MARTOR no. 30 / year 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57225/Martor.2025.04
AUTHOR:
Raymundo Ruiz González
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
ORCID: 0009-0008-4767-2265
PAGES: 63-80
KEYWORDS: Fonadan; dance notation; Josefina Lavalle; popular dance; archive.
ABSTRACT:
In 1972 the Mexican government established the Fondo Nacional para el Desarrollo de la Danza Popular Mexicana (Fonadan) as the first institute focused on the research of the nation’s traditional dances. The Fonadan implemented a notation system for floor plans and later another system for “steps,” both Laban-based. During the two decades, both systems were used in several important publications; however, almost half a century later, very little has been written about Fonadan. After its closure in 1985, the whereabouts of the complete Fonadan archive remain unclear. Nonetheless, the dance research and recording practices established by Fonadan had a substantial impact on the professional dance schools in Mexico City and laid the foundations for traditional dance research throughout the country. This article navigates the fields of Mexican traditional dance and the history and anthropology of dance. The methodological approaches used here are autoethnography and notation analysis. Through this research, I aim to elucidate Fonadan’s role in the establishment of the Mexican field of folkloric dance by investigating how dance notation was used to consolidate a terminology that is still in use. The notion of “popular” dance employed in the creation of Fonadan during the so-called Echeverrista populism of the 1970s allows me to question the research and preservation practices that Fonadan established in the field. Finally, through this essay, I intend to provide a better understanding of the history of Mexican dance and the importance of dance notation in the field.
HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:
Ruiz González, Ruiz. 2025. “That Which Remains. The Role of Fonadan Notation in the Establishment of the Mexican field of Folkloric Dance and its Terminology.” Martor 30, 63-80. [DOI: 10.57225/Martor.2025.04]
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