Brujo De La Mancha

from Philly Weekly March 22nd 2006

When Daniel Chico and Brujo de la Mancha first talked about forming an Aztec dance group for the Mexican community in South Philadelphia three years ago, their idea was met with resistance. We're in a new country now, they were told. That stuff is something of the past, something obsolete. We should look to the future instead. But Chico and de la Mancha disagreed. They saw their dance troupe-Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac (which translates from the native Aztec language of Nahuatl as "School of the Blood Moving in the Heart")-as a chance to teach both Mexicans and Americans about their shared indigenous history: that the U.S. was (thanks to the seven Nahuatl tribes that populated the Southwest before migrating south and building the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in what's now Mexico) and still remains (thanks to the current Mexican migration returning north) native land populated by indigenous people. Dressed in animal skins, feathers and ankle shakers made from seeds, the adult and child dancers pay respect to the four corners of the planet before beginning their dance, which is accompanied by the huehuetl (drum). By appearing regularly at Mexican events and festivals around the city-(you can catch them at Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on March 31)- Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac reminds the Mexican community that long before there was La Virgen de Guadelupe there was Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. (Kate Kilpatrick)