Dancing mestizaje: The choreodramas of the Guadalupe Dance Company

This thesis explores two choreographic works, or choreodramas, by the Guadalupe Dance Company in San Antonio, Texas: Río Bravo (1994) and Santuarios (2001), elucidating how they create new traditions in Chicana/o and in US contemporary dance. Using theories in dance analysis, Gloria E. Anzaldúa s theories on the self, and interviews with six dancers in the Guadalupe Dance Company as a framework, this study investigates issues of identity embedded in the stories of Chicana/o heritage that these choreodramas evoke. Finally, this study examines how the emphasis that these choreodramas place on multiplicity contributes to the embodiment of mestizaje. In this thesis, I argue that the choreodramas of the Guadalupe Dance Company embody mestizaje through choreography that encompasses both the individual and collective identities of contemporary Chicana/os in San Antonio, on the concert dance stage.