Top Pick: Mexican Culture Days in Bratislava

A little slice of Mexico will be served up here in Bratislava when Magisteriál, a Slovak dance group performing original Mexican moves, teams up with the Slovak music group Los Volcanes and the Croatian group Los Caballeros on Wednesday, May 23. Mexican painter Ricardo Camarena Flores will open the evening by introducing his exhibition "Partes".
Magisteriál was founded in 1990 in Bratislava by the five-time Czechoslovak dance champion Danka Pašteková. During her dance career spanning the 80s, the Culture Ministry sent her to Mexico for a month long stay, during which she fell in love with the local dance culture.
"I couldn't resist it," says Pašteková, who today lives in Vienna. "The dance, which is a mix of various cultures and traditions, is so natural and joyful - but at the same time it remains so mysterious - that it has completely taken me captive."


The Mexican Culture Days in Bratislava features Slovaks performing traditional Mexican moves.
Courtesy Magisteriál

A little slice of Mexico will be served up here in Bratislava when Magisteriál, a Slovak dance group performing original Mexican moves, teams up with the Slovak music group Los Volcanes and the Croatian group Los Caballeros on Wednesday, May 23. Mexican painter Ricardo Camarena Flores will open the evening by introducing his exhibition "Partes".

Magisteriál was founded in 1990 in Bratislava by the five-time Czechoslovak dance champion Danka Pašteková. During her dance career spanning the 80s, the Culture Ministry sent her to Mexico for a month long stay, during which she fell in love with the local dance culture.

"I couldn't resist it," says Pašteková, who today lives in Vienna. "The dance, which is a mix of various cultures and traditions, is so natural and joyful - but at the same time it remains so mysterious - that it has completely taken me captive."

The group's dance programme includes old Aztec rituals performed to music played on instruments like the 'huehuetl', a huge drum, and large sea shells used as wind instruments. Sung in the local Aztec language 'nahuatl', there will also be dances from other Central and Southern American tribes.

While some of the dances will be performed to the original CD recordings, several others will be performed to live music by Los Caballeros' and Los Volcanos.

Tickets cost 80 Sk. Exhibition starts at 17:00, dance and music show at 18:00 at Dom Kultúry Dúbravka (Culture House Dúbravka) on Saratovská 2/A. Tel: 6436 5640.

By Zuzana Habšudová

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