Act of Faith :: 'Corpus Christi'

From September 12-14, dancer/choreographer Rogelio Lopez will unfold a new work at Dance Mission Theater. In “Mucho Machismo y Pocos Machos,” Lopez and his dancers will tell the story of a queer Mexican folklorico dancer who falls in love with a closeted fellow dancer.
Lopez lives a life that’s immersed in dance. Born in Mexicali, Baja California Norte in Mexico, his family emigrated to Fresno when he was 13, where his father supported the family by working in the fields. He attended Roosevelt High School, and was first exposed to dance in the form of folklorico, a tradition of Mexican folk dances.

Lopez found that he had a natural propensity for the form, and, at 17, joined a local dance company called El Sol. He followed his passion to Cal State Long Beach and earned an MFA in dance, leaving folklorico behind for a time. He danced with several modern dance companies in Los Angeles and San Francisco and started teaching at the collegiate level.

Today he lives in Richmond with his husband and is a professor at St. Mary’s College, where he is also the undergraduate director of the dance program and the teacher of a folklorico class. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Lopez spoke of his latest work and about his journey as a dancer.

David-Elijah Nahmod: What moves you to be a dancer choreographer?
Rogelio Lopez: Dance became a lifeline for me, as a way to escape the circumstances of my upbringing. The dance community, specifically the modern dance world, is where I learned to embrace my queerness. Dance brings me a lot of joy, the act of giving myself a physical task for pleasure and seeking beauty. Choreography lets me express myself in community.

Please share a little bit of the history of your dance company.
After several years of making work, Rogelio Lopez and Dancers was officially formed here in the Bay Area back in 2015 when I was fiscally sponsored through Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. My pre-pandemic work was rooted in postmodern contemporary dance, awash in abstraction, music and emotion. At the time, I was most interested in complicated ensemble movement.

In 2022, I started on a new artistic venture that eventually became my piece entitled “Entre Despierto Y Dormido.” This work marked my return to my roots in folklorico. Only two other dancers joined me onstage for what turned out to be a dance theater work combining both contemporary dance and folklorico as well as drag, film and narrative.

It incorporated my skills in scenic, lighting and costume design as well. It was a complete departure from my previous work in that I threw all of my creative impulses and skills into the work. Luckily it was well received. The work redefined authenticity for myself, one that was boldly Mexican and queer. “Mucho Machismo y Pocos Machos” is my next venture, continuing in this vein.

What is the story and theme of “Mucho Machismo y Pocos Machos?”
The piece is an exploration of toxic masculinity as it manifests in Mexican culture, through a queer lens. I think growing up within Mexican culture, I had a lot of trauma and shame, specifically around my sexuality. This piece explores the confusing disgust and attraction to machismo or ultra-masculine identity that is celebrated and paraded in folklorico and the culture at large. It is a personal rejection of this binary within myself, all told in a fun, campy, and sincere narrative of boy meets boy.

Is it a challenge to be queer in the folklorico community?
Over the last several years I have returned to the folklorico community in a big way, both here in the States as well as in Mexico. I have attended several festivals and attended master classes, seen a ton of performances, and had conversations with creators.

Obviously the folklorico community is not a monolith, but there is a struggle within the form between holding on to the traditional and letting the form progress. This shows up most glaringly to me in the strict gender roles and the complete erasure of queerness in the traditional form.

It is completely baffling to me that most of the power in these forms is held by mostly closeted gay men, and they continue to police and gate-keep what is viewed as correct, especially in terms of how these roles are performed.

There are of course exceptions, as queerness becomes more prevalent in the culture the form shifts, but people and organizations who are trying to progress the form are having to really battle to be seen within the community.

I attended the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca Mexico in 2023, the largest folklorico festival in the world, and it was apparently the first year the Muxes, an Oxacan native queer community of people who are third gendered, and have adopted their own folkloric traditions of community were allowed to have their own parade.

What is the English translation of the piece’s title and why was this title chosen?
It doesn’t truly translate, but it gets at the idea that there is a lot of toxic masculinity, but few men, which is a sort of cheeky way of questioning what masculinity even is and if it has any place in defining a person.

Is the story presented simply as a dance piece, or is there any dialogue or singing?
There is some dialogue, no live singing, but it is a dance theater work that moves through contemporary dance and folklorico with film and elaborate costumes.

I read that you won several Isadora Duncan Awards. What do these awards mean to you?
Awards are tricky because I don’t believe art is supposed to be in competition, but as recognition by the community that I did something impactful, it means a lot.

Rogelio Lopez and Dancers in ‘Mucho Machismo y Pocos Machos’ Sept. 12 & 13, 8pm, Sept. 14, 4pm. $33.85-$55.20. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St.
www.rogeliodance.com
www.dancemissiontheater.org