The Mexican Embassy and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of Guyana will host ‘An Evening of Mexican Folk Dance’ at the National Cultural Centre tonight.
At a press conference held on Thursday at the Embassy, Ambassador to Guyana Fernando Sandoval opened by stating that music and dance are very important aspects of many cultures. He said that the performances will be done by the members of the Folk Dance Ballet of Estado de Mexico who have performed various traditional Mexican dances in almost 30 countries around the world. He stated that they were a “extraordinary group of talented Mexicans who have the desire and the interest to share their art with the Guyanese people.”
Nayeli Cecena, Head of the Co-operation Affairs and Trade Promotion at the Mexican Embassay, spoke at the press conference stating that as well as the show tonight, the dance company is carrying out a 2-day workshop at the National School of Dance. They will be teaching pre-Hispanic dances, modern dances as well as traditional Mexican dances over a period of 8 hours.
The Folk Dance Ballet has been around for 24 years. It brings together people from different parts of Estado de Mexico and has been directed since its establishment, by Maria Dolores Olivier de Menchaca. She has been a choreographer for more than 30 years and has also choreographed all the dances in the upcoming performance.
Lennox Canterbury, Special Projects Officer at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports was also at the press conference.
He stated that the relationship between Guyana and Mexico is “strong and growing stronger” and he hopes that in the future, a team from Guyana will be going to Mexico to share their dances.
Maria Dolores Olivier de Menchaca, the director of the Fold Dance Ballet gave a peek into the programme of tonight’s show. She said that the show will open with Pre-Hispanic dances and close with the famous “La Bamba” with a few selections of traditional northern and southern Mexican dances. There are 9 dancers, ranging from ages 17-43, who will be performing 19 dances. At the press conference two of the dancers, Jorge and Wndolyn, performed a Charros dance.
The show starts at 8 pm. Admission is free.
