Earlier this month we went to Mexico City to see the world famous Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernandez (literally, folk dance of Mexico by Amalia Hernandez, the founder of the group). You may wonder, as I did, why our organization required us to go and see it as a part of our Orientation Year "education". Now that I’ve gone, I understand why, but find it impossible to explain!
I guess that’s because it gives you a "feel" for Mexico, that few other things can in that short a time.
This will sound like a lousy attempt to be eloquent, but visiting downtown Mexico City and seeing Ballet Folklórico gives me the same feelings I have for all of Mexico – hope and despair, joy and sorrow, confusion and certainty, identity and the search for an identity. Are there other countries that live with the same amount of paradox as Mexico?
I love Mexico and am excited to be a part of it. Let’s leave it at that.
To follow are video clips from the performance. This is a much longer video than I normally post – 9 minutes. I hope it will give you a feel for what was going on, but it probably won’t – you need to come and see it for yourself.
The songs and dances are supposed to represent the history of Mexico. I found it hard to catch the words, but you’ll see a lot of typical Mexican things – dancing, kissing, religion . . . 😉 You’ll see mariachi bands. For the wartimes you’ll see lots of women with guns. There are dances representing different regions, and different classes. Remember I’m not showing you everything, just a representation.
A final note before you watch. The singing was actually really good – for some reason it doesn’t come through well on the video. You’ll need to use your imagination, or start planning your trip to come see it for yourself.
