Olga Nájera-Ramírez – författare

Often seen as a static dance form, folklórico is in fact a living, dynamic practice. Norma E. Cantú and Olga Nájera-Ramírez edit a collection that illuminates the passing down of folklórico traditions and show how the dance has changed and grown in Mexican American communities across the U.S. A roster of leading scholars, dancers, teachers, and librarians discuss how Mexican Americans use folklórico to resist cultural erasure and stereotypes, honor their heritage, and express themselves. Artists, meanwhile, push the boundaries of folklórico by adding new stories and perspectives that include Chicane, queer, and local experiences. Together, the contributors highlight folklórico's importance to the people who teach it, perform it, and sustain it. Multidimensional and enlightening, Folklórico in the United States expands our knowledge of a powerful and creative dance tradition central to Mexican Americans' sense of self and community. Contributors: Erica Acevedo-Ontiveros, Jenna Cortez-Aguirre, Manuel R. Cuellar, Alma Ixchel Flores-Pérez, Guadalupe Friaz, Ennio García-Miera, Javier Sepúlveda Garibay, Jacquelyn Y. Guzmán, Aida Hurtado, Cándida F. Jácquez, Gabriela Mendoza-García, Mona Lisa Montgomery, Cassondra Montoya, Felisa Patiño-Longoria, Cindy Padilla, Russell C. Rodriguez, Gema Sandoval, Sarahí Lay Trigo

Chicana Traditions features essays from professionals engaged with a broad and ever-expanding Chicana expressive culture. Professors and students, performing artists and folklorists, and archivists and activists merge personal experience with formal discussion to share fascinating inside stories. The topics include a professional woman mariachi performer; the creation and evolution of the escaramuza charra (all-female precision riding team) within the male-dominated Mexican rodeo; the ranchera music of the transnational performer Lydia Mendoza, the complex crossover of Selena's Tejano music, and the bottle cap and jar lid art of Goldie Garcia. An eye-opening journey through a borderland where cultures and identities converge, Chicana Traditions reveals how Chicanas continue to invent, reshape, and transcend their traditional culture.

Dancing across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos focuses specifically on Mexican dance practices on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The essays explore various types of Mexican popular and traditional dances and address questions of authenticity, aesthetics, identity, interpretation, and research methodologies in dance performance. Contributors include not only noted scholars from a variety of disciplines but also several dance practitioners who reflect on their engagement with dance and reveal subtexts of dance culture. Capturing dance as a living expression, the volume's ethnographic approach highlights the importance of the cultural and social contexts in which dances are practiced. Contributors are Norma E. CantÚ, Susan Cashion, MarÍa Teresa CeseÑa, XÓchitl C. ChÁvez, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez, RenÉe de la Torre Castellanos, Peter J. GarcÍa, Rudy F. GarcÍa, Chris Goertzen, Martha GonzÁlez, Elisa Diana Huerta, Sydney Hutchinson, Marie "Keta" Miranda, Olga NÁjera-RamÍrez, Shakina Nayfack, Russell RodrÍguez, Brenda M. Romero, Nancy Lee Chalfa Ruyter, JosÉ SÁnchez JimÉnez, and Alberto ZÁrate Rosales.

Often seen as a static dance form, folklórico is in fact a living, dynamic practice. Norma E. Cantú and Olga Nájera-Ramírez edit a collection that illuminates the passing down of folklórico traditions and show how the dance has changed and grown in Mexican American communities across the U.S. A roster of leading scholars, dancers, teachers, and librarians discuss how Mexican Americans use folklórico to resist cultural erasure and stereotypes, honor their heritage, and express themselves. Artists, meanwhile, push the boundaries of folklórico by adding new stories and perspectives that include Chicane, queer, and local experiences. Together, the contributors highlight folklórico's importance to the people who teach it, perform it, and sustain it.Multidimensional and enlightening, Folklórico in the United States expands our knowledge of a powerful and creative dance tradition central to Mexican Americans' sense of self and community.Contributors: Erica Acevedo-Ontiveros, Jenna Cortez-Aguirre, Manuel R. Cuellar, Alma Ixchel Flores-Pérez, Guadalupe Friaz, Ennio García-Miera, Javier Sepúlveda Garibay, Jacquelyn Y. Guzmán, Aida Hurtado, Cándida F. Jácquez, Gabriela Mendoza-García, Mona Lisa Montgomery, Cassondra Montoya, Felisa Patiño-Longoria, Cindy Padilla, Russell C. Rodriguez, Gema Sandoval, Sarahí Lay Trigo