The Art of Ballet Folklorico

Author: Liz Monroy

Ballet Folklorico, often shortened to folklorico, is both a performance genre and a living project of cultural preservation. It blends traditional regional dances from across Mexico with theatrical staging, trained choreography, and spectacular costumes to produce an immediately recognizable, deeply symbolic art form. At once local and national, folklorico celebrates the many people, histories and musical languages that make up Mexico's cultural mosaic.

Ballet Folklorico is a vibrant Mexican dance tradition that preserves regional history through colorful costumes, lively music, and expressive choreography. It blends Indigenous, Spanish, African, and European influences, while showcasing the unique styles of states like Jalisco, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Michoacan. Today, it remains a powerful symbol of cultural identity and pride both in Mexico and around the world.

Although it presents “folk” traditions, the particular spectacle called Ballet Folklorico is largely a 20th century creation. Dancer choreographer Amalia Hernandez is the single most important figure in giving folklorico its modern shape: in the 1950s she founded the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, formalized folk steps into stage choreography, and toured the world with lavish productions that framed regional dances as symbols of Mexican identity. Her work helped transform many local dances, some centuries old, some syncretic mixes from colonial times, into polished theatrical pieces. That said, the dances and music themselves come from diverse historical currents: pre-Hispanic ritual and movement, Spanish colonial forms(fandango, zapateado) , African rhythms brought by enslaved peoples , and later European influences (polkas, waltzes) introduced through migration and trade. Folklorico arranges these elements into programs that tell stories about courtship, harvest, religion, regional history, and resistance.

Folklorico functions on several levels. Locally . It keeps community dances, songs, and costume traditions alive, often taught in towns and families across generations. Nationally and internationally, staged folklorico became a key vehicle of cultural diplomacy and identity-building: governments, festivals , and schools use it to showcase what is presented as “Mexicanness.” More recently, folklorico has also been a platform for political expression, community pride, and the assertion of ethnic and regional identities within Mexico and in diasporic communities abroad. 

Costumes are central to folklorico's theatrical impact. Many regional outfits are literal visual shorthand for a place and its history:

Jalisco (ranchera) : The wide, full-circle skirts trimmed with brightly colored ribbons are engineered for dramatic whirl and lift, and dancers use the skirt as a visual extension of the choreography. Men wear the charro suit which has a fitted jacket and trousers with silver ornamentation and a wide sombrero evoking ranching and mariachi traditions.

Veracruz: Women wear delicate white lace dresses often with rebozos (shawls). The look references coastal, port-city gentility and the region's Spanish and Afro-Carribean influences. Dances from Veracruz favor refined footwork on a wooden tarima (platform) and often include playful couple work.

Isthmus / Tehuana (Oaxaca) : The Tehuana dress and ornate gold jewelry popularized internationally by Frida Kahlo are richly embroidered and tied to Zapotec identity and female centered commerce and ritual. Oaxaca more broadly is known for many distinct embroidered huipils and garments used in dances such as Flor de Pina. 

Michoacan, Chiapas, Yucatan, Guerrero, northern regions: Each has signature clothing, from simpler, more austere skirts and blouses (Michoacan) to heavy silver and women textiles (Chiapas/Oaxaca) to the sequined China Poblana look (Puebla/ Mexican popular imagery). Costumes are often handmade , requiring specialist skills in embroidery, ribbonwork, and tailoring. 

Folklorico draws on multiple folk music genres, the choreography is tightly bound to each musical form's pulse and instrumentation. 

Jarabe Tapatio / mariachi (Jalisco):  The iconic “Mexican hat dance” is played in mariachi ensembles (violin, vihuela, guitarron, sometimes trumpet), and its rhythms shapes spirited couple dances and zapateado (percussive footwork).

Son jarocho (veracruz) : With jaranas, requinto, harp, and percussive tarima, son jarocho combines spanish fandango, African and Indigenous elements, the call and response singing and improvisatory decimas make for festive community performance and a distinct dance vocabulary. 

Ballet folklorico is a vibrant, colorful, and multi voiced way to experience Mexico's layered histories. Its power comes from the balancing act between the rootedness of local traditions and the theatrical polish of stagecraft. Between preservation and reinvention. Whether seen in a small town or festival or a touring company’s world class production, folklorico keeps story telling alive through costume, music, and movement.