Dancing on the Square

Earlier this month (wow, that seems almost like a lifetime ago!) I wrote about a performance I saw on the Zócalo in Mexico City.  Folkloric dance groups from a number of countries had come to perform.  It was an excellent show... until the last group which was from Mexico took the stage.  The performance by the Mexican dancers was so lackluster compared to the others.  I wrote that it was a shame that a nation so rich in music, dance, and talent should have been so poorly represented.  This weekend, while in Puebla, we saw some dance groups who would have done their nation proud at that event in Mexico City. 

On Friday evening, while Alejandro and I were wandering around the historic center of Puebla, we saw that there was a stage set up on a street adjoining the main plaza.  A group of young dancers were rehearsing for an event  that was to be held at 10 the next morning. 

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and by the time we made it to the plaza, it was past 10:30 and the performance was well underway.  What we didn't realize at first was that this event was going to last most of the day.  It was a contest with dance groups from throughout the state of Puebla competing.  (The city of Puebla is the capital of the state of Puebla.)  We watched the final two groups in the adult category.

We arrived at the contest while a group was performing dances from northern Mexico.

The next group performed dances from the Huasteca region along the Gulf coast.

We thought that the event was over, and we went back to the hotel to check out and to store our luggage.  We returned to the plaza and the show was still going on.  Now elementary school groups were performing.  We caught the last two groups in that category.

This group of youngsters was also doing dances from the Huasteca region.

The next group danced to the folk music of the state of Veracruz.  The little girls were decked out in the beautiful costumes of that region of Mexico.  They were all dancing their hearts out as they performed the foot-stomping "zapateados".

There were more categories to follow.  The plaza was filled with young people awaiting their turn to perform.  They were happy to pose for the camera.

I'm sure that the contest continued through the entire afternoon, but we had other places to go.  We were extremely pleased, however, to have been able to witness some of these talented performers.