Beast –the train– trying to reach the United States. In the end, it is a song of brotherhood that seeks to unite both cultures: Mexica and Christian… American and Mexican,” details the Aztec dancer.
Tamez shared some details about the titanic work of creating this piece that, although it took shape when it was assembled in New York, began to take shape from the native peoples of Mexico: “It has been a complex process because I work with indigenous themes, with traditional dances , we use plumes, huipiles… So, well, I had to go to the communities and travel a lot to get each one of those objects. And the other stage, well here in New York; then, with the dancers it has been four exhausting weeks of work But I’ve been preparing the piece for a year.”
It is convenient to highlight that the presentations of the José Limón Company coincided with the International Dance Day and that the piece of Migrant mother He also has plans to perform at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
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