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Xiutla Ballet: Dancistic Representative of Puerto Vallarta
Interview with Professor Enrique Barrios By Adriano Herrera • Translation by Eduardo Rincón-Gallardo – June 2008
In the field of folkloric dancing, Puerto Vallarta has the Xiutla Ballet as its representative in charge of taking our artistic manifestations to international levels.
With a history of over one thousand presentations, the Xiutla Ballet has always been Puerto Vallarta’s calling card opening doors to new opportunities, it furthers friendship liaisons and complies with the fulfillment of an ambassador’s role, filling with intense emotions every place where it performs. There is no other icon now in Puerto Vallarta that impresses the hearts of other peoples so dramatically as our Xiutla Ballet does.
Of course the Xiutla Ballet also had its origins, and nothing of what we see today could have been made possible if someone had not dared to dream, or more so, to embark on such an exciting adventure contributing to place Puerto Vallarta in a privileged position through folkloric dance, something that as a matter of fact, very few related to Puerto Vallarta. Such a daring person, to whom the Xiutla Ballet owes its conception, is Professor Enrique Barrios, its founder and director.
With the purpose of recognizing the transcendental work the Xiutla Ballet performs, I asked the professor for the opportunity of interviewing him, I will hereby share with you the result of our conversation:
Q: Professor Enrique Barrios… Whose idea was it to form the Ballet Xiutla and when was the idea born?
A: The idea of the Xiutla Ballet was born in my mind. Having started to dance when I was twelve, I have lived a dance-immersed life for over fifty-seven years; at thirty I considered I should not continue performing on stage and I decided then to dedicate to teaching. In 1990 I arrive in Puerto Vallarta. After three sabbatical years a dancing inquietude in my mind and heart pushes me to form a group. Back in those days there were no other artistic manifestations besides visual and plastic arts, much less something representative of PV. Within this context, with the decided, definite and loving support of Mrs. Chela Yerena, during the interim term of her brother, Mr. Rafael Yerena Zambrano as city mayor, I decide to form the Xiutla Ballet on July 27, 1994.
Xiutla is a náhuatl voice meaning “place of herbs or bushes” pre-hispanic name of the valley where Puerto Vallarta is located. Let me put it this way: this valley was first called “Xiutla”, then it was named “Las Peñas de Santa María Guadalupe”, later just “Las Peñas”; and from 1918, when the city status is raised to municipality, it is called Municipio de Puerto Vallarta, honoring the Jalisco ex-governor Ignacio Luis Vallarta.
Q: What happened between the moment of birth of the idea and the first presentation of the ballet?
A:Beautiful and emotional things happened; children came to the ballet in an environment of curiosity. When DIF’s [Departamento de Integración Familiar] convocation came out calling to form the first children’s folkloric group, people were interested and approached us, we had approximately one hundred children the first afternoon of registry, we ended up with thirty to begin with.
As a graduate of the National Dancing Academy of the National Fine Arts Institute (INBA, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes], I had the technique to form the ballet, though I realized that if I taught technique to the children they would not stay on; I then had to seize them with the enchantment of dance; the first thing I did was an imitation activity ―children are imitators par excellence― with which I could captivate their attention and interest, and complete “Chiapas”, the first dancistic cadre, with which we started to perform.
Q: What was the historic and social context in Puerto Vallarta between the primary idea and the first presentation?
A:The primary idea was to create a space where the children of Vallarta could get acquainted with this wonderful world, more than dancing it is our popular art; which you know, is shown through various disciplines. Mexican costumes, for instance, are something extraordinary and outstanding and I am sure there is no other country in the world with our folkloric wealth. Oaxaca for instance, has over two hundred different costumes used in at least one hundred dances, it is something impressive!
What was happening in Puerto Vallarta was, on one side; a cultural policy in gestation, it was only beginning thanks to the government and those few interested in culture; while on the other side ―considering that only ten percent of those who inhabit Puerto Vallarta are vallartenses― in those days there was a cultural movement generated by people coming from the outside. There was an exodus of different races and cultures into Puerto Vallarta. With this, a new artistic universe formed by different cultures started to take shape; these cultures form the present population of our port. More than fifteen years have passed by and I can say that there is a new generation of Vallartenses of a mixed race and we are focused on their youth.
The Xiutla Ballet performs for the first time at the large patio of Señor Chuy’s restaurant, located in the neighborhood of “Paso Ancho”, in December 1994. My estimate is that four generations have passed by. We have visited the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Argentina, Chile and China. We presently have eighteen national and three foreign representations.
Q: Which do you believe has been Xiutla Ballet’s most significant performance?
A:There have been several, mainly those in other countries where the public’s response has been overwhelming. To represent Mexico away from home is simply wonderful and those performances feed my spirit and my desire to go on living, as well as to do many more things in a very special way.
For many reasons our thousandth performance at “Los Arcos” open air theater was also quite significant.
Q: Do you wish to emphasize some specific aspect of your duties as founder and director of the Xiutla Ballet?
A:My interest is not purely to have children dance and make a bright performance; with our work my purpose is to contribute to the children’s inner growth and their achievement of a different concept of life. My authentic interest is to nourish children with other things that favor their lives.
The Xiutla Ballet has seen over three hundred and fifty participants pass by, we presently have two hundred and fifty who, thanks to dancing, have stayed away from the streets and from other things that could have had a negative effect on them.
Professor, thank you very much for the opportunity of interviewing you and for sharing with us a little bit of the origins of the Xiutla Ballet and what it means to you. Email to a friend
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What was happening in Puerto Vallarta was, on one side; a cultural policy in gestation, it was only beginning thanks to the government and those few interested in culture; while on the other side ―considering that only ten percent of those who inhabit Puerto Vallarta are vallartenses― in those days there was a cultural movement generated by people coming from the outside. There was an exodus of different races and cultures into Puerto Vallarta. With this, a new artistic universe formed by different cultures started to take shape; these cultures form the present population of our port. More than fifteen years have passed by and I can say that there is a new generation of Vallartenses of a mixed race and we are focused on their youth. 
Q: Do you wish to emphasize some specific aspect of your duties as founder and director of the Xiutla Ballet?