Escaramuza: Riding from the Heart

Every weekend, at rodeos from Illinois to California, teams of young, Mexican American women, Escaramuzas Charras, climb onto their sidesaddles in elegant charra skirts or ruffled adelita dresses and weave their galloping horses around each other in dangerous, high speed ballets, like the revolutionary era "skirmishes" from which they take their name. What drives these rapidly assimilating young women to work so hard at preserving their inherited cultural tradition and strengthening their Mexican identity? Escaramuza: Riding from the Heart follows the eight inspiring team members of Escaramuza Charra Las Azaleas, our California and U.S. Champions, as they embark on a journey to represent the United States at the National Charro Championships in Mexico, amidst unprecedented drug violence across the border, and challenges to their way of life at home.