Ballet of Monterrey at the closing of the Nuevo León Festival in Los Pinos

Mexico City. The Monterrey Ballet (BM) was in charge of closing the Nuevo León festival in Los Pinos on Sunday night after three days of activities of all kinds, from the artistic to the gastronomic. The program conceived for the Los Pinos Cultural Complex included the participation of 950 Nuevo León artists and creators, said Melisa Segura, Secretary of Culture of the entity that celebrates 200 years of existence.

“This celebration, which took place throughout 2024, has allowed us to reflect on who we are in Nuevo León and how we fit into the national narrative. Being in Los Pinos was essential,” said the official in her closing message. Segura was accompanied by Yolanda Graza, president of the BM board of trustees.

The BM, which will celebrate its seven-year anniversary next year, offered a “mixed” program, representative of the group’s repertoire, its searches and interests. The performance began with a fragment of Carmen, by Robert Hill, a classic of the company. Hydra followed, by Robbie Farchild, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, which premiered just last March. The pas de deux from the work Maximiliano y Carlota was also presented; Brusco, created by the same choreographer Thiago Soares, and Divertimento, by Yosvani Ramos, director of BM. This “classical” work offers “a contemporary Balanchine style,” said Flor de Lis Castañeda, artistic coordinator.

The program was warmly applauded by the audience, who completely filled the available seating on the former helipad. In fact, there was so much enthusiasm for recognizing the dancers that the applause was spontaneous and perhaps more frequent than if the performance had taken place in a formal, closed theater.

Castañeda believes that globalization is also taking place in dance, in the sense that “there are no longer dancers who only do classical ballet. Nowadays they use contemporary, neoclassical and other styles of movement that they have learned from different cultures and countries, something that enriches their dance.” For the trained dancer, folkloric language is even explored by major companies such as the Paris Opera and the Royal Ballet. It is also present in Maximiliano y Carlota.

Performing a ballet show outdoors requires certain adaptations. The BM, however, has sought to “get away from the classical venues because we know that there is an audience beyond the theaters,” Castañeda said. “We want Mexico in general to be enriched by dance, not just by a sculpture seen on an avenue. That has been our impetus to take a little more risk and look for the conditions, for example, bringing our own floor and setting it up in that type of setting to be able to dance.” For the Los Pinos performance, the floor was provided by the National Dance Company, he told La Jornada.

For its performance in Mexico City, the BM traveled with 22 dancers, while its programs normally include between 45 and 50. The cast arrived at the engagement two days in advance so that the dancers could get used to the altitude. “We came with well-planned logistics so that they could test the stage, the space, see if it was humid, because everything affects the dancer’s body. We always try to safeguard them in the sense of, okay, be careful, try this here. If the floor is inclined, we bring a team to take care of it. If the kids feel safe, they can give a good performance.”

For more than three decades, BM has promoted and cultivated the art of dance in the north of the country. “We have educational seasons to which we invite children from schools to sow the seed of dance. Over time we have seen that we already have an audience, people already know what ballet is. However, it is an arduous task that continues year after year,” Castañeda concludes.