Macha Caporal: saltant bretxes, encarnant resistències

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