Quest for Aztlan

Long before Stephen King spawned a B-movie franchise with his short story "Children of the Corn," the original maize kids were living in Meso-America. In Quest for Aztlan, viewers will see brief performance clips from the Aztlan Folk Dance Company's homage to the evolution of Hispanic culture, from the pre-Columbian days of animal dances to the popular contemporary dances of Austin, Texas's East Side Barrio. That's a lot of historical ground to cover in 12 minutes, and the brief Cliff's Notes-like commentary attached to short snippets of what looks to be wonderful dancing doesn't begin to offer enough contextual information to provide viewers with a coherent portrait of the complicated fusing of Native American, Spanish and European cultures which eventually gave rise to modern Hispanic culture. Originally made as a video supplement for Texas teachers to use in conjunction with viewing the performance, this program is a solid purchase for Texas libraries, but an optional purchase elsewhere. Aud: E, I, J, H, P. (R. Pitman)