Andrea Tinajero Pérez, PhD candidate and graduate teaching associate in music theory at The Ohio State University, presents "Musical Feet: The Choreomusical Motive and Ballet Folkórico."
Ballet folklórico is a dance form that stemmed from community practices rooted in Indigenous, African, and European cultures in Mexico. As post-Revolutionary Mexico tried to build a national identity, these dances soon became staged and companies were created to distribute these new ideologies of Mexicanness for the masses. As in many Latin American and African cultures, music and dance are tightly intertwined in vernacular Mexican practices. But is it possible for dance and music to coexist or co-emerge? In other words, can dance be considered music? Can music be considered dance?
This talk aims to reframe the role of dancers of ballet folklórico as musicians and as a part of the musical texture in Mexican vernacular traditions. Scholarly research has yet to address how dancers contribute to musical structure through zapateado (footwork) in ballet folklórico. Tinajero Pérez's research aims to reveal choreomusical motives as patterns that are both dance and music, where the dancer purposefully produces music by articulating sounded patterns shaped by rhythm and timbre. Using ethnographic, dance analysis, and music theoretical research methods, she presents a case study of choreomusical structures to show how zapateado is both music and dance.
Andrea Tinajero Pérez (tee-nuh-hae'-ro) is a musician from Mexico and a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University, where she serves as a graduate teaching associate in music theory. Her research interests include Mexican and Latin American music, choreomusicology, and modal motives in rock and metal. Her work has been selected to be presented at the Society of Music Theory Annual Meeting (2026), Society for Music Analysis Conference (2026, 2025), Music Theory Midwest (2026, 2024), Practitioner-Centered Music Theory Conference (2025), and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory Graduate Student Research Conference (2024). As a pianist, she has performed in such festivals as the Festival Internacional 5 de Mayo (2019) and Ohio University’s Jazz Festival (2023). Andrea holds master’s degrees in music theory and piano performance-pedagogy from Ohio University and a bachelor’s degree from Universidad De las Américas Puebla.
This lecture is free and open to the public. No ticket required.
Lectures in Music Studies is co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Libraries.
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