Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 302; Lucy Long interview, part 2 of 3

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The dances themselves... sometimes they are about a story, um, you know, frequently myths and folk tales that are important to a, to a culture, um, other times the dances are, are being done to celebrate, uh, or the steps, they don’t have any specific meaning, it’s, uh, it’s about dancing itself, you know rather than a specific story.

Q:

LUCY: Every, every region does have its own specific style, uh, frequently the steps are, are a little different from, from the steps that they would do in another, another region. The costumes could be different, the music differs a little bit, uh, the figures themselves can, can differ. Um, you know, so part of what happens frequently is, is people will learn just kind of folk dancing and it homogenizes all those regional differences and part of what the, this Heritage Award winner is trying to do is, is teach about the different regional styles. So, and that’s, that, that’s important because we tend to think of an ethnic group as they’re all the same and it’s good to be reminded that there are a lot of differences, there’s diversity within that group. So, she’s, she’s, she’s trying to, um, present the richness of that culture.

Q:

LUCY: I think many of the, the, the children who are dancing in this group, um, are second and third generation Mexican, um, they might have you know, some parents might be Anglo or even another ethnicity. So, the dance is a way first of all for them to learn about this culture, um, it’s also a way for them to socialize with other kids who do have a similar background, a similar heritage and it’s something that they get to feel, they get to feel proud of having that heritage through doing this. They, they start to understand that the dancing requires still and practice and training is something, something to be respected, it’s not just something anyone can do. That gives them a sense of, a sense of pride. I think it definitely gives them a sense of identity of ethnic communi... and of ethnic community too. So, um, they’re American but they also have this heritage and through the dancing they can participate in that heritage.

Q:

LUCY: Toledo has an interesting history in terms of the Latino population there. Um, many people from Texas of Mexican heritage, um, Tahono or Tex Mex, um, started coming (BACKGROUND NOISE – CAT)

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