Macha Caporal: bridging gaps, embodying resistance

Abstract

The following article explores the practice and performance of a block of Macha Caporal dancers, women who appropriate the costume, movement and name of the male character of the Bolivian dance Caporales. Given the demarcated gender structure established in the Caporales dance —represented by the couple of Macho Caporal (male character) and Cholita (female character)—the appearance of Macha Caporal as a new role in dance, has brought about the questioning of the performance and identity of women who dance like Machas. Based on an ethnographic research performed in 2018 in the city of La Paz and from a gender perspective, this article analyses how the performance of Macha Caporal dancers reveals the women’s non-conformity with discriminatory gender norms present in their wider social context. Through the accounts of the women and the descriptions of their contexts of practice and performance, the conditions in which women dance are revealed, making visible dynamics of inequality and violence present in the environment of the folkloric entradas (dance parades) of the city of La Paz. Finally, the article examines how the organization of women in an independent block and their style of movement can be understood as acts of resistance and political action in a setting characterized by chauvinism and inequality.