Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 302; Elaina Hernandez interview, part 1 of 4

Q:

ELAINA: Elaina Hernandez. E-l-a-i-n-a- H-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z.

Q:

ELAINA: Director.

Q;

ELAINA: Director and Founder

Q:

ELAINA: So, I started dancing when I was six years old. Um, I actually wanted to be a ballerina but I saw Folkloric Dance Group at a festival that my dad was involved with and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. So, luckily my mom was in charge of a youth group over at the parish in the neighborhood and one of the da... uh, one of the kids in the youth group had this group and, um, my sister and I both joined. I was six years old and she was four.

Q:

ELAINA: So, when I actually joined the Folkloric Dancing I didn’t know that my grandmother actually was a folkloric dancer and my aunt was also a folkloric dancer. Um, and that’s actually how I met my husband. We both were in the same dance group when we were children, he was in the older group and I was in the younger group but it gave us a nice connection and now all of my children also dance as well. Um, my sister dances, of course, I have an older brother but he never, he never took up the dancing.

Q:

ELAINA: So, um, the idea behind folkloric dancing is that it takes like traditions, they can be pre, um, when the Spanish came to we can see Aztec dances and things like that or it can be when people started coming to Mexico, so it kind of just depends on the region, it depends on the state, what kind of dancing did they do there? Um, sometimes it’s for festivals, sometimes it’s for the harvest, different things like that to kind of incorporate it into the celebration.

Q:

ELAINA: So, dances in Mexico represent different kinds of things. So, sometimes they might tell a story, um, for example, Jarabe Tapatio is a dance of courtship and love. So, the idea is that the couple, they meet each other, the flirt a little bit, um, at the end of the dance, the man drops his hat and when the lady pics up the hat it means that she’s accepting his proposal. So then it’s... that they’re showing themselves as being a couple together, um, in... intentions on marrying.

Q:

ELAINA: So, the dances are passed down from, um, director to director, um, and also too, you learn them from other people so they have workshops and things like that. Um, I’ve had several different dir... directors that have worked with me before, um, and then I teach them all to my dancers but the dances are just like a story. So, when you hear that story, as it moves on it changes just a little bit, so although the dance may be the same, um, you may find groups that the dances are just a little bit different and you know that the story just changed a little bit as it was passed down from one generation to the next. They still ke... keep the same characteristics, so certain dances from certain states, they should be a certain way. You can’t change that, you know, they’re... there’s a certain kind of costume, there’s certain kinds of foot work and things that you want to put into it but they may tweak it a little bit where you see the same elements but you know that as it was passed down it was changed just a little bit also too, the music is very old. So, sometimes when you get a new copy of that music, they may have changed it a little bit, so that foot work that you were going to put in there, it doesn’t always fit, so you have to kind of change it a little bit again to make sure that it really works with your music that you’re choreographing.

Q:

ELAINA: A little bit. You don’t want to change it though. You want it to definitely have the same characteristics. It’s really important that you keep that tradition and not try and change it. I mean, there’s some... some groups will change it, you know, a little bit too far and you don’t want to go there. You want to make sure that you keep those traditions, especially with us being so far away from Mexico, the people who are from Mexico and they see us dancing, it really brings it back for them because they remember these dances and they cry when they see these dances because it reminds them of home. So, you don’t want to disrespect that by changing it and making it into something new.

Q:

ELAINA: We do well over a hundred dances. We dance... so, there’s 31 states in Mexico, one federal distic... district. We dance 19 different states plus we dance regions within those states. So, we dance a lot of different dances. So, for example, the state of Tamaulipas, um, there’s actually three regions in it. So, in the Northern region they do polkas and the Central region they do a special ceremonial dance called the Poketas (sp?) and then in the southern region it’s called Westeka (sp?)and that actually incorporates a lot of different states. Um, but it’s a style of dancing, so, although we danced to Malipas (sp?) we danced three different regions and each one of those regions has a different style of music, a different costume and a different style of dance.

Q:

ELAINA: There’s... so, for the different states there’s different kinds of foot work in different kinds of regions. Although, some of the foot work and things like that may be pretty similar from state to state and from dance to dance, so if I was going to dance things from the North, they really are Polkas and couple dances all along the Northern border, it really doesn’t matter which state it’s from. Um, they had their own music, um, sometimes the music may overlap but you can definitely tell when it’s a... from the state of Chihuahua or if it’s from the state of Tamaulipas, although it may be the same song, they definitely have a different kind of sound to them. Um, they’re both Polkas but you can tell that there’s a difference between the two and you want to make sure that you keep that and know that, that is from that state and this one is from that one. Um, once you get into some of the other regions depending on where you’re at some of them are very heavy on foot work, so they really have a lot of stomping in them and other ones are really light on the foot work. So, you want to make sure that you’re really delicate with it. Um, some of them, the man is really, really strong and the woman is really supposed to be graceful. So, you want to make sure that you incorporate all those characteristics into it. You don’t want to have your girl flailing her skirt around when she’s supposed to be like, uh, for example, the state of Veracruz the idea behind the skirt is that it’s supposed to be like the waves coming in but soft, not crashing. So, you want to make sure that the skirt is very smooth when the lady’s dancing and not wailing all over the place. Now, when you get into the state of Jalisco we’re doing huge flairs and we really want to make sure those skirts are as big as they can get. So, we don’t want to take from Jalisco and put it into the state of Veracruz. We want to make sure that those are definitely separated. Uh, the costumes are different but you don’t want to murky up the idea and the style behind the dancing as well.

