Shaping Society through Dance. Mestizo Ritual Performance in the Peruvian Andes

Abstract

In chapter two she deals with such terms as 'folklore', 'authenticity' and tradition'. Since the 1920s when regional traditions were 'invented' and the 'folklorization' of danzas was promoted by cultural institutions, this has lead to the definition of a regional repertoire of 'indigenous' or 'authentic' danzas, on the one hand, and 'mestizo' danzas on the other. Apart from gaining social recognition and prestige, the dancers are shaping society by opposing certain dominant views of women and of ethnic/racial identity. [...]I would very much have liked to see the moving images, but the video has to be ordered separately from the USA, and somehow that seems a lot of trouble. Even though the social reality in this African country is quite different, the theoretical analysis of (ritual) dances in an historical perspective within a framework of ethnicity/race contained in Shaping Society through Dance will be a much-appreciated source of inspiration.

Shaping Society through Dance. Mestizo Ritual Performance in the Peruvian Andes, by Zoila S. Mendoza. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2000. CD sound recordings included in the book; videotape available from the publisher.

When looking at Andean ritual dances (danzas), or any traditional dances for that matter, one asks oneself a number of questions: Why do these groups perform? What do they represent? When do they have performances? Mendoza, who was an active member of the danza scene, has managed to join theory and practice in providing the reader with much insight in the workings of these 'comparsas' or groups.

In chapter one, before discussing the actual groups, Mendoza talks about issues of ethnicity, race and class against the historical background of pre-Hispanic times and Colonialism, and includes some theoretical considerations. In chapter two she deals with such terms as 'folklore', 'authenticity' and tradition'. Since the 1920s when regional traditions were 'invented' and the 'folklorization' of danzas was promoted by cultural institutions, this has lead to the definition of a regional repertoire of 'indigenous' or 'authentic' danzas, on the one hand, and 'mestizo' danzas on the other. Cusco City intellectuals ('indigenistas') have constructed much of the romanticized notion of the 'authentic' Cusco indigenous identity by associating the pre-Hispanic past with the distant highland rural areas. These folkloristic danzas have their ultimate source of authenticity and validation in a marginalized and oppressed indigenous culture. Many of them, including the music and the ritual practices associated with these danzas, have been taken out of their original contexts, stylised, stripped of many of their original meanings, and converted into emblems of regional and national identity by certain elites.

I appreciate the way Mendoza deals with the term 'folklore', which I try to avoid as much as possible because of the connotations of artificiality and condescendence. She has realized that the young generation described in this book was (and is) validating their performances through the concept of Peruvian or Andean folklore, using them as a vehicle for the (re)invention of tradition. They have constructed a new, 'modern', identity for themselves, carrying through changes in society and opposing dominant views.

Chapter three gives us information about the people of San Jerónimo and its patron saint festival. The main groups performing during the patron saint festival of San Jerónimo, a town near Cusco, are discussed in chapters four to six.

The Majeños, a male group with only one woman, the Lady, represent the landowners/muleteers. They are dressed in virile clothes (leather jackets, boots, large hats), ride horses, wear masks, carry bottles of beer - a symbol of economic power and masculinity - and liquor. They are accompanied by a brass band that plays mainly traditional huaynos and marineras in a fast tempo. They are the most powerful and prestigious comparsa in San Jerónimo. Just like their patron saint, they are 'caballeros': 'decent', 'elegant', and 'mature', which are very important values for mestizos. The two Maqt'as in the group represent indigenous servants and are often called 'cholo' (Indian) by them. The role of the Lady is a traditional one, with a passive role within the danza: beautiful, chaste and dependent. The Majeño tradition was reinvented from the mid-1970s by members of the growing regional petite bourgeoisie, some of whom are truck owners. They founded a folkloric association that has allowed them to establish continuity between their ritual performance and their social life outside of ritual.

The Qollas impersonate the indigenous people, which implies low status and social marginality, and incarnate ambiguous figures who have humorous and subversive features. In real life they are truck drivers. They represent llama drivers from the Altiplano, wear modern shirts, pants, and work boots with a number of traditional elements such as a blanket-shawl, woollen slings, coca bags, and a wool rope from which hangs a stuffed baby llama. Their masks are made of hand-knit wool, and are pulled over their faces like ski masks, and they wear flat, rectangular embroidered hats. Trumpets, an accordion, a trap-set, and a drum accompany the Qollas as they sing sad songs. Their danza has a carnivalesque character, especially apparent in the character of the 'rakhu', a coarse and clownish 'Indian' personage, who represents opposition to order and authority and interacts with the onlookers. An important aspect of the choreography is the whipping battle, an act of purification. Through their danza, the Qollas explore and enact the ambiguities and potentialities of marginalized ethnic/racial and social groups.

