The group that many hail as Mexico’s best folk dancers is set to kick off its 2012 summer season, back in the bosom of Guadalajara’s ornate and acoustically renowned Teatro Degollado.
“We have eight new dancers this year — a total of 28 — plus 12 pairs of singers and a different band of 12 musicians. Our musicians do mariachi, plus new songs from the Yucatan, danzon and other regional numbers,” said Director Carlos Ochoa, who has led the Ballet Folclorico de la Universidad de Guadalajara for 34 of its 46 years of existence.
The Ballet will perform every Sunday morning during July and August at 10 a.m. in the Teatro Degollado.
Some call the Ballet Folclorico the best in Mexico and, indeed, Ochoa and the others have traveled to 30 countries over the years, including Japan, India and Australia.
But closer to home, Ochoa says everyone is happy that they are now performing in the Teatro Degollado in the historic city center, after being relegated to the Teatro Diana for a time because of a change in the governing political party. Ochoa said that Teatro Diana simply did not have the draw of Teatro Degollado, especially among tourists, who are generally very well represented in the audience during the Ballet’s summer season.
The Ballet is maintaining its tradition of investigating regional dances throughout Mexico and either buying authentic costumes in those regions or buying fabric there and bringing it back to Guadalajara to sew into the wildly colorful confections that are changed in breathtakingly short lapses of time between dances.
Another novel addition to the 2012 repertoire is a dance based on the famous Romeria (pilgrimage procession) de la Virgen de Zapopan, which takes place in the metropolitan area every October.
Ochoa says the dancers, most of whom are professionals between the ages of 16 and 30-something, practice every day year round for two hours, even though their primary season is during the summer.
He cautions against showing up at the box office to buy unreserved tickets immediately before the performance, saying that tickets are sometimes sold out.
Tickets cost 80 to 350 pesos (with 15 percent discounts to teachers, students and seniors and 25 percent to groups of more than 15 people) available at Ticketmaster (33-3818-3800, www.ticketmaster.com.mx) or at the box office of Teatro Degollado, in Guadalajara’s city center two blocks behind the main cathedral. Box office: (33) 3614-4773, open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily including Sundays. Websites: www.cultura.udg.mx or http://balletfolcloricoudg.com/main.php.