¡La Revolución! celebrates Mexican Revolution with art, dance

The drums reverberated through the wood floors as the dancers, representing the Aztecs in their dedicational ritual, circled round, the feathers bobbed in a transfixing state. They wore traditional garb as well. This was not your average night in the University Center Ballrooms.

Thursday, the anniversary of the launch of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, was the day of "¡La Revolución!" from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. in the UC Ballrooms, held by Nu Alpha Kappa fraternity. The event included an art exhibit by Denver Chicano artist Stevon Lucero. His art revealed many themes of sadness, but also embodied God and the universe. Latino pride was a theme for all works of the night.

"I do like artwork, and these are particularly interesting," said Anna Clark, a freshman nursing major. "The colors are amazing and vivid, and the faces are all sad."

Lucero described himself as being on a spirit path.

"I'm inspired by the fact that we are perceptive beings," he said. "You reach a point where you've been through so much: the love, the heartbreak, the process of being. With everything you learn, it just adds to that need to create. Every artist discovers this."

The night also included a traditional Aztec dance demonstration. The dancers, several of them children, were fast-paced and energetic. They included the audience in a collaborative "Friendship Dance."

The dancers explained that hundreds of Mexican languages exist, none of which are Spanish, and that the dance represents true Mexican natives. They made a half-circle which spectators were expected to make whole.

Next were Mexican folklore dancers. They wore brightly colored dresses and smiles and were able to dance with candles balanced on their heads. Their parting dance, after an audience competition of "El Grito," was the ever-popular "La Bamba."

Poets also recited their work. Themes like feminism, pride and racism resonated in each work. Even the daily stress of college was a focus.

"Everyone has a lot of things on their plate," said Andrea Renteria, a senior Mexican American Studies major. "Work, not being a statistic, papers. It's just stressful."

Renteria also is a sister of the Nu Alpha Kappa and member of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or the Chicano Student Movement,

"I just wanted something more activist based," Renteria said. "M.E.Ch.A. is more action based for the people-protesting and organizing."

The event commemorated the bloody Mexican Civil War decades ago, the uprising of peasants and mestizos frustrated with political corruption, public humiliation and poverty. After the land was more evenly distributed and urban workers has right to salaries that would provide them a dignified life.

The event celebrated the past successes of Mexicans and the success to come.