Guateque
The Folkloric Ballet of Puerto Rico

By Danielle Polen

For many, the words "Puerto Rican dance" immediately conjure the image of sinuous salsa moves. How many know, however, that the traditions of Puerto Rican dance are as rich and varied as the island's population itself, with elements drawn from its earliest indigenous ancestors, as well as from its European colonizers and early African inhabitants? For the past 22 years, the Guateque Folkloric Ballet of Puerto Rico has been a "living museum," developing, preserving, and displaying the diverse origins of the island's traditional music and dance. This October, Guateque will be presenting this colorful legacy-complete with more than 30 dancers and a dozen musicians-during a two-week tour of the Eastern United States.

His dancers and students call him teacher, choreographer, artistic director, even costume designer. Others have called him a cultural historian, a visionary. And all of these words, indeed, describe Joaquín Nieves Caldero, founder and director of the Guateque Folkloric Ballet of Puerto Rico. Mr. Nieves founded Guateque in 1976, in his home town of Corozal, Puerto Rico, while pursuing a bachelor's degree in Anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico and, later, his Master's degree.

Mr. Nieves expressed an aptitude for the arts at an early age, but it was during his university years that his interest in the folkloric traditions of his native Puerto Rico-in particular, the island's rich history of song and dance-more fully developed. Mr. Nieves traveled throughout the Puerto Rican countryside, interviewing scores of locals who recounted to him their recollections of particular village customs, local dances, legends, and music. In addition, Mr. Nieves reviewed historical texts, including chronicles of the island's early colonizers, as well as texts and articles on Puerto Rico's indigenous peoples. He also visited museums and archeological sites, and attended local festivals, to further familiarize himself with the various regional and indigenous song and dance traditions of the island.

Guateque's beginnings were humble. In the summer of 1976, the Puerto Rican government employed Mr. Nieves to serve as a community leader in his native Corozal. During this time, Mr. Nieves recruited a group of local youths between the ages of six and twelve, and began instructing them in basic dance movement, including some of the basic steps, rhythms and styling from various country folk dances. This group of young dancers began performing at small functions in local communities, delighting audiences wherever they appeared. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Nieves was encouraged to develop the group on a larger scale, and Guateque was born.
The very name of this colorful ensemble suggests the excitement and joy that audiences have come to expect from a Guateque performance. As noted above, Puerto Rican dance has been influenced by various cultures, including that of the island's African descendants. The "Guateque" was the name of one of the livelier and most spirited of the African influenced dances.Over the course of time, the Puerto Rican peasantry began referring to their rural festivals as "guateque(s)" for the happiness and merrymaking that characterized such celebrations. After considering various names for his newly-formed ensemble, Mr. Nieves realized that the Puerto Rican folkloric traditions contained all of the joyful elements associated with the term "guateque," and adopted the name for his group.

From its modest beginnings, Guateque has now grown to a group of 40-plus dancers and musicians, and boasts an international reputation. In addition to a busy yearound performance schedule at home,Guateque has represented Puerto Rico in various international folklore festivals around the globe, having appeared in Central and South America, the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

The development of the company, however, has not been without struggle. At the outset, the group received no actual funding for its endeavors, although it did receive the encouragement of its local community. So Guateque members themselves struggled to raise the funds necessary to support their initial performances. After the company's early successes, however, the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture signed on as a sponsor, and continues its support to this day. Over time, other organizations and institutions have helped to make Guateque what it is today. These include the Puerto Rican Tourism Agency, the Department of Education, the legislature of Puerto Rico, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others.

Through the support of these institutions, Mr. Nieves founded the Guateque School of Dance, located in Corozal, Puerto Rico. The school offers free classes in folkloric dance and music, as well as jazz and ballet, to local students and the community in general. Alumni of the school frequently join the ranks of Guateque. In addition, Mr. Nieves has offered dance workshops and conferences both locally and internationally.

Funding from these organizations has also allowed Mr. Nieves to create some 15 full-length traditional ballets, composed of more than 70 different dances-a prolific amount, given the time and research necessary for each new project. For unlike many choreographers, whose tasks consist chiefly of setting steps to music, Mr. Nieves must recreate the past, giving careful attention not only to music and dance steps, but to details ranging from the accuracy of period and regional costuming, to the significance of ancient Indian rites.

Two of Mr. Nieves' most ambitious projects include "Los Taínos de Borikén" (The Taínos of Borikén) and "Los Dioses" (The Gods). The Taíno Indians were some of Puerto Rico's earliest inhabitants, and were part of a well-established Indian culture that extended throughout the islands comprising the Antilles. The Taíno called their island Borikén or Borínquen, meaning "Island of the Brave Lord." Together, these two works depict scenes from daily Taíno life, and portray the Taíno cosmology.

Other notable ballets include "Bailes de Salón del Siglo XIX" (Ballroom Dances of the 19th Century), "Fiesta Campesina" (Country Festival), "Plenas de Puerto Rico" (The Puerto Rican Plenas), and "Bomba Puertorriqueña" (The Puerto Rican Bomba). As the name suggests, the first of these works consists of society or salon dances from the 19th century that were brought to Puerto Rico by its Spanish colonizers. These include popular European dances such as the Waltz, Mazurka, Polka, Contra-dance, Minuet, and the Puerto Rican "Danza."

The second of these pieces, "Fiesta Campesina," derives from the mountain regions of Puerto Rico and consists of a mosaic of traditional country dances, many of which reference and honor nature and the surrounding countryside.

The "Plena Puertorriqueña"-the Puerto Rican Plena-remains one of the most popular and lively of Puerto Rico's traditional dances. The plena has its roots in the Southern coastal zones of the island, and its principal characteristics are its simplicity and repetition. Akin to a village newspaper, the plena recounts the latest events from the community, and includes themes that range from the religious to the superstitious.

The African slaves that were brought to Puerto Rico in the 16th century carried with them their own traditions of music and dance, a descendent of which is the Puerto Rican "bomba." This dance is performed to the accompaniment of two "bombas," or barrels, the first of which maintains a constant rhythm, while the second changes the rhythm to follow that of the dancer(s). In the Bomba, the female dancer makes lively use of her long skirts, while the male uses his body to perform the intricate and rhythmic gestures.

These ballets are just a few of those that Guateque will perform during its upcoming East Coast tour, which will include stops in Washington, D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The company will also showcase a swinging series of dances from the 1940s and '50s that particularly highlight the group's remarkable versatility.

Some artists undoubtedly would be content to rest upon their laurels after 22 years of growing a dance company. Others probably would choose to pass on the torch out of sheer exhaustion. Not so with Joaquín Nieves. Two decades after founding Guateque, one can still find him energetically conducting a rehearsal, or intently sketching out a new costume idea, or poring over historical texts in search of some obscure detail that he will later develop into a full-blown ballet. Not only does he continue to infuse the group with the same level of passion, dedication and genuine interest with which he founded it, but Mr. Nieves, himself, remains synonymous with the name "Guateque"-lively, spirited, full of life.

Notes:
1. See Insight Guides Puerto Rico, APA Publications (HK) Ltd., Houghton Mifflin 1997, at pp. 25–26.
2. Mr. Nieves has asked us to credit the assistance of all those who have helped make Guateque what it is today, chief among them Orlando González-Rivera, who, among other projects, has made the upcoming East Coast tour a reality.

Danielle Polen is a writer/dancer/photographer/attorney residing in the Washington, D.C. area, and a regular contributor with Clave.