by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Miguel Caro danced live on "The Late Show with David Letterman" twice in 2001.
He'll be performing the same signature dance as the final piece for his troupe's Saturday show, The Cross Currents in Indigenous Arts Symposium.
"A long time ago I decided to do something different for the public," Caro said.
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He sets six tall glasses of water on a tray, which goes on his head, and dances with strong, intricate steps for three minutes.
He said before the dance, he lets the audience inspect the glasses because if he doesn't, they think they're full of gelatin.
"Or that my head is flat," he said. "But it's not flat."
Caro, who began dancing in Mexico City and continued all over the world, teaches dance at UNM and leads a professional troupe called Fiesta Mexicana Dance Company.
The troupe will perform traditional dances from seven states of Mexico: Chihuahua, Michoac†n, Nuevo Le¢n, Chiapas, Yucat†n, and Jalisco. They will perform one or two dances from each state.
"The second dance is from Michoacan, and this one is really cute - it's the dance of the little old man," said Marcella Sandoval, Caro's student. "They wear masks and hats that looks like white hair and they dance on canes, and they fall. The hats are white yarn."
They also imitate animals in their dances like birds, boars, horses, bulls, iguanas and turtles, she said.
The Yucatan Peninsula dance simulates bulls - the men charge with their index fingers pointing out from their heads.
The dances are traditional, but Caro adds his own choreography for character and flare. He also handpicks his dancers and designs all the costumes. The costumes represent each Mexican state, and his sister embroiders them in Mexico City. Like the dances, the costumes are traditional but are embellished for a more exciting stage presence.
"Sometimes I spend too much money, but I like it," Caro said about the costumes. "Embroidering things is a lot of work, and it's so expensive."
He picks the costumes up in Mexico City when he visits for the holidays, or in the summer, he said.
Marissa Rodriguez, who has been Caro's student for 15 years since she was 5 years old, said he's made her into the dancer she is today, and is the reason she's majoring in dance at UNM.
"He's awesome," she said. "And everyone gets along. It's not like we have class and then forget about each other. We're all friends - we do things together."
