They seek to preserve traditional dances

▲ In the municipality of Tepetlaoxtoc, from the 18th to the 20th of this month, more than 60 activities related to the traditions of the states of Mexico, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, and Oaxaca will be presented. Photo by Javier Salinas Cesáreo

Javier Salinas Cesáreo

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, July 10, 2025, p. 4

Tepetlaoxtoc, Mexico, In order to preserve and disseminate dances from different parts of the country, the Azcaxuch Dance Festival 2025 will be held from July 18 to 20, in the municipality of Tepetlaoxtoc, which includes more than 60 dance, cultural and musical activities, in addition to workshops and conferences with the participation of traditional groups from the states of Mexico, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Oaxaca.

Among the most emblematic dances presented are Las Sembradoras , performed exclusively by women, celebrating the fertility of the land and agricultural labor; Los Santiagos , a historical representation of the struggle between Moors and Christians; and Las Dancitas , a colorful and tender dance performed by girls carrying bows symbolizing the rainbow.

Also featured are Las Serranitas , which tells the story of a people's journey in search of happiness, with a strong indigenous influence; Los Vaqueros , which recreates the cattle-raising chores of old haciendas; Los Sembradores and Los Segadores , a tribute to farm work and gratitude for the harvest; and Los Serranos , considered part of Tepetlaoxtoc's cultural heritage.

Living testimony of identity

It's a cultural celebration that honors the history, faith, and roots of communities. Each dance is a living testament to the communities' identity, history, and beliefs, interweaving religious elements, ancestral symbols, and everyday stories from the countryside , the organizers said.

There will also be traditional dance performances from neighboring municipalities and guest groups from other states, a parade of dancers in traditional costumes from Chiapas, indigenous weddings from Nayarit and Guerrero, as well as the presentation of the danzón jarocho from Veracruz, the feather dance from Santa Ana del Valle, Oaxaca, the Yumul dance from Tlaxcala, the Chiconcuac carnival, dances from Chiautla and Texcoco, the Sol y Luna ballet from Tezoyuca, and the Santiagos Mexicanos from Papalotla.

There will also be a reading from the Xólotl codices in Cruz and Kingsborough by Ernesto Sánchez. José Omar Tinajero will give a Glyphic lecture on Cihuatlatoani Azcaxuch, ruler of Tepetlaoxto, while Lizeth Narváez Meza will offer a talk on Imperious Women .

Máximo Medina will chair the Horizon Markers conference in the municipality of Tepetlaoxtoc, and the book Mexico, a Seven-Century Myth: Chronicles of the Infinite City , by Jorge Pedro Uribe Llamas, will be presented.

The festival will feature an artisan pavilion selling local products; a traditional medicine pavilion where visitors can learn about ancestral healing practices through traditional massages, herbal medicine sales, and treatment by traditional medicine specialists; a gastronomic pavilion showcasing the municipality's typical flavors; and a space dedicated to pulque and its derivatives, as well as modern music concerts to attract new generations.

Merry MacMasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, July 10, 2025, p. 4

Sculptor and painter Manuel Marín (Mexico City, 1951) is celebrating half a century of artistic work—which began with his first solo exhibition at the Casa del Lago in 1974/1975—with the exhibition El encomio del silencio y el vacío (The Praise of Silence and Emptiness ), held at the Museo Casa del Risco. It is not an anthological exhibition intended to be a retrospective, but rather focuses on the two main aspects of his work: sculpture and painting, although drawing also plays a decisive role.

Divided into two sections, the first contains 32 small-format sculptures, made of polychrome steel and painted with acrylic, which come from three projects that began in 2019 and concluded this year. "Floreros" ( Flowers) revolves around plant life, while "Serpientes y ranas" (Snakes and Frogs) deals with animal life, and the third, " Cazones" (Big Heads ), deals with human life.

The painting section includes the series The Absent Man , with 29 paintings painted in 2023, which aim to capture the life of a single day: morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and the beginning of the following morning. This is the first time this work has been exhibited.

Better known as a sculptor, Marín, a member of the Academy of Arts, describes his work as neofigurative , an artistic movement of the second half of the 20th century. This means that it handles the concept of figuration after abstraction. It is no longer abstract, although it is not realistic or surrealist, nor naturalistic, but rather a new figuration , advocating a return to the object and everyday reality.

–In this half-century, where have your artistic explorations taken you?

▲ Piece by Manuel Marín, part of the Vases series. Photo courtesy of the artist .

–In sculpture, I've had four stages, and in painting, three. Sculptural solutions are an extension of my drawing, while painting gradually evolved and is now completely independent of my drawing. In sculpture, I seek a schematization of the natural world, while in painting, an idealization of a thought about seeing.

In the first stage of sculpture, I began making flat pieces; that is, the faces have no volume. They are geometric and painted in an abstract manner. In a second phase, I integrated abstract figures; however, this is figuration in spaces that are no longer abstract. Then, in a third phase, I discovered the possibility of working completely independent planes. I could make a figure that was distributed across different planes in space. You could say they are flat spatial figures. In the fourth stage, the figures are very recognizable, although schematized. Many have a humorous quality because the men walk while sitting, while the animals stand on their heads, for example.

Painting, for its part, went in the direction of reflection on the transcendent. By this I mean that these are paintings that generally reflect an introspective mood, and another of absence of presence. There's nothing in the landscapes . Another characteristic would be the objectification of things one sees without being able to describe them. They may look like animals, although they aren't. There are mountains that look like human heads, but they aren't either. It's in that game .

The praise of silence and emptiness is on display at the Casa del Risco Museum (Plaza San Jacinto 5 and 15, San Ángel neighborhood) until September 28.