As part of the opening ceremonies to the Jades of Belize Exhibit a dance group from Otosha Village was invited to take part. They depicted a centuries old performance of the deer dance. Outside of the Toledo District it's almost as if this dance had never existed but now thanks to funding from the CARD Project, BTB and NICH what had once been reserved for very few eyes made its way into Belize City. It's a significant move for the Maya culture and Greg Choc says it's one they intend to build on.
Greg Choc,
"We have always been practicing this and one of the challenges we have had is, we don't have any costumes here. We have to rent them in Guatemala. It is costly and the village of Otaxha has always performed it and that initiative led to they approaching CARD. CARD is a project of the government of Belize to fund the procurement of the costumes.
I felt that it wasn't only about procuring a costume. I wanted it to be the revitalization of a culture. We need to begin to think innovatively, how can we continue to practice our culture, our dances without commercializing it, without undervaluing it sacredness to us.
What we are trying to do is come up with a plan where we can practice and try to build a sustainability within the practice of the culture where we can procure and pay expenses that we will incur in terms of traveling, food, and transportation for performers."
The costumes for the deer dance were secured through funding from CARD and the BTB. Choc says there are at least 6 dances for which similar costumes are required and for which there is works underway to get.
