Concert Review: Ballet Folklorico Enraptures Audience
10/19/06
By Don Moore
Germantown News
October 4, 2006
I've been a writer and a lover of words all my adult life, but words come near failing me as I attempt to describe the thrill of watching and hearing the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico at GPAC on Saturday night. I was transfixed. My eyes were completely glued to the dancers and their colorful traditional costumes. My ears were totally attuned to the violins, the trumpets, the drums, the guitars, the guitarron (the Mexican acoustic bass guitar) and the voices of the singers.
I first saw a performance of the Ballet Folklorico as a young man at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City 40 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw it again back in the '80s. But I never saw it before like I saw it and heard it Saturday night in the comfort and perfect acoustics of GPAC. I was in some sense like a child again, taking it all in as if for the first time ever, no comparisons to previous shows, just pure enjoyment of the present.
Amalia Hernandez, a dancer and choreographer, founded the group in 1952, and Norma Lopez Hernandez is the group's artistic director. Between them, they have put together a masterful showcase of Mexican dance and music that takes us through the course of Mexican history and across the diverse geography of the nation and its predecessor empires.
One of my personal favorites has always been the Deer Dance of the Yaqui people of northern Mexico, which reproduces the hunt and the death of a stag with near-perfect fidelity.
The Saturday performance (there was also a show on Sunday at GPAC) opened with The Matachenes, a dance performed in the northern part of Mexico City, inspired by the customs of pre-Hispanic people who danced exclusively to worship their gods. The Spanish conquest brought with it medieval dances that have been used in Christian ceremonies since the 16th century. The colorful and energetic dance has been preserved to this day.
Other dances portrayed activities of various indigenous groups, scenes from the Mexican Revolution, a village wedding, courtship, rodeo, local Catholic festivals, work activities and other aspects of life in Mexico. Each was a magnificent dance unto itself. Together they painted a picture of an ancient land just south of our own borders about which most of us know all too little.
I confess I have long been a lover of Mexico's history and its various sub-cultures, whether regional or ethnic or both. From my undeniably biased point of view, those of you who missed this performance have missed an artistic masterpiece. If you ever have another chance to see the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, don't pass it by.
I have no doubt that the audiences at last Saturday or Sunday's performances would concur with my advice. The sounds of "ole," "bravo," and "viva Mexico" resounded through GPAC.
