The Ballet Folklorico is theatrical work that combines the classic art of ballet with the legends and customs of a people, in order to pay homage to the past and create pride in the future.

In ancient Mexico, dances were performed during festivals and were meant to entertain the gods. Today’s ballets represent both the struggle and the daily joys of Mexicans over the centuries. Many groups, in both Mexico and the United States, continue to perform these dances as a way to honor their culture and heritage.

Michoacán has one of the richest folkloric traditions of any of the states in Mexico. It produces treasures of folk music and dance, ceramics, weavings, wood carving, copper, and lacquer work. Therefore, it is not surprising that the state also offers a unique repertory of ancient song and dance music.

This ballet begins with a village fiesta where the dances are performed in front of a flower arch, a common decoration for such celebrations. The brief but showy selection of dances starts with the three “rattle” dances, which reveal their Indo-Spanish origin through the constant use of the rattle, an instrument almost invariably used in the indigenous culture to mark the rhythms of all dances. These dances are followed by the jarabes, classic examples of the style that has developed in different regions of Mexico, with rapid steps full of gaiety and optimism.

This is the first ballet folklórico that Amalia Hernández composed and the one she preserved as a symbol of her love of Mexico and its youth; here Hernández preserved her own youth forever in the form of dance.