I first met Monique Michel, the artistic director of Ballet Folklórico México Lindo, in March of 2024, hoping to feature the group on social media during Boise’s Treefort Music Festival.
Shortly after arriving at her studio for our first interview, I realized the story had potential beyond social media. Small things like her “BAILAME” license plate (“Dance with me”); her many tattoos, of ballet slippers and calaveras (sugar skulls); and her studio, littered with photos of her dancers, all revealed her overwhelming passion for her culture and craft.
Michel graciously sat down with me for over an hour, recounting the story of her company, explaining the history and nuance of Mexican folk dancing, and vulnerably expressing her open-door teaching philosophy. I realized that her passion is infectious and could undoubtedly spread to anyone who has the pleasure of hearing her story. Newly infected, I spent the spring and summer following the group all over the Treasure Valley to capture their talents on video.
The production process wasn’t devoid of challenges. Most notably, I filmed almost the entire piece by myself. Each shoot became its own choreographed dance, capturing wide shots of the dancers and crowd, capturing close-ups of shoes and faces, then repeating that process for each song. By the end of the summer, I’d become more familiar with the dances, but at the beginning, a large portion of my hard drive was filled with chaotic videos panning from floor to ceiling, left to right, frantically attempting to capture the dancers’ impossibly fast yet skillful movements.
As a producer and writer, authenticity was at the forefront of my mind. This meant listening more than asking questions, especially in moments when the cameras were off. And, as with any successful documentary project, I entered each shoot with curiosity and left with more notes than I could fit in my notebook.
Having grown up in Southern Arizona, just an hour from the Mexican border, I’m familiar with folklórico and its music. And having been raised by a Venezuelan mother, the Spanish language was never foreign to me. In fact, as a non-Mexican person, Spanish has always been my gateway to exploring Mexican culture and connecting with Mexican people in my hometown.
However, it wasn’t until making this documentary that I realized folklórico is more than just a genre of dance. For centuries, Mexican folklórico dancing has been a central part of Mexican culture, synthesizing elements of African, European, and indigenous cultures to become what it is today. Many of Mexico’s 31 states have their own folklórico dances, the music and costuming of which tell the story of each unique region.
My fundamental inspiration for this video came from the realization that folklórico is especially equipped, more than other art forms, to introduce Mexican culture and history to unfamiliar Idahoans because of its nature as a storytelling medium, born from the intercultural exchange of postcolonial Mexico.
On the surface, BFML is a window into the vibrant Mexican heritage that exists throughout Idaho and the United States. But after spending months shadowing Monique’s group and meeting its dancers, I’ve realized that their story is about more than just dance. Ballet Folklórico México Lindo is a space for connection and belonging, where dancers use their talents to embrace their shared Mexican identity in a state where such connection is particularly difficult to find.
