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The Ballet Folklórico de Mexico, founded 60 years ago, brings traditional dances of Mexico to the Lensic on Thursday.
To understand Ballet Folklórico de Mexico, it’s important to know about its founder, Amalia Hernández. Salvador López, the company’s general manager and Hernández’s grandson, is helping to keep his grandmother’s dances alive in the 21st century.
“My grandmother spent 20 years of her life searching for dances throughout Mexico,” López said by phone from Mexico. “She brought many dancers from all over Mexico to Mexico City so they could work with her new company, which presented dances of different groups of people living throughout Mexico.
“Some of the dancers she brought to Mexico City only spoke their local languages. Many of the dances they did lasted for 40 hours nonstop. Part of her job was to concentrate the dances so they could be presented in a concert hall.”
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If you go WHAT: Ballet Folklórico de Mexico WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 WHERE: Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe HOW MUCH: $20-$55. Call 505-988-1234 for tickets |
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Although the dances that Hernández incorporated into her company have gone through some changes during the past 60 years since Ballet Folklórico de Mexico was founded, López said the choreography essentially has remained the same since it was first put together in 1952.
The Santa Fe Concert Association presents Ballet Folklórico de Mexico at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Thursday night. López brings 70 members of the traveling company to town, including 40 dancers and 20 musicians.
“It’s a very unified company, with most of the dancers in their 20s and 30s,” he said. “They train six hours a day together, in all different styles of dance.”
Ballet Folklórico de Mexico’s program reflects the different cultures that have been part of the Mexican landscape for hundreds of years. The energetic Deer Dance is a dance of the Yaqui people, who are excellent hunters. They continue to use bows and arrows when hunting and to cultivate the land according to ancestral methods. The Deer Dance is part of the ritual that takes place in preparation for the hunt.
The ancient dance of the quetzal, a mythological bird of Mesoamerica, requires elaborate costumes. The plumed crowns worn by the dancers are close to 6 feet in diameter. It takes a lot of practice and skill for dancers to execute movements while wearing the crowns. In its home state of Puebla, this dance is presented by performers who must spend many months learning how to personify the grace and dignity of the quetzal.
Company members open the program with the Matachines dance, which is seen on the north side of Mexico City during religious celebrations. The costumes are modeled after those worn by prehistoric people when they danced to their gods. The Spaniards brought the Matachines dance with them from Spain to Mexico in the Middle Ages.
Closing the program is a ballet with mariachi music. The dance opens with a mariachi parade playing lively songs. During a fiesta on stage, The Snake, El Tranchete, La Negra, El Jarabe Tapatío and Mexican Hat dances and songs are performed. At the end of the concert, the dancers salute the audience by throwing colorful paper streamers to them.
