The main focus of this book is the study of a particular dance, that of the ‘Old Men’. Previously performed only in the State of Michoacán, it has during the course of the twentieth century served the ideological and economic agendas of indigenismo, nationalism and tourism in a much wider context. The dance is usually performed by a group of four men wearing masks and dressed in traditional Mexican clothing (a poncho and cotton trousers), accompanied by musicians – though in reality the men are not particularly old, as the dance demands rapid, agile and complex footwork. It is traditionally performed by P'urpecha indigenous people for local fiestas, often in the streets, or sometimes at family events, with any number of dancers, including women. It has developed during the twentieth century into one of the most iconic tourist attractions in Mexico, linked, on the island of Janitizio in Lake Patzcuaro, to the festival for the Day of the Dead. Although the latter is a fiesta celebrated by households in most parts of Mexico (All Souls' Day), today thousands flock to the island for what the author calls the ‘Night of the Dead’, to see the dance and the culmination of the festivities.

Part II of the book traces how ‘processes and policies [were carried out] in which indigenous practices and peoples were appropriated and nationalized; were performed as staged folkloric representations; and … established as part of national folk culture’ (pp. 26–7). For during the 1920s, after the Mexican Revolution, the country's indigenous peoples began to be seen as the bearers of Mexico's cultural heritage, and this region was overrun by intellectuals, historians, musicologists, educationalists and anthropologists. Artefacts from the area appeared in various exhibitions in Mexico City, and the dance itself was performed there in 1924 in its first theatricalised version by aguados (non-authentic performers): this is the point at which, according to Hellier-Tinoco, the dance began to become ‘fixed’ and subsequently folklorised (p. 78). During the 1930s the region increasingly became the focus for a tourism linked to nationalism and a ‘privileged space of experimentation’ for both the study of indigenous peoples and for indigenismo, a government policy that sought to integrate them into the nation-state. This was the era of Lázaro Cardenas (Tata Lázaro, as he was known locally), Mexico's most left-wing president, who was from Michoacán, had a house on Lake Patzcuaro and developed strong personal links with the foremost local musicians and dancers while also being responsible for ‘improving’ the daily lives of all the indigenes. The Education Secretariat built schools which taught their indigenous pupils Spanish, and the so-called Cultural Missions organised events which included the dance of the Old Men. Janitizio was developed as a tourist location despite the resistance of the locals to the influx of outsiders (and a huge statue of Morelos – a national independence hero – was erected on the summit of the island). The dance began to be enacted at political events locally and increasingly elsewhere. In Mexico City it was included in performances of the Danzas Auténticas Mexicanas, which was later to become the Ballet Folklórico, a popular tourist attraction which exists to this day. The dance was also increasingly performed in Mexican hotels, especially in the state of Michoacán, and in the United States as an icon of ‘the indigenous’. It was romanticised in various publications as it increasingly became linked to the celebrations for the ‘Night of the Dead’. And indeed, by the end of the twentieth century, the Old Men were performing dances especially developed on Janitizio itself for that fiesta.

With the dropping of the policy of indigenous integration from the 1960s onwards and the later growth of movements for political autonomy, an annual ‘Artistic Festival of the P'urhepecha People’ began that ‘encompasses many of the complex and paradoxical aspects of folkloric display, indigenous objectification, globalisation and reappropriation particularly in relation to The Old Men’ (p. 185). Held in the still remote village of Zacán, and organised by locals, it has grown through the years from a community festival of music and dance with people competing for prizes to the inclusion of the staging of the dance in various versions to a fully fledged tourist event. An auditorium was built, dance groups from other communities joined in, and in the 1990s a non-P'urhepecha ballet folklórico was added. By 2005, there were a thousand participants making up the various events and 60 dance groups.

As an anthropologist, I would have liked more on this event and on what those who perform the dance of the Old Men think about the gradual evolution of their dance. But Hellier-Tinoco, although she uses some ethnography, is based in theatre and dance studies: she currently teaches both in England and in California. She was also under the restraints of being more of an insider: she lived for a considerable time in Mexico while married and thus also knows a great deal about the cultural politics of her subject. Part I of the book introduces the dance and lays the conceptual framework on which the book is based, although I think this would have worked better if it had been integrated into part II. Part III looks at some of the issues raised in part II but from the rather different viewpoints of embodiment, photography and economics. On the latter, the range of consumer items generated by the dance – T-shirts, key rings, pens, beribboned hats, wall hangings, tourist books and of course postcards – continues to grow. That the area and its rapidly disappearing culture still continue to be iconic is indicated by the use of a photograph of the fishing nets once used on a daily basis in Lake Patzcuaro taken by one of the Mexican phone companies (Telcel) in the late 1990s. Today these rather beautiful nets are only ever used to create a tableau, a performance of fishing where dead fish are apparently ensnared before tourists are asked for money! And more recently, a child's version of the costume for the dance has been on sale in Mexico's Walmart.

This is a long but well-researched study and an important book, not so much because it is about dance per se – although there is ample footage on the accompanying website, which is a useful addition – but rather because it is about its milieu during an important phase of Mexican social history.