The Making of a Postrevolutionary Modern Dance Form

Abstract This chapter argues that the effects of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe influenced how debates over the relationship between aesthetics and politics in dance contributed to Mexico’s institutionalization of the revolution and a mestizo state. In so doing, the chapter discusses artistic and political ideologies central to developing a state-sponsored modern dance form that could be genuinely Mexican in character and universal in appeal. The discussion starts with Russian dancer Hipólito Zybin’s efforts to institutionalize professional dance training, exemplifying how dancers, government officials, and critics embraced different approaches to the relationship between (rigorous) dance technique and political ideology. It analyzes Mexican choreographers Nellie and Gloria Campobello’s revolutionary mass dances and compares US choreographers Anna Sokolow’s and Waldeen Falkenstein’s contrasting choreographic practices. These examples illuminate how mestizo modernisms simultaneously challenged and reproduced ideologies of universalism, racial neutrality, and exoticism in creating a Mexican modern dance form.