The Dance of the Conquest of Quetzaltenango, a 19th-Century Historical Regionalist Drama from Guatemala

Among academics there has been a debate regarding the origin of the Guatemalan Dance of the Conquest, with arguments that date this drama either for the sixteenth century as part of the evangelizing theatre or the nineteenth century as an example of nationalist romanticism. We propose that the Dance of the Conquest was performed only from the second half of the nineteenth century as a performance that could be appropriated from different stances by diverse audiences in the context of emerging proto nationalisms in Guatemala.