Category Archives: Gestures

The Papantla Flyers

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 34
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 5/1/13
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“Okay, so there’s that this really tall pole and there’s five people around it. One of them is this Indian priest dude and the other four guys are called flyers. The flyers are supposed to represent the…the four elements like air,water, fire and ummm, earth. Oh also, they’re the four points like north, south, east and west. Okay, so the dancers and the priest climb the pole, one at a time, and they’re climbing and climbing. Then when they get to the top, the priest starts playing and dancing on a…it’s like a stage or a platform or something. And he has a flute and a drum and the dancers just fall – they like, throw themselves back but they’re like, tied to the pole by their ankles. Then as they’re moving downwards, they’re supposed to make like, 10 or 13 what do you call that…circles around the pole and that’s supposed to mean something. Yeah, you can look that up or something. But you can see this in a lot of tourist places in Mexico. Yeah, you should see it sometime.”

After talking with Tony, I looked up the story and the 13 cycles are supposed to be the cosmic cycle in pre-Hispanic times. The costumes of the fliers are also supposed to represent “the beauty of nature, the purity of humans, and the reflection of life” (Cit.) This goes back to an ancient idea of admiring the universe and nature in its entirety and recording its way through calendars and rituals. It also ties to the old Totonac culture, and the the Totonac were the people who lived on the coast before the Spanish settlers came. Since it is a significant tourist attraction, it presents current Mexican culture as still heavily tied with cosmic and ancient reverence, which is like that authenticity that tourists are looking for. Tourist attractions are often trapped in an idealistic past so though the Totonac have been long gone and present day Mexico is closer to hispanic heritage, the flyers show is the piece of Mexican history that tourists want to see and therefore Mexico chooses to present. Unfortunately, I was not able to witness this personally, though I did look up some Youtube videos of it afterwards and I suggest that readers do the same.

Citation: http://visitpuertovallarta.com/news/2012/01/los-voladores-de-papantla-regresan-al-malecon/

Jump, Shake Your Booty

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Norfolk, Virginia
Performance Date: 4/28/13
Primary Language: English

My informant has been a dancer since elementary school, and currently dances with her performing arts high school. She told me the following piece of folklore about a pre-performance tradition:

So, after everyone gets ready and is about to go onstage for opening night before a show, everyone like gets together in a big group, and usually we turn off the lights but not always depending on where we are, but we usually turn off the lights, and then we all like get in a circle and its quiet for a few seconds and then sort of spontaneously it starts, we all start like shouting JUMP SHAKE YOUR BOOTY, JUMP JUMP SHAKE YOUR BOOTY and we all jump up and down and shake our butts along with the chant, and I guess it’s for good luck on opening night, I’m not really sure, but, like, we all do it before opening night and I’ve done it at, like, pretty much every show I can remember.

My informant told me she and the other members of her cast would perform this tradition for good luck before a show. She does not know when or where it began, but said it has been around for as long as she can remember. Although my informant is a dancer, she said many of her other friends in other disciplines celebrate this tradition as well, and it appears to be a long standing theatrical tradition across all disciplines. It could be a way to get the cast excited before the show, and to loosen up through the motions in the chant, or simply a way to remind everyone to have fun and enforce comradeship in the cast.

Booty Shaking, Vomit Dance for Good Mojo

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Colorado
Performance Date: May 4, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Some German

Before every competition, my high school theater group would circle up, and shake all of our bad mojo/energy into the center of the circle. It usually involved some brushing off, fake vomiting, booty-shaking, etc until our jitters were out of like two minutes had passed. Then we all visualized that nasty ball of nervous energy, lifted it up as a team, and and threw it far far away. It made us perform better.

This is a ritual the theater group would conduct. For superstitious reasons they would join in a type of bad mojo warding dance. Obviously this ritual provides comfort, marks the occasion of the competition, and provides a good placebo affect, but the biggest benefit is likely that the team members joining together to do an embarrassing dance provided the club with a strong feeling of community.

Theater Circle Trust Rituals

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: May 3, 2013
Primary Language: English

Ooh, high school drama productions would have a “circle” every night before shows. I feel like most schools or theaters or whatever have something like this. A communal thing to get everyone together and alleviate anxiety before a show. Let’s see. There were different ritual/game things every time, chosen from an established group (established, as the whole thing was, by past students. Everything passed down and taught to the freshman and sophomores and other newcomers so that the whole thing goes on). There’s one thing where everyone holds hands silently. One person squeezes the hand of the person next to them and then that person does the same so it goes around the whole circle. There’s another thing where an appointed person, usually a beloved clownish figure who retains the post until they graduate, is blindfolded. They then go around the circle and randomly select two people, who have to kiss. That one happens three times. There’s “Show us how you get down” or whatever it was called. Basically a call and response then dance thing.

“Hey Michael!”
“Hey what?”
“Hey Michael!”
“Hey what?”
“Show us how you get down!”
“What?…I don’t know…no way”
“Show us how you get down!”
“Ok!”

Then you’d proceed to do some kind of dance move or something while saying “This is how I get down.” Pretty much anything goes. Everyone then imitates it and then the person who just went calls the next person.
Then there’s senior speeches, where all the seniors talk about how much drama has meant to them and lots of people cry.
Aaaaaaand, yeah, that’s pretty much all I remember about that.

The members of the Drama Club are afraid to fail at performing their play, and so they ritualize those fears by forming a circle and participating in group games, dances, and songs to loosen up and gain comfort in the routine. By doing embarrassing dances beforehand, they can relax and not worry so much about embarrassing themselves on stage. Another big benefit is that the club members joining together to do embarrassing dances and awkward activities provides the club with a strong feeling of community. People learn to trust each other by breaking their comfort zone, and through passing on these Drama Club activities to newly initiated members. This trust makes the group tight-knit and able to work together to put on a play.

Pass the Salt Shaker

Nationality: Bolivian and Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oxnard, CA
Performance Date: 04/28/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

So when you have a saltshaker, in my family you have to put it on the table before someone else can pick it up. You can’t just hand it hand-to-hand because they think you are going to have an argument or fight with them.

 

Who started this in your family?

I have no idea. It must be from where my mom’s from [Bolivia], because my aunt—not really my aunt—family friend does the same thing and she’s like really hardcore about it.

 

Do you abide to it?

Do I pass the salt hand-to-hand? Yes. Cause I don’t believe in it.

 

But the rest of your family does?

Yes, my mom’s side of the family.

 

Have you actually seen arguments start because of someone passing the salt hand-to-hand?

No, I’ve never seen an argument start cause of this.

 

But it’s just a known thing in your family?

Yeah.

 

My Reaction:

Based off of every Latin family I’ve ever met, I can conclusively say that Latin people are a very superstitious people. Since this is something that Val’s Bolivian side of the family withholds, it makes complete sense that some of them are very adamant about it. It is strange to me that even if they know nothing will happen if they do pass the salt-shaker hand-to-hand, that some people still abide by it, but I guess that there are just some things you do because you’re used to it more than anything.