SOUTHWESTERN SPIRIT

‘Christmas in New Mexico’ a dance through tradition

If the tinsel’s on the tree, it must be time for “Señora Scrooge.”

Baila! Baila! Dance Academy will present its annual holiday show at Expo New Mexico on Saturday, Dec. 3. The two-hour show features traditional Mexican folkloric dance, as well as the return of the original one-act comedy “Señora Scrooge.”

“Scrooge” is Baila! Baila! Director Israela Garcia’s original interpretation of the Dickens classic.

“Obviously, she’s old and she’s grouchy,” Garcia said. “I kind of tailored it after myself. She speaks Spanish and English.”

Señora Scrooge owns a tortilla factory that employs everyone in her Southwestern village.

“She calls all the shots,” Garcia said.

As the story unfolds, the comedy incorporates the dancers within the past, present and future ghosts of Christmas.

The traditional dances move across various states of Mexico, including Veracruz, Sinaloa and Jalisco, with polkas from northern Mexico.

“We’re doing a couple of Aztec dances, then we’re going to the various states in Mexico,” Garcia said. “Every single state is so unique. In Mexico, each state has its own costumes, its own style, its own language.”

The 11 a.m. show is solely devoted to “Christmas in New Mexico”; the others also feature “Señora Scrooge” in a two-hour presentation.