Q:

ELAINA: So, costumes are based on the state and on the region. Um, we actually will design our own costumes. So, we’ll look at pictures, um, I tell my mom what I want, there’s no patterns for these costumes, so she has to make her own patterns and she has to create the dresses for us. Now, we dance 19 different states and we dance different regions within those states and we need to have at least eight costumes for each state that we dance. So, we have a lot of different costumes. Now, somewhere like Tamaulipas, um, they have cattle and they have ranches so it has more of a cowboy kind of look to it. Now, if you go to a Southern state like the state of Chiapas, they have rainforests there so the dresses are really pretty, they have really pretty embroidered flowers on them. So, it really depends on where you’re at. It could be that its’s the, uh, layout of the land kind of decides the costume or it could be who came to that area. So, in the North you, um, had, uh, like German influences. When you get into somewhere like Veracruz, it has a lot of different influences and you can hear it in the music and you can see it in the style of the dance. You had Spanish influence, French and it even has African influence in it because that’s where they would bring slaves.

Q:

ELAINA: So, my mom is the one who makes all of our costumes for us and she does it because she loves me because it is a lot of work and she doesn’t get paid for it. So, uh, what’s really neat about this whole group is, although it’s my group, I’ve convinced my whole family to embrace this and make this part of their lives and they give so much to really help me to make sure that this group is really successful.

Q:

ELAINA: So, I started the group when I was a sophomore in high school, I was 15 years old. I actually had already been directing, um, and decided that I wanted to start my own group. Um, I wanted to have a different kind of group, um, and the idea behind the group would be that anyone could be part of it, I didn’t want to charge to have this kind of group, I wanted to make sure that anybody who wanted to dance, was able to dance. Um, when I was younger, I was not a very good dancer, I was actually pretty horrible, I was taller than half of the older dancers before they moved me into the older group. So, I was pretty bad at it but I loved it so much and, um, I was pretty good a choreography so I became an assistant, eventually became the director. Um, but decided that I really wanted to change how I, how the group was run. So, I wanted to make sure that we had a kind of group that you don’t have to be Mexican to be part of our group, you don’t have to have money to be part of our group, we don’t charge any dues, we don’t make our kids buy their costumes, there’s only one costume we ask our dancers to get which is a Jalisco dress but even that we have extra dresses so that if they can’t afford it, they can still dance. Um, my mom makes the dress so they can pay a little bit at a time so that they can make sure that they can perform. And, when you have so many kids, we have over 60 dancers in our group that’s a lot of costumes to make sure that kids can dance. Um, and not only just that but because I was such a horrible dancer, um, it makes it so that you have more compassion for the kids who really don’t get it. So, it’s easier to teach, to teach them and to really kind of work with it. Now, when I was younger like that, although thinking that, that’s the kind of group I wanted I didn’t realize what kind of impact it would really have. I just wanted to keep dancing and have a group. But, now that I’m older you see that you really are part of these kids’ lives. I had originally wanted to be, um, in education, I had decided I was going to be a teacher, I didn’t go with that, instead I ended up being a dance instructor instead and with it, although I would have had those kids for one year to make an impact with the dancers that I have now, I have them for years. So, see them when they’re kids, I see them when they graduate, I see them... I help them write letters for college, um, I see some of them get married, I see them have kids. So, I’m part of their life. So, it’s a deeper connection than what I would have had if I was just teaching first grade or second grade.

Q:

ELAINA: The name of our group is El Corazon de Mexico which means the heart of Mexico. Uh, when we were coming up with something we wanted something that would make sense for people and, um, really kind of embrace what we were trying to incorporate in our group that we wanted it to be, um, something that would be... that you would really feel a passion for. But, also too, in case people didn’t speak Spanish, you could just say, the heart of Mexico and it would be something easy that people could remember that we wouldn’t have to worry that they would feel uncomfortable having to say the name at performances when they introduce us.

