The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Matt Lin Ballet Folklórico De México featured an 11-man Mariachi band among Mexican dance ensembles and other various talent.

Although Jorgensen Center for the Performins Arts usually has popular, big-name performers. like Regina Spektor or Gym Class Heroes that are more relatable to a younger, college aged audience, it is refreshing to see a different type of performance just through the raw intensity of dance and music be leaped upon the stage. Audiences were refreshed with the enriching, cultural experience that was Ballet Folklórico de México, a Mexican dance ensemble that sashayed through Jorgensen on Tuesday night.

Ballet Folklórico de México, also called Ballet Folklórico De México De Amalia Hernanadez, is the oldest and most prestigious dance company of Mexico. Founded by Mexican choreographer Amalia Hernandez in 1952 with only eight performers, the prolific dance ensemble has ballooned to 75 performers who in its 50 plus year history has performed in over 5,000 performances in over 80 countries around the world; The troupe spreads their proud and colorful Mexican heritage through traditional Mexican costumes, music and spectacular dance for the whole world to share.

"Ballet Folklórico was mentioned in my Spanish book in high school," said Grace Alpert, a 1st-semester theater studies major. "I'm a dancer so I'm interested in seeing this world renowned cultural experience."

Rod Rock, director of Jorgensen, began the night with the words "you are in far a wonderful evening," which was what the evening became. The beginning of the show, which included a song interlude of xylophones and flutes, seemed to immerse the audience into a different world. The audience was later blown away by the brightly-colored turquoise, lime green and pink costumes that perfectly complemented the intense feverish stomp-like dancing of the first segment, which was a dance of the pre-Hispanic peoples who danced in this manner to worship their gods.

The whole show was composed of 10 segments that showed off different aspects of Mexican culture and history through dance, music and costume. Some prominent segments of the first act were the "Revolution"-sported female dancers donned in bullets around their chests and rifles around their shoulders to represent the proud and brave soldaderas, or the women who supported and fought with their men during the Mexican Revolution. Additionally, "The Rope Dance" lassoed the audience with a male dancer magnificently lassoing around himself and the girl of his dreams. The female dancers in this segment also wore white flowing skirts with rainbow colored stripes that hypnotized the eyes as the dancers swirled them around. The first act ended with the "Tlacotalpan Festival" which featured an amazing harp solo from the three man mariachi band that played throughout the segments as well as performers with huge puppet masks that represented different cultural figures of Mexico.

Continued...

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