Mexican Hat Dance - History

History

Better known internationally as the “the mexican hat dance ” the jarabe tapatío has come to symbolize Mexico both inside the country and outside. The word jarabe is likely from the Arab word “xarab” which means “herb mixture.” Tapatío is the nickname given the people of Guadalajara . The jarabe tapatío shares its name with a number of dances from the center and south of Mexico, including the jarabe de Jalisco, the jarabe de atole and the jarabe moreliano, but the tapatío version is by far the best known. There is some dispute as to the jarabe tapatío’s authenticity. Music researcher Nicolás Puentes Macías from Zacatecas states that true jarabes are almost extinct in Mexico, found today only in small fractions of Zacatecas and Jalisco and that the jarabe tapatío is really a form of a dance called “tonadilla.”

The earliest evidence of the dance comes from the late 18th century. It was originally danced by female couples in order to avoid the disapproval of the church. Shortly before the Mexican War of Independence, mixed couples began to perform it, with a public performance at the Coliseo Theater in 1790 in Mexico City. Shortly after that performance, The jarabe was banned by colonial and religious authorities as it was considered to be morally offensive and a challenge to Spain’s control over the territory. However, this only served to make the dance more popular as a form of protest and rebellion, with people holding illegal dances in public squares and neighborhood festivals.

Just after Independence, the jarabe and other dances grew and spread in popularity even more, with colonial-era restrictions lifted. People celebrated the end of the war in 1821 with large fiestas, which prominently featured the jarabe. Jarabe and other folk dances came to be seen as part of Mexico’s emerging identity as a country. The jarabe would maintain various regional forms, but that associated with Guadalajara gained national status, becoming not only popular in that city but also in Mexico City as well, as a dance for the elite around the 1860s. By the Mexican Revolution, it became popular with the lower classes as well. After waning somewhat, its popularity rose again after the Mexican Revolution as a symbol of national unity, eventually becoming the “national dance” of Mexico. It became internationally famous after Russian dancer Anna Pavlova added it to her permanent repertoire after visiting Mexico in 1919.

The jarabe remained in vogue in Mexico until about 1930, especially in Mexico City. It remains taught in nearly every grade school in Mexico.