Q:

ELAINA: I think when... So, although I wasn’t a very good dancer, I had a passion for it. Um, other things came really easy for me. I was... I like music, I played instruments, those things came very easy but dance because I wanted it so bad that’s where my passion was and that’s where I went. Um, and it served me really well for it to be a struggle because it helps me to think of different ways of teaching, thinking outside the box if it doesn’t work for a student a certain way, to make sure that I can try an explain it a different way so that they can really understand it. And, it makes it easier to teach those kids who don’t get it, so you understand that they don’t want to dance in the back, they want to be in the front, they really, they want it and it makes it easier to teach kids cause it’s not easy to teach kids all the time. You know, sometimes they want to practice 15 minutes and then they’re done and you have to keep them so that they still want to do this to practice, um, you know, they... they’re done with it. You have to try and figure out another way. And, so going through that struggle, it makes it easier I think. Um, now I don’t have that feeling, you know, it comes pretty easily to me now but it makes you appreciate it more.

Q:

ELAINA: My family is a big part of this group. Without my family I could not do this. So, um, none of us get paid for this group. Um, all the money that we make, um, from performances goes back into the group, so we use that for costuming so we can buy material, if we need to go out of town to give people gas money, to feed the kids, um, so that we have things that we can give to the kids, we buy them t-shirts and things like that for the group. Um, but my dad helps with booking performance, my mom helps with making costumes, my husband helps carry costumes, um, and it really is a... with both of my parents, they really are a blessing but also with my husband because if he didn’t think that this was important and he knows because he did it as a child and he knows how important it is to me, I wouldn’t be able to do it because I would need to get a job where I need to work, you know nine to five and with this kind of a group you cannot have that kind of group and, and make it work with having a full-time job. And, luckily he’s understanding of that. We don’t have a lot but we make it work and he... he’s never asked me to get a job or do anything like that. He’s... I’m really blessed, I’m really, really blessed that he, that he believes in what I’m doing.

Q:

ELAINA: So, um, I’ve danced with a lot of different directors, um, here in Toledo but I’ve also, um, had directors come into Toledo to teach us new dances. Um, I’ve worked with, um, Sam Cortez, um, from Chicago, um, I’ve work with uh, David from Chicago, bald... Vladimir...

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So, um, I’ve continued, uh, um... RESTART

So, I’ve learned from a lot of different directors. Um, not just here in Toledo I’ve had directors come into Toledo to teach new dances, I’ve worked with directors from Chicago, um, and I’ve also worked with directors from Mexico, um, we recently had a director from California come and work with us. Um, when I was younger there were workshops that were in Michigan that we would go to and kind of take new classes so that we could learn new dances. The idea is you really want to have it passed down, so when I go and see my sister she lives in Seattle, I always like to try and see her group that’s out there. She doesn’t have her own group, she dances with a group out there and I like to go to their practices just so that I can kinda learn some new things and see things that they’re doing and kind of, um, learn a couple new dances so that I can bring them back here. Um, I tell my dancers if they ever go to Mexico that they should find the group that’s there in the town and try and learn a new dance for us so that they can show us something new, cause you don’t want to just learn the dances from videos, it’s not the same. You want to have it be that tradition that it’s passed down... that story that’s passed down from one director to the next. If everybody does it the same, it loses that charm.

Q:

ELAINA: In our group we let anyone dance. So, we don’t have any kind of tryout, you don’t have to be Mexican to be part of our group. Um, I do have a age requirement, I like to start them at seven, we do trials at six. Um, so kind of to see if they’re ready to start dancing. Um, as far as where we find our kids, a lot of our kids now that we’re here at the Believe Center have, um, come because they’re here... it’s here at the center. So, this is our family center, there’s no real school in this neighborhood anymore so a lot of the kids will conjugate here, um, we also have kids that come from our local parish which is Saints Peter and Paul Parish and we have a lot of dancers from there as well, that’s our family parish as well. So, um, we don’t, we don’t have any special requirements, they don’t have to tryout or, or anything like that, we let anybody who really wants to dance, dance.

Q:

ELAINA: So, currently we have about 64 members in our group. Um, and we dance all over the state of Ohio, um, we... last year we went to California, um, we danced, uh, just outside of Los Angeles and, um, we’ve danced at Disney World before, we’ve danced in Chicago but we pretty much stick to Ohio for the most part. We go to Columbus a couple times a year, um, we go... outside Cleveland a couple times a year and we go into Dayton and things like that, so we pretty much go anywhere we’re invited. So, if you know of somewhere, we’re willing to go we just need an invitation.

Q:

ELAINA: We dance for all types of venues. So, we dance at schools, we dance for weddings, we dance for international festivals, we dance for Mexican festivals, we dance anywhere that we get that invite. So, if there’s a restaurant opening up and they’re interested in having some dancers, we come and we dance at that restaurant.

Q:

ELAINA: I would say the main thing that I hope they take is to give back. So... RESTART