Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between two forms of performance: traditional dance and folkloric dance. The anthropologist draws on fieldwork in the western highlands of Guatemala and in and around predominantly Spanish-speaking communities of west suburban Chicago. The paper examines complementary differences between the genres along a number of parameters, exploring how both present notions of identity and community. Traditional dance, performed in the highlands of Guatemala, emphasizes indigenous identity and community among recognizable faces in concrete places. Folkloric dance, performed for (and often by) immigrants in the United States, works on the more abstract concepts of Latino identity and transnational communities. Although not directly about indigenous identity, folkloric dance strives to achieve authenticity by presenting images of indigenousness, including representations of traditional dance.
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