Revolution in Movement: Dancers, Painters, and the Image of Modern Mexico

Honorable Mention, Latin American Studies Association Mexico Section Best Book in the HumanitiesA Revolution in Movement is the first book to illuminate how collaborations between dancers and painters shaped Mexicos postrevolutionary cultural identity. K. Mitchell Snow traces this relationship throughout nearly half a century of developments in Mexican dancethe emulation of Diaghilevs Ballets Russes in the 1920s, the adoption of U.S.-style modern dance in the 1940s, and the creation of ballet-inspired folk dance in the 1960s. Snow describes the appearances in Mexico by Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova and Spanish concert dancer Tortóla Valencia, who helped motivate Mexico to express its own national identity through dance. He discusses the work of muralists and other visual artists in tandem with Mexicos theatrical dance world, including Diego Riveras collaborations with ballet composer Carlos Chávez; Carlos Méridas leadership of the National School of Dance; José Clemente Orozcos involvement in the creation of the Ballet de la Ciudad de México; and Miguel Covarrubias, who led the golden age of Mexican modern dance. Snow draws from a rich trove of historical newspaper accounts and other contemporary documents to show how these collaborations produced an image of modern Mexico that would prove popular both locally and internationally and continues to endure today.