The Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire never stopped a remote Mexican village from annually performing a war dance to God. The high rate of immigration of young Zapotec men to the United States, however, endangers one of the most important indigenous festivals practiced in the central valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. The next generation of Zapotec men, who now live in the United States, perhaps will never have the opportunity to teach the Feather Dance to their descendents.

Many of the dancers from this film no longer live in Teotitlan del Valle. Statistics show a drastic annual increase of Zapotec men leaving for the United States.

artist statement

I did not try to make a film that only portrayed one of Mexico¹s most unique expressions of culture (a Zapotec celebration), I also intended to capture an important moment in history, a condition of globalization whose effects are the destruction of millenary traditions.

Unlike traditional documentary, with Danzante I did not seek to explain the details of an event. Rather, with local sounds and images I embraced a culture, broadening it, but being careful not to exploit. I used the human face as a metaphor for memory as I used the corn as a metaphor of return, and the dance as a metonym for the rituals of other cultures. In a culture divided between history and displacement, this film serves as a visual interpretation of and for the men who depart for work to the United States yearly.

I often wonder how concerned we are with what is happening to tradition and culture around the world. I thought about this when I removed the voiceover element out of the final montage. Thus, Danzante became a film about tragedy. The sadness of the situation of men having to leave Mexico to be able to support their families, and to work for mere pennies in labor-intensive jobs, drives the tone of the film. We expect that the film is about the ceremony itself, but really it is about culture getting lost in history.