Guest post by Juan Manuel D. Medina.

The photographs of MEXICO PROFUNDO “LIGHT AND SHADOWS” are a new acquisition of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library made possible through a series of new partnerships with dance companies, artists, schools and libraries.  A selection of the photographs are currently on view in the third floor reading room of the Library for Performing Arts.

This acquisition was arranged by the Americas Exchange Program for Dance (AEPD), coordinated by Juan Manuel D. Medina, a Fulbright fellow working in exchange of dance materials between the United States and Mexico for more than twenty years. This year, five talented photographers Octavio Nava, Diego Huerta, Roberto Aschentrupp, Abril Cabrera Aguilar, and Mario Aguirre Mazón are joining the initiative with the following Mexican institutions, The Centro de Estudios Sosiales y Opinon Publica (CESOP) and the Cámara de Diputados de México. The recognition and international value of cooperation between government and academic institutions fits within the framework of the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples held in New York City in September 2014. The CESOP is part of the Mexican Congress and the Directorate of Regional Development (Dirección de Desarrollo Regional). 

The traditional dance of Mexico, performed during fiestas, is the foundation of the social structure that has preserved traditional values from being eroded. The ancient civilizations of Mexico used dance as a form of communication with the gods. Later, missionaries were unable to suppress fiestas, so they incorporated the music and dance of Mexican people into their own ceremonies. In modern society, there have been some changes in the costumes and down steps. However, the meanings have been handed down from dancer to dance for many generations. The meanings embodied in the dance remain the central focus of the celebration. 

The Fiesta provides a moment of solidarity between people who may be divided in daily life by problems. The fiesta also gatherers people from neighboring areas and encourages the formation of marketplaces where products, ideas and advice can be exchanged. As described by the writer Octavio Paz:

Fiestas are our sole luxury. They are a substitute for, and perhaps have the advantage over theater and vacation, Anglo-Saxon "weekend" and cocktail parties, bourgeois reception and the Mediterranean cafe... What is important is to go out, get drunk on noise, people, colors, Mexico is in fiesta. And this fiesta, shot through with lightening and delirium, is the brilliant opposite of our silence and apathy, our reticence and gloom.  —The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1959, Eng. trans. 1967