Dance of the Viejitos (Michoacan)

When we go to the Ballet Folklorico, one of the more popular and most famous dances of Michoacan is El Baile de Los Viejitos or Dance of the Old Men.

This was a chance to mock the Spanish ruling class by doing a dance hunched over like old men with canes. They would wear a mask looking like an old European (pink face with white hair). The masks are usually gap-toothed and the dances mimic old men with hunched backs and walking canes. This stance is alternated with bouts of lively leaping and dancing, in a "world turned upside down" type of comedic presentation. The dancers leap about with little grace, which gives rise to much laughter at their manner.


For more pictures of the Ballet Folklorico, click here and then click on the link for "At Guadalajara"