Drumming Up Culture

Eric M. Jukelevics Arizona Daily Wildcat Luis Salinas and 7-year-old son Rico perform ritual dances on the Mall yesterday along with Rosanne Salinas and Gabriel Estrada, comparative culture and literary studies graduate student. Together they make up the group Nahui-Ollin Grupo Azteca de Tucson.

For a local drum and dance troop, the Nahui-Ollin Grupo Azteca de Tucson, the beat links them to a rich Aztecan culture dating back to the first indigenous culture in Central Mexico.

The group of four performed on the University of Arizona Mall yesterday afternoon as part of the multi-cultural, week-long "Drums Across Cultures," sponsored by Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs.

"We are here to learn from each other and to share," said Gabriel Estrada, a dancer and comparative cultural and literary studies graduate student. "This is a way I can share a part of me with Indians and non-Indians and a way of remembering Aztec heritage."

The dancers focus on the four elements of survival - earth, water, wind and fire as they pay tribute to the deceased, women, warriors, animals and the seasons. Participants use the ceremony to preserve the group's culture, which thrived before the Spanish imperial conquest.

A rhythmic beat reverberated from a circular drum called a Tonantzin, inscribed with a face on the surface representing mother earth. The drum provides the heart beat central to life, said Norma Navarro, interim program coordinator for Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs.

"Dancing is a way of keeping our traditions alive for future generations," said dancer Roseanne Salinas, "It is healing and gives positive energy."

Genevieve Cruise can be reached at Genevieve.Cruise@wildcat.arizona.edu.