The Ballet Moderno de Mexico was established in 1952 by the internationally acclaimed dancer Amalia Hernandez and renamed in 1959 the The Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.
The festival shown early in the film is the Danza de los Voladores de Papantla in Veracruz, Mexico. Five voladores ('birdmen') ascend a pole as high as 45m. While one of them remains at the top playing a drum and a flute the four others, representing the Gods of Sun, Wind, Earth and Water, gradually descend by swinging around the pole on ropes tied to their ankles which unwind from the pole as they go round.