No Boots

No Boots is a personal remembrance of the early days of Mexican dance in the Los Angeles area by Rosie Chavarria Peña, the founder of dance company Relampago del Cielo.  In 2011, the Cashion Cultural Legacy sponsored the author’s writing-residency in México as part of its Artist Exchange series.

“Our performances were fast-paced and highly diverse. After only one dance, we would have a costume change while other members of the company were on stage. It was not like the ballet folklóricos that came later, where several dances are performed from one region and with the same costume. The costumes were made either by our mothers or a professional seamstress. Neither the boys nor the girls wore boots, as developed later within the ballet and grupos folklóricos. This trend would change as a result of the Chicano movement of the 1960s when people were rediscovering their Mexican heritage and there was a tremendous increase in ballet folklóricos.”