Sex Appeal in Ballet Folklorico?
Imagine a hybrid of the Chiquita Banana lady and Selena Quintanilla-Pérez shimmying center stage. This was just one performance at the Ballet Folklorico performance at the Tucson Convention Center.
Several weekends ago, Jocelyn Bresnick and I went to the performance in the Leo Rich Theater for a story. The group is called Ballet Folklorico Tapatio and they have been performing since 1997. I had no expectations of what the performance might be like before we arrived, but it definitely gave me a new outlook into the Latino culture.
There was a young girl, my guess was she was no older than 18. As part of the intermediate group of performers, she wore a bustier, a bright colored skirt topped off with a colorful head dress. Her midriff exposed, she wore a mesh-colored fabric that was sewed onto the bustier. similar to the mesh fabric figure skaters wear in the Olympics to make sure they are covered but that it looks like part of their skin. What was interesting about this girl was not only that she was dressed unlike any of the others, but the reception of the crowd when she moved up to the front and center of the stage. I concluded from my own observations that she was basically the female muse. And for appearing to be so young, she was definitely exuding the sexuality and confidence of a grown woman. And that got me thinking about the Latino culture and sexuality, and I started to compare my childhood experiences to the kids that I was watching on stage.
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