![Ballet Folklorico de Mexico-1963 program](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Ballet_Folklorico_de_Mexico-1963_program.jpg)
Amalia Hernández Navarro (September 19, 1917 – November 4, 2000) was a Mexican ballet
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
and founder of the world-renowned
Ballet Folklórico de México
Ballet Folklórico de México is a Mexican folkloric ensemble in Mexico City. For six decades it has presented dances in costumes that reflect the traditional culture of Mexico. The ensemble has appeared under the name ''Ballet Folklórico de Mé ...
.
Hernández was born to the military officer and politician Lamberto Hernández and his wife Amalia Navarro.
She was a pioneer in developing
Baile Folklorico
Baile folklórico, "folkloric dance" in Spanish, also known as ballet folklórico, is a collective term for traditional cultural dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics – pointed toes, exaggerated movements, highly ...
, and in 1952, Hernández founded the Mexican Folkloric Ballet with only 8 dancers. By 1959, the ensemble had grown to 60 performers. It was commissioned to represent Mexico at the
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois, in 1959. Hernández created over 60 choreographies in her lifetime.
Since 1960, Hernández's Ballet Folklórico de México has performed without interruption Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings at the
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
Additionally, she founded the Folkloric Ballet School in Mexico City. Her brother, architect
Agustín Hernández Navarro, designed the building in 1968.
Biography
Born in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on September 19, 1917, Amalia Hernández grew up in a wealthy home as her father was a prominent businessman with military and political involvement. She has been known to credit her mother for her interest in the arts, explaining a childhood full of art, singing, and music lessons. Her parents encouraged her interest in dance, her father going so far as to build a studio in their home. Her father was quoted as saying, “... there is no other alternative but to accept the career Amalia was born to have”.
At the age of 17, she entered the National School of Dance directed by
Nellie Campobello
Nellie (or ''Nelly'') Francisca Ernestina Campobello Luna (November 7, 1900 – July 9, 1986) was a Mexican writer, notable for having written one of the few chronicles of the Mexican Revolution from a woman's perspective: '' Cartucho'', which ...
, which marked the beginning of Amalia’s serious involvement in dance. After some conflicts with the director of the school, however, Hernández dropped out and consequently married, effectively putting her career on hold for a short while. Ultimately, the call of dance was too strong, for she began to work at the Fine Arts National Institute as a teacher and choreographer of modern dance.
She was unsatisfied and unfulfilled with her dancing, however, unable to connect with modern and European dance: “her cross-breed feeling, her contemporary mexicanism, vibrated with the half-breed’s resonance, already defined and on the surface of the colorful México.” She turned to traditional, cultural dances of Mexico, and thus began her involvement with baile folklorico.
Hernández died on November 4, 2000 in Mexico City, aged 83.
Ballet Folklorico de Mexico
Hernández founded the dance company
Ballet Folklórico de México
Ballet Folklórico de México is a Mexican folkloric ensemble in Mexico City. For six decades it has presented dances in costumes that reflect the traditional culture of Mexico. The ensemble has appeared under the name ''Ballet Folklórico de Mé ...
in 1952, choosing to branch out with her experience and follow her own specific creative path. The group was small, consisting of only eight members in the beginning, and for their debut, Hernández presented the now-famous Melodies of Michoacan. In 1954, the chance to perform on television presented itself in the form of the Funcion de Gala program.
This is when the momentum began to truly pick up, the group performing a new dance every weekly broadcast. Success was garnered, and Hernández not only became director; the group expanded to twenty members by the end of the 67 episode run. With that small amount of success came recognition, and Hernández’s company gained the attention of the department of tourism. The government endorsed her group, aiding her in touring North America in representation of Mexico, the results absolutely positive. By 1959, the group had grown to sixty members and was commissioned to participate in the
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
in Chicago on behalf of Mexico.
Being catapulted onto the national stage, Hernández and the company only worked harder, creating 40 different dances in the 1960s alone. Following from there, her prominence as a cultural icon was only cemented further, as she went to choreograph about 70 dances, with performances around the world. In fact, the company has “performed more than 15,000 times for a total audience number of more than 22 million people”, one of those performances being for
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
during his presidency.
Cultural significance and tribute
Hernández was always vocal about her love for her native Mexico, but she was careful to place significance upon
Mesoamerican culture
This list of pre-Columbian cultures includes those civilizations and cultures of the Americas which flourished prior to the European colonization of the Americas.
Cultural characteristics
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established permanent o ...
s, highlighting them when possible through her dancing. Her goal was to convey the diversity of Mexico, while also exploring pre-Columbian culture and traditions. She became a symbol for
Mexicanidad, her pursuit of indigenous inclusionary dance an indication of her dedication to the presentation of a realistic Mexican identity (i.e. not only Western-influenced).
Hernández’s love of indigeneity has also cemented the indigenous image of Mexico around the world, a direct result of the company’s world-wide presence. This has helped recognize the unique Mexican culture, as well as promote a sense of national pride in regards to
folklorico dancing. Additionally, she did not shy away from regional differences, her dances focusing on specific geographical areas and cultural areas in Mexico in order to provide a diverse outlook of Mexico. For example, her most famous dances (Melodies of Michoacan, Deer Dance, Jalisco, Fandangos) all spotlight certain areas of Mexico, along with their cultural traditions.
On September 19, 2017, a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
was released to honor Hernández’s 100th birthday.
See also
*
Baile Folklorico
Baile folklórico, "folkloric dance" in Spanish, also known as ballet folklórico, is a collective term for traditional cultural dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics – pointed toes, exaggerated movements, highly ...
*
Culture of Mexico
Mexican culture is primarily influenced by its Indigenous inhabitants and the culture of Spanish culture, Spain. Mexican culture is described as the 'child' of both western and native American civilizations. Other minor influences include those ...
*
Ballet Folklorico de Mexico
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
Footnotes
External links
Official website of her ensembleBiography, including a photoAmalia Hernandez’s 100th Birthday
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Amalia
Mexican choreographers
Mexican ballerinas
People from Mexico City
1917 births
2000 deaths