Ballets without Ballerinas?

Abstract

The production of socially conscious dance associated with the Lázaro Cárdenas administration suffered a decline when his successor pointed Mexico in a more conservative direction in terms of economic and cultural policy. Ballet temporarily re-emerged as the favored form. Foreign ballet companies figured prominently in the programming decisions of the government’s Palacio de Bellas Arte and the Ballet Theatre’s production of a Mexican-themed ballet, Léonide Massine’s Don Domingo de Don Blas revived Mexican aspirations for increased international exposure through ballet. On a bet, the government even extended its support to the creation of the Ballet de la Ciudad de Mexico, led by Nellie and Gloria Campobello. While initially well-received, the company soon fell into disfavor; the critics could applaud the scenery, created by the likes of the company’s spokesman José Clemente Orozco, but not the dance for which it had been designed.