Dr. Gary Mounce

EDINBURG, July 25 - Dancers have been called “Athletes on Stage.” And they are. The training is rigorous.

The physical demands—and aerobic rewards—are enormous. Aesthetic beauty and pleasure belie the commercial value. The arts play a major role in a renaissance of culture in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Many far-sighted Valley residents, even during times of recession, are supporting the demanding art and business of dance. Both aspects involve politics—in both senses of the word, process and policies.

Dancers have also been called “God’s Athletes;” hyperbole? No, plausible to patrons of dance or parents of dancers. Aficionados, savoring a moment of exquisite beauty during a heart-breaking pas de deux in Giselle, for example, would agree. If this has not happened to you yet, you have a lovely revelation in store. But perhaps it has descended on you through a breathtaking aria in opera or tender piano sonata, an out of the body experience transporting you to a higher emotional, even spiritual plain.    

Back down on earth, the training and support to make this happen are often illusive; they involve both politics and money. Despite obstacles, South Texas dancers are blessed with an astounding number of choices. Besides formal study of dance at the University of Texas—Pan American, private studios abound. In McAllen alone: Melba’s, Deborah Case, Pequenos’ Dance Conservatory, Pacheco’s McAllen Ballet Company with Susy’s Dance and Fitness Center, housed in progressive art patron, Alonzo Cantu’s new Art Village; in Edinburg, Dance Centre; in Brownsville, the stellar Bellas Artes Academy.  
 
Bellas Artes is an instructional case. Maestro Juan Burgos has been a respected figure in the lower Valley artistic and education community for 30 years. Brownsville, across the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo from Matamoros, Mexico, inherits talented dancers and generous patrons from both sides of the River. The Maestro personally creates all the costumes and sets. He presents annually a fabulous Ballet Folklorico in the Park and an innovative Nutcracker on the campus of the University of Texas—Brownsville. He began professional dancing when he was sixteen with the internationally renowned Amalia Hernandez, founder of Ballet Folklorico in Mexico City.

Dona Amalia is still with us in the spirit of her choreography. I cry when the deer dies in the passionate Danza de Venado. I thrill to the copal-scented stylized Aztec rituals. The Edinburg campus under Maestros Frank and Maria Munoz and many others honor her when they re-stage the joyful Jalisco finale. Burgos presents folklorico on a regular basis—the community demands it—but he believes “classical ballet is the basis of all dance.” He notes that gymnasts and football players add ballet training to their repertoire. Frank Sinatra studied it to learn to move his hands more expressively.

Yet, the popular So You Think You Can? dancing has its place. Maestro Burgos was recruited by the Brownsville school system to train its elementary students for Mad, Hot Ballroom contests, originally produced by the New York City School System. Popular television shows, here and abroad, helped encourage the craze. This public and private cooperation occurs in Europe, too, as I discovered during a conference on Art and Society in Kassel, Germany recently. Also, fusion of styles continues apace.

Local ballet schools have also added the component of ballroom as well as modern. They would like to present more classical repertoire but for the cost. They face relentless competition of high school dancers and cheer-leading teams. This is a part of the frustration about dance and other arts: competition from other events--that and the search for profit or sustainability. Because of human nature the arts will survive without proper funding but can do much more with it. Like Happiness, money cannot ensure quality dance but, used judiciously, enhances the effort.  

The extra demands of time and contributions for costumes for high school activities compete against the discipline of dance; families have financial limits. Some choreographers have sliding scales to help talented children from low income families. Some share dancers and costumes with (and solicit funds from) the Mexican side, where dancing is held in higher esteem. The traditional machismo often encountered in the U.S. is, surprisingly, much less severe on the Mexican side. Students are allowed, without shame, to integrate body, mind and spirit in the Greek mode. A young man can play a fierce game of soccer and still attend dance classes, a Mexican twist on Billy Elliot.

Mexican audiences in Brownsville and McAllen have been essential to dance. Even more important to all studios—and to the Universities in Edinburg and Brownsville—are the vast numbers of appreciative winter visitors. The value of audiences from Mexico and the U.S. Mid-West—none of them really foreigners--cannot be overestimated. (Thank you, Snow Birds)! At bottom, the commitment of the dancers and their parents sustains this demanding, aesthetically rewarding art.

There is, however, a dark side to the politics of dance. One former major studio, not listed here, was sullied by inappropriate personal actions of its choreographer, a dancer of note in times past. He left the Valley under a cloud. He may return. Parents whose trust he cruelly betrayed will forever rue their own gullibility. Young students he took advantage of can only hope it doesn’t happen to others. Tragically, the love of dance for some has been marred. Some simply stopped dancing. Others, stage mothers with money, hopeful for their daughters’ dancing futures, continue to finance him; they seem in denial of several well-founded instances of misconduct with his former supporters’ children.

The arts and entertainment--Hollywood or Bollywood, Paris or New York-- however divinely intentioned, can provide cover for devilish acts. Art can still triumph over personal frailties, as in White Swan, Black Swan about the craft, life and loves of George Balanchine. These are not as prevalent as common stereotypes may suggest. In sports, in churches, in Congress and other major institutions, unfortunate, unwanted advances may occur. The law may be invoked but only on rare occasion can it satisfactorily deal with these offenses. Individual vigilance is essential. Personal warnings and economic boycotts may be among the immediate ways to avoid if not to punish such behavior.    

Other obstacles exist. Parents themselves may become too involved in their busy life to sustain commitment to dance. There is no Performing Arts High School in the Valley. One was proposed in 2000 but was sabotaged by administrators and, oddly enough, by teachers in music and the arts from high schools; they feared the loss of their best students. Public funding, when it exists, may be uneven. So, studios are left begging from an increasingly smaller pool of business people and other potential private contributors. A few students and studios are lucky enough to find generous sponsors. Foundations help but require meticulous documentation, daunting for many small, private studios. A brilliant choreographer may not be an adequate fund raiser or business manager. Ballet, especially, is expensive; a single, fine tutu can cost $3,000; hence the need for private contributions and voluntary workers.

Dance can be, in and of itself, fulfilling. Its focus and discipline, like sports, can be useful for success in other aspects of life. Dance builds stamina for the body; the moments of spirit and pure rapture in dance are well documented; it helps civilize us. Behind the curtain, rivalries exist among dance academies. A politics of competition—sometimes friendly, too often not—occurs among the various studios. Friends have been split asunder. The politics of egos of directors can also complicate the dance world. Yet, often, art trumps pettiness. Dance flourishes in this area where one would not expect it to do so. Look at the plethora of Nutcrackers, essential for the holidays, delighting all ages. At one time there seemed to be a War of Nutcrackers—three alone in McAllen.

What accounts for the strength of dance? One reason: a creative mixture of Mexican, Mexican American and Anglo cultures in south Texas, striving to acculturate and to overcome barriers. The motivation may be the very hunger for beauty, art, educational and individual advancement. South Texas supports athleticism and religious expression in a big way. First Friday Art Walk in McAllen adds the dimension of plastic arts. The formula for a renaissance—for a renewed celebration of body, mind and spirit--calls for a High School for the Performing Arts. It necessitates increased support of folkloric dance. That support helps tie us to our roots. More support for God’s Athletes of classical ballet can help connect us to a wider, international world of kindred spirits.  

Dr. Gary Mounce is a professor of politics at the University of Texas-Pan American. His columns, often about Latin America, appear regularly in the Guardian.       

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