National Dance Company of Mexico (Compañía Nacional de Danza)

National Dance Company of Mexico is a major highlight of DANCE OPEN 2026.

How did a country shaped by the legacy of the Aztecs and Maya, and by colonial Baroque culture, develop such virtuosic neoclassical and contemporary ballet? The answer lays in history. Mexico’s first attempt to establish a national ballet company dates back to 1947. In 1975, the Mexican government signed a cooperation agreement with the Republic of Cuba in the field of ballet. The foundation was the curriculum of the Cuban Ballet School — the world-famous "Cuban miracle"* — created by Fernando, Alicia and Alberto Alonso, students of Yavorsky, Fedorova, Fokine, Balanchine and Viltsak.

From the synthesis of classical technique, modern dance and distinctive expressive movement emerged the unique style of the National Dance Company of Mexico — a style that continues to be refined from one production to the next.

The company’s Artistic Director, Erick Rodríguez, a graduate of Mexico’s National School of Classical and Contemporary Dance, shapes the repertoire through collaborations with leading figures of world choreography, including Nacho Duato (Spain), Itzik Galili (Israel/Netherlands), Edgar Zendejas (Mexico/Canada) and Ohad Naharin (Israel). The multinational ensemble, united by a shared artistic vision, still includes Cuban dancers today.

The company is a recipient of Mexico’s prestigious Palmas de Oro Theatre Award. Its tours across the United States, Europe and Latin America consistently earn critical acclaim for impeccable technique, dynamic energy and a thoroughly contemporary artistic language.

* A widely known expression coined by ballet critic Arnold Haskell