The Tuntuna and the Mollos are comparsas of a more recent date (the mid 1980s). Both groups do not wear masks, and do not have fixed choreographies. The Tuntuna is an Altiplano danza that imitates the way in which black slaves in Bolivia used to dance. The fast music is played by a brass band and consists of 'sayas', an Afro-Bolivian musical style comparable to 'chicha' or 'Andean cumbia', a combination of huayno and cumbia very popular in urban centres. Half of the dancers are women, who dance energetically, wearing bright costumes with short skirts that show off their legs. An interesting piece of clothing, worn by both men and women, is the shirt with sleeves of prominent waves of white ruffles, which have a very Caribbean 'Chiquita bananas' look. Mendoza relates the participation of women to the growth of public education during the government of Velasco in the early 1970s, when women started to participate in larger numbers and more actively in public events. For the Tuntuna - who are owners and drivers of a bus line in daily life - the performance of Altiplano danzas has become an effective way to become part of an emerging urban culture involving young mestizos.

The Mollos is an Altiplano danza performed by people of lower economic resources and of a more rural lifestyle than the Tuntuna. Here also, half of the dancers are women. The costumes are more indigenous and 'folkloristic', and the women wear their hair in braids. The music is performed by a brass band and consists of relaxed Andean cumbias with melodies of Bolivian origin.

'Dualism' is a term often used when Andean culture is discussed. This book is chockfull of what Mendoza calls 'dichotomies' and what structuralists call Oppositions'. The Majeños represent elite landowners (and are an urban elite in daily life as well), whereas the Qollas represent common peasants (and are an urban lower class in daily life). These groups re-enact the most important dichotomies that exist in the Andes: Mestizo-Indian, modern-traditional, rich-poor, rural-urban, civilized-wild, Spanish-Quechua, etc. They are, however, mutually dependent. The dichotomy is repeated by new groups such as the Tuntuna and the Mollos. The dualism, however, is never rigid: often unruly beings, such as the Maqt'as, 'adolescent boys', play the role of buffoons or servants, crossing the lines, literally and figuratively; this is a dichotomy (order-chaos) which may be found in theatre forms world wide.

The performances of these groups clearly illustrate the continuities between ritual symbolic action and everyday life. Through ritual performance social contradictions are reflected upon, reworked, and made visible. Comparsa performance has become a site for transforming the dominant ideology. Apart from gaining social recognition and prestige, the dancers are shaping society by opposing certain dominant views of women and of ethnic/racial identity.

As Mendoza says on page 30, her study has regional, national, and transnational perspectives, first, by studying the implications of processes by which the symbolic 'artistic' practices of the people of third-world countries become known as 'folkloric' and what consequences flow from this, and second, by showing how emerging social sectors find in ritual danza performance a powerful and effective way to achieve and mark their new status. In other words, ritual is used as an agent of change. Furthermore, 'we should study them [danza and fiesta performances] as part of history, of the transforming social universe. They are important realms in which central concerns of the changing everyday experience are focused, intensified, reworked, and given new meaning', (p.236).

Mendoza concludes the book by saying, 'Danza performance in the Andes has become powerful because of its special place at the crossroads of folklore and ritual, mass media and local aesthetic preferences, tradition and modernity, and regional and national identity', (p.240).

The CD enables the reader to listen to the music discussed in the book. I would have liked to have a reference in the CD Contents (p.ix) to the pages in the book where the music is discussed (I had to check the book to find the corresponding pages), but was even more curious to know who had made the recordings (I suppose Mendoza herself) and with what kind of equipment. Moreover, I would very much have liked to see the moving images, but the video has to be ordered separately from the USA, and somehow that seems a lot of trouble. Now that CD-ROMs are relatively easy to make, it might be an idea to include them, instead of simple sound CDs.

When reading this book, my thoughts went back to my own fieldwork in the Callejón de Huaylas, a valley in northern Peru1. At that time I witnessed a number of ritual/folkloristic dances quite similar to the ones described by Mendoza, but dance remained rather 'undeveloped' in my book. This book has inspired me to go back to the subject and analyze it more profoundly and from different angles, and this may possibly result in a CD-ROM. The book will also be useful to me in the near future when doing research regarding masquerades of the Bamana in the area of Ségou (Mali). Even though the social reality in this African country is quite different, the theoretical analysis of (ritual) dances in an historical perspective within a framework of ethnicity/race contained in Shaping Society through Dance will be a much-appreciated source of inspiration.

Footnote

Note

1. Elisabeth den Otter: Music and Dance of Indians and Mestizos in an Andean valley of Peru, Delft: Eburon, 1985. Audiocassette available upon request.

CD: Elisabeth den Otter: Huaynos y Damas. Religious and Secular music of the Callejón de Huaylas, Peru, Leiden: Pan Records, PAN 2072CD, 1999.