In Philadelphia, an ofrenda honors the founder of Ballet Folklórico de México
Two artists spent a week building a tribute to Amalia Hernández for the Penn Museum’s 15th annual Día de los Muertos celebration.
For one week, two artists built an altar for a dancer.
The Penn Museum’s 15th annual CultureFest! Día de los Muertos, presented with the Mexican Cultural Center of Philadelphia, was set for Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its centerpiece was an ofrenda, “When Spirits Dance: A Tribute to Amalia Hernández,” hand-crafted by Pamela Plata and Juanita Aguilar.
Hernández, born in Mexico City in 1917, founded Ballet Folklórico de México in 1952 with eight dancers. Today the company travels with more than 50 members.
The program blended memory and play: bilingual storytelling of “La Catrina Monarca: El Vuelo Sagrado de las Almas/A Sacred Flight,” a performance by Danza Tonantzin, an artisan market, and pan de muerto with Mexican hot chocolate at 3:15 p.m. Winners of a community altar contest were to be announced at 3:30 p.m.
Matt Cárdenas, the Mexican Cultural Center’s director of programs, called Día de los Muertos “such a beautiful expression of Mexican culture, bringing together family, memory, art, and tradition.” The center’s mission is to promote understanding of Mexico’s cultural and artistic diversity and its influence in Greater Philadelphia. Activities were included with museum admission, $23 for adults.
The tribute arrives as the company prepares a 75th anniversary tour of 24 U.S. cities, from Jan. 30 in Northridge, California, to March 23 in Austin, Texas, according to Mexico News Daily. In Philadelphia, a dancer’s legacy took the center of a museum’s remembrance of the dead.
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