Latin Ballet of Virginia Presents…
Enigmas de Nuestra Tierra

 Artistic Director: Ana Ines King
Lighting Designer: Steve Koehler 

ENIGMAS de Nuestra Tierra, a dance-theatre work, based on the history and legends of the Yucatan Peninsula, and its impressive culture, being the Mayan Empire, one of the wisest and most extraordinary cultures in the history of humanity.

ENIGMAS de Nuestra Tierra shows the valuable contribution of Malinalli, "La Malinche", considered the "First Mother of Mexico", translator and advisor to Hernán Cortes during the Spanish conquest. The wonderful legend of the goddess Ixchel, from whom according to the Mayan culture the sun, the moon and the stars appeared. After the conquest and throughout the centuries, the indigenous communities were relegated, humiliated and exploited. ENIGMAS de Nuestra Tierra tells the myth of "The Talking Cross" with which the Mayans were deceived and converted to Catholicism during the terrible "War of the Castes" that marked in 1847, an imminent fight between Mayans and whites that reigned blood on the Yucatan state for more than 50 years.

Spain and The New World 

Malinalli, La Llorona (The Weeping Woman)

Legend tells that Mallinali, “La Llorona,” was a Native princess from the Aztec empire who suffered the terrible condition of slavery during the Spanish conquest. She was the slave, translator and lover of Hernán Cortés, the cruel conquistador of Mexico. The historical figure of Malinalli has been intermixed with Aztec legends (such as La Llorona, the woman who weeps for her lost children). She is considered “The First Mother of Mexico” and the quintessential victim from the Conquest of the New World.

 The Cult of the Talking Cross

The Talking Cross has its origin during the Caste War. A few years after starting the rebellion of the Caste War in the middle of the last century, a cross carved in mahogany of only 7 and 10 centimeters was founded emerging from a small cenote, and was used to try to convert the Mayan to Catholicism, albeit in an unorthodox way.

 The War of the Castes

In 1847 the Caste War began, a struggle between Mayans and whites that dyed the state of Yucatán with blood for more than 50 years.

The situation in which the Mayans found themselves was increasingly unbearable. They lived dominated by a semi-slave system in which the indigenous people had been violently deprived of their own lands. They were forced to work long hours in exchange for a shack in precarious conditions and a meager wage that they could only change in shops. They were also required to pay dues to the church for religious ceremonies such as baptisms and masses. Despite everything, they had no rights as citizens.

 The Powers of the Goddess Ixchel

In Maya mythology, Ixchel is the goddess of love, fertility, the waters, justice, the moon, the jungle and medicine. She is the wife of the solar god. In hieroglyphic texts her name is Chak Chel (large rainbow), in Chilam Balam her name is Ix Chel - rainbow woman.

Performing Artists

Hank Bamberger as Hernan Cortes • Marisol Cristina Betancourt Sotolongo as Malinalli, La Llorona • Adelle Broom as goddess Itchell and the Power of Earth and Jungle

Glen Lewis and Jay Williams as the Mayan Powers, the Rainbow and the Justice

Ana Ines King, Maya Koehn- Wu, Caroline Bell and Marisol Betancourt as Spain, the Motherland
Ana Ines King as the Moon and the Power of Waters