The Folkloric Ballet seeks to attract new audiences with Christmas in Mexico

More than 100 dancers and musicians, a 26-voice choir and the original costumes conceived by the Mexican dancer and choreographer Amalia Hernández (1917-2000) activate a stage ritual that, for almost two decades, has become a holiday reference for audiences of all ages.

Christmas in Mexicoin the Chapultepec Castle, translates deeply rooted traditions into a scenic language that dialogues with generations formed in different contexts.

For the Ballet Folklorico de México, this production became a priority project over time. Salvador López López, director of the company and grandson of its founder, remembers that the arrival at this venue occurred circumstantially, during the closure of the Palace of Fine Arts for remodeling, but it soon revealed its symbolic and artistic power.

“The castle began to coexist with the show in a different way; it became part of the scenery and that gave it a very special magic,” he explained in an interview with The Day.

The three-act structure articulates a broad reading of Christmas from Mexican popular culture. The tour begins with the Annunciation and the formation of a living nativity scene, accompanied by shepherdesses and Christmas carols that refer to the 18th and 19th centuries.

Later, the Three Wise Men offer their gifts through dances from different regions of the country, such as Guerrero, Chiapas (with pieces that had not been presented in years), Oaxaca and Veracruz.

The closing calls for a traditional inn in which the pilgrims appear, the lit candles as a symbolic guide and the piñata, understood not only as a game, but as a representation of the seven deadly sins and the collective force that defeats them.

Beyond the scenic display, the project has a pedagogical and cultural transmission vocation. Salvador López stressed that one of the biggest challenges is reaching new audiences, particularly children and young people who may have never had contact with the Folkloric Ballet.

“These experiences strengthen the bond of new audiences with the company. It is a grain of sand so that traditions are not lost that today are diluted in the dynamics of information and in the changes of daily life.”

The music, almost all performed live, reinforces that sensory and emotional link with the celebrations of different periods and regions.

The balance between fidelity and updating is another of the axes of the assembly. For the director, no scenic proposal can remain static. Some dances are preserved intact, while others are adapted to the rules of the contemporary stage, to the times and logic of an open-air show.

“It’s about extracting the essential and presenting it in an attractive way, like opera or classical dance does,” said López. In that sense, the work incorporates new visual elements this year, such as the video mappingwhich dialogue with the architecture without blurring the root of the proposal.

Presenting this work in a heritage site also implies taking risks. The functions depend on the climate and the conditions of an open space, but that same commitment expands the cultural scope of the project.

“The venue is a living space that brings diverse audiences closer to an emblematic place and, at the same time, reinforces the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage. Not everything is pop or rock; these expressions can also be very attractive,” López concluded.

With 65 years of permanent performances at the Palace of Fine Arts and more than 45 million spectators in its history, the Ballet Folklorico de México reaffirms with this production its role as custodian and disseminator of the country’s dances.

Christmas in Mexico It will have performances from December 25 to January 10, at 7 p.m., at the Chapultepec Castle.