Artistic Director Viviana Basanta Hernandez and Executive Director Salvador Lopez bring this continuing expression in honor of traditional dancing based on Mexican choreographer and dancer Amalia Hernandez. For seventy years, her Ballet Folklorico de México her emblematic tribute to Mexico’s cultural diversity through dance has been known the world over.
Founded in 1952 by the dancer and choreographer, Amalia Hernández, the Ballet Folklorico de México revolutionized the concept of traditional dances. Their style quickly transformed the history of Mexican dance, deeply influencing the artistic course of thousands of dance groups in Mexico and abroad. To this day, most folklorico dancing carries with it the characteristic stamp of this reimagination of traditional dance. This group’s unique style is rooted in the creator’s personal research involving regional norms in the many states of the Mexican Republic. She studied not only traditional dances, but also the music, customs and typical costumes that were part of their storytelling. Tied so closely to rural and native life, the customs were in danger of dying out. Through the grace and elegance of the performers of Ballet Folklorico de México there is new life breathed into these precious customs of Mexico.
They have been attributed a new meaning, recreated for an audience eager to reconnect with the glory of Mexico’s meztiso heritage.
Today, her repertoire has become a classic, but one that is renewed, transformed and enriched over time. With more than 30 million viewers and innumerable awards, the artistic legacy of Amalia Hernández remains engrained in every ballet folklorico dance from past to present. Thanks to the more than 120 original choreographies and with great technical rigor, elaborate typical costumes and artists of first level, consolidating itself as the best company in the world of its kind.
Paraphrased from the Event Page at the Palacio de Bellas Artes website.
