Danza Azteca For Beginners

Danza Azteca is a contemporary dance tradition whose origin dates to the time of the early Spanish colonial era in Mexico. It descends from a larger dance category known as the “Danzas de Conquista,” or “conquest dances.” The story of danza begins with the Concheros, a spiritual and syncretic dance which developed in El Bajío (the lowlands) region of Mexico. This region encompasses parts of the modern central Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro, and Jalisco. Concheros maintain that this dance tradition originated during the time of the conquest, not that of the Aztecs, but of Querétaro on July 25, 1531. According to the oral history, the roots of the dance tradition stem from the struggle between the Spanish and the Indigenous people who resisted colonization.
At the center of this conflict lies a mythical battle called the Battle of Sangremal which dancers point to as the precise origin of the Danza Conchera. The name of that mythic battle, “Sangremal,” translates to “bad blood” and is symbolic of the spiritual war between Christianity and indigenous spirituality. As the Spanish empire in the Americas grew, its military forces pushed the limits of the frontier and subjugated the native inhabitants in the process. Ironically, these conquering forces consisted largely of Christianized indigenous warriors who were used as shock troops to clear the way for colonization. This pattern became the standard and was repeated with remarkable success for several centuries.

Pic 1: “‘Alegoría de la fundación de Querétaro’, mural en el templo de la Santa Cruz de los milagros,” 19th-century, Mediateca - Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1950, accessed September 14

The dance tradition would not exist in its current form were it not for the belief that a sign from heaven appeared in the sky on that fateful day. According to the traditional telling: After several hours of gruesome fighting, a bright cross appeared resplendent and radiant and stood still in the sky above; at its side, the image of Saint James manifested itself as it was his day in the holy calendar. As nightfall approached, he had been invoked by the Christians to help them win the furious combat that seemed to have no end. Conchero dancers regard this as the precise moment when the Chichimec of the Bajío dropped their “arcos y flechas” (bows and arrows) and adopted the “concha” (shell) guitar from which their name is derived. It is useful to note here that the supposed apparition of St. James assisting the Spanish dates to the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors.

Pic 3: Chichimec warrior with bow and arrow; Florentine Codex Book X

As Indigenous people came under foreign rule, the harsh treatment by Europeans forced them to adapt to the new colonial order. Over and over, the colonized chose to blend their spiritual beliefs with Christianity as a way of showing outward religious conversion while keeping their own spiritual practices. In the case of the Concheros, one of the ways they adapted was by adopting a lute-like guitar made from the “conchas,” or carapaces of armadillos. It replaced the traditional native drums which Catholic authorities frowned upon due to their association with indigenous practices, and it also gave them their name.
To the average observer today, danza may seem like just another type of Mexican folk dance, but the religious element and its deeply rooted rituals set it apart from typical folklorico. In style and form, danza is a tradition based on religious conversion and dancers see themselves as warriors whose goal is to conquer, or win over, new converts to their spiritual circle. Once recruited, novice dancers learn that there is more to danza than simply rehearsing for the next ceremony or event. They are instructed that the dance is a form of prayer and that each step has spiritual significance, such as marking the cardinal points - as in the four directions plus the earth and the sky. When interpreted through a Catholic lens, the steps can be evocative of the sign of the Christian cross, but when filtered through a native spirituality, they represent an indigenous cosmovision, the four basic elements of life – earth, wind, fire, and water.

Pic 5: Conchero brothers Daniel and Encarnacion Rodriguez, Grupo de Danza Macuilxochtil, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico, 2019, image courtesy of Evelio Chichilticoatl Flores

The Danza Conchera remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years until the middle of the twentieth century when two offshoots emerged, the Danza Azteca-Chichimeca and the Danza Mexika. Because all three traditions are closely related, they are collectively known as “la danza tradicional,” or simply “danza” for short. The first major change to danza occurred in the 1940s-1950s when forward-thinking danzantes shifted the style of dress to an idealized Aztec appearance and encouraged a return to indigenous instrumentation. Calling themselves Aztecas and Chichimecas, they replaced the conservative Conchero regalia and placed a greater emphasis on the huehuetl (vertical drum) and the teponaztle (horizontal wooden drum with two resonant slats in different tones). While these shifts in tradition transformed danza, the biggest change involved the outright rejection of the Catholic folk rituals which were integral to the survival of the danza tradition.
This latter evolution of danza was in response to the socio-cultural revolutions that swept the world during the 1960s-1970s. One by one, countries that were still politically controlled by Europeans declared themselves independent and threw off the yokes of colonization. Young danzantes who called themselves Mexikas found inspiration in those freedom movements and concluded that danza needed to purge itself of its colonial baggage. Decolonizing danza involved denouncing Catholicism – the religion of the Spanish invaders, removing all non-indigenous rituals, and replacing them with their version of ancestral indigenous ceremonies.

Pic 7: Danzantes Aztecas with huehuetl and teponaztli drums, State Fair of Texas, Dallas, 2005, author’s collection