Ensamble de Marimbas y Ballet Folklórico

Link to pics/videos of Marimba Concert
Link to pics/videos of Ballet

During the month of February there has been an international festival, Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz , in La Antigua Guatemala (Antigua). The program includes theater, dance, ballet, concerts, opera, art and much more. The city is absolutely crowded each weekend. One of the CASAS volunteers, who did not know about the festival, went to Antigua a week ago and could not find a hotel room. Antigua is about 30 min from my home, so it is easy for us to quickly drive there on a Sunday afternoon. We attended two events: two weeks ago a marimba concert, and today a ballet.

Marimba music is very traditional in Guatemala, and the concert drew a large crowd. It was in Parque Central, a very beautiful plaza in the center of Antigua. There were four marimba groups; each group had about 8 marimba players. They all played together, so the music was an amazing blend of sound from 30+ marimba players. The concert went on for two hours straight - no intermission! Click this link for pictures and videos of the concert .

Today we attended a modern ballet with a traditional folklore theme. On our way to the ballet we stopped at a cathedral in San Felipede Jesus, a small town outside Antigua. The cathedral has several carved images of Jesus and is very well known as a place to come and pray for miracles. Jose Luis' father prayed for a miracle at this church in the 1920s and paid to have a plaque of gratitude placed on a wall of the cathedral. We saw the plaque, but Jose Luis does not know what his father prayed for or what miracle he might have experienced.

After lunch in a small traditional restaurant, we went to the ballet. The characters portrayed in the ballet included mythical beings, animals, and a variety of folkloric and historical characters. I was not able to follow everything, but did not feel so badly when Jose Luis and Olga said they were not familiar with all that was portrayed. There was a mix of Mayan and Christian religious themes, the devil with an apple, Spanish conquistadors, and African, Mayan and Spaniard characters. The pictures at this link will provide a much better description than I can give in text. Of course, there was a marimba band to accompany the ballet.