This public workshop will elaborate the changes that pre-Hispanic dance, “Danza Azteca” or Macehualiztli, went through because of the arrival of Spanish conquistadores invaders. The discussion will bring attention to the function of macehualiztli in pre-Hispanic, colonial, and contemporary times. The workshop will include a history and meaning of the Danza Mexica tradition as practiced by Calpulli Tloqueh Nahuaqueh. Danza Mexica, also known as Aztec Dancing, is a cultural dance tradition widely practiced throughout California and nationwide with origins dating back to ancient Mesoamerican ceremonies of Mexico and Central America. Workshop will be led by Calpulli Tloqueh Nahuaqueh representative Cozkacuauhtli Huitzilzenteotl. 

Calpulli Tloqueh Nahuaqueh is a collective of families and individuals from the Northeast San Fernando Valley. Since 1997, the mission of the collective has focused on the preservation and diffusion of ancestral culture and sciences from Mexico and Central America. Working out of Hubert Humphrey Park in Pacoima and Tia Chucha's cultural center, the group has conducted various workshops, classes, and celebrations that have involved and engaged community members of all ages. In the mission to preserve and diffuse ancestral knowledge and perspectives they challenge official versions of Mexica history, thus curtailing social and identity problems in their community as in the greater Los Angeles area.

Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore--with a mission to transform community through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement--is honored to host this project called The Indigenous in Us: Embracing Ancestral Knowledge & Sharing the Beauty of Practice. Calpulli Tloqueh Nahuaqueh: The Function of Mexica/Aztec Dance is part of our series of free public cultural events. Showcasing Northeast San Fernando Valley community-based indigenous practices of Native Mexica and local Native American groups benefit individual and social wellbeing through the sharing of ancestral knowledge and arts. 

Zoom Link Registration: bit.ly/mexicadance