FACULTY NEWS

Alejandro L. Madrid’s interdisciplinary
research combines music, dance,
cultural theory and history.

Latin American and Latino Studies Professor Takes His Fulbright Fellowship to the Dance Floor

Alejandro L. Madrid, assistant professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, is among about 1,000 U.S. faculty and professionals conducting research abroad with prestigious Fulbright Scholar grants for the 2008-09 academic year.

Madrid is traveling south and east of the border to examine transnational relations between Cuba and Mexico through a cultural study of danzón, a dance of Cuban origin that combines European and African elements. By studying the dance in both countries, he hopes to discover how its history provides insight into race, blackness and nationality. "Although Cubans consider it their national dance, it is only truly in Mexico where it survives as an everyday social dance," says Madrid. Danzón was adopted by Mexican middle classes in the early 20th century.

Of danzón, Madrid says, "It is interesting that in both Cuban and Mexican societies, danzón is closely linked to notions of local belonging; what makes it even more interesting to me is that in both cases there is a kind of purification of the genre in relation to its music styles as well as how the body should move to the beat of the music. It is also interesting to revisit the 130-year long history of danzón and find out that these kinds of purifications resurface regularly in Cuba and Mexico in relation to the changing class and ethnic groups that have adopted the music."

Listen to a sample of the rigoletito, the music that
accompanies the danzón.

He has already conducted archival research in Merida, Yucatan, and presented findings at a conference. In addition to further research on danzón scenes in Mexico City and Veracruz, Madrid will offer a weeklong seminar on the popular studies of music at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in the spring. He is a musicologist and cultural theorist whose research focuses on the connection between modernity, tradition, globalization and identity in music and expressive culture from Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border and the Caribbean region closest to the United States.

When he began researching, he had to prove his merit—not in the archives, but on the dance floor. "During my first night conducting fieldwork at Veracruz’s main square, I was asked to dance with a very good dancer who I had seen dance the night before at another event and I thought that maybe the people there wanted to know if I, this guy who was asking all these questions, knew what I was talking about. By avoiding fancy "chilango" (from Mexico City) embellishments, I managed to make my dance look like the more traditional "veracruzano" style. It is amazing how everyone’s attitude toward me changed once they realized I was able to do the danzón."

Adapted from a UIC News article by Brian Flood, November 26, 2008.