Mextonalli Dancers Bring Folklore Culture to Locals

By Jennifer L. Warren

NEWBURGH – They are four women who don’t want the new generation to forget about their Mexican folkloric culture, and are doing everything they can to keep it alive, honoring their community’s Hispanic heritage.

Mextonalli, translated to “Energia de Luna” (energy of the moon) is a result of that determination to salvage Mexican dance, music and other traditions. Composed of two sisters and friends, the group was on hand at the Newburgh Free Library Sunday afternoon, passionately delivering an array of dance routines, including traditional numbers indigenous to a part of their country, to the small, intimate setting and highly engaged audience.

“They created this group because they wanted to keep the traditional dances alive that they learned as young girls in Mexico,” said Karla Quiroz, Librarian Assistant at the Newburgh Library who has booked the group in the past. “They all practice together at home, making their own costumes as well as doing their own makeup.”

Performing in the United States since 2012, they finance all of the needed materials for those costumes as well as the makeup and practice several days a week for 2-3 hours each time they get together. The product of their hard work was greatly appreciated by Sunday’s audience, as attentive guests were mesmerized by the colorful assortment of costumes, which smiling and happy group members changed several times throughout the hour long performance. They were further intrigued by the fast-moving, rhythmic and symmetrical dance moves, whose energy resonated throughout the room. It’s that exact response that each of the women hopes to inspire each and every time they perform.

“We enjoy sharing the customs of our country with people the most when we dance,” said Martha Barrietos, who along with group leader, Veronica Melo, helps set up the presentations to the public. “We learned the dancing from our grammar school dance teachers back home, but now do all the choreography ourselves; we each contribute to the dance routines in different ways.”

It’s those different skills that each has to offer as well as the overall chemistry that sparks when all are performing together that makes the dancing of Mextonalli so special. Their energy is tangible, even contagious, as their love for what they do can be seen, felt and truly appreciated in every step, kick, smile and movement they make on stage.

“We want to transmit the culture as much as we can, whether it’s through the costumes, music, or folklore,” said Melo, who also pointed to their desire to teach their own children to continue the dancing tradition as well as others who they offer dance lessons to. “We want the happiness of the culture to be carried out throughout the next generation as well as to the American people.”

Typically performing at church venues as well as cultural events, the group’s next major appearance is scheduled for October 15 at the Newburgh Brewing Company, when they will take part in the “Dia de Los Muertes (Day of the Dead) Festival,” a fundraiser for America Rows and Swims Newburgh. A uniquely Mexican holiday, the event’s theme is often celebrated with funeral alters, skull figurines as well as participants clad in mourning attire, honoring the dead through bringing them gifts-such as their favorite food, drink and other mementos – as well as singing and dancing, as a way of carrying those deceased souls into their afterlife journeys. For those interested in learning more details about the event, Barlettos said they can call Ms. Lo, a local lawyer, who is involved with making it happen. She can be reached at (845) 625-4906.