Danza de los Viejitos

The Danza de los Viejitos is Michoacan's signature and one of Mexico's oldest surviving dances - Purepecha in origin, with roots read back to pre-Hispanic ceremonies for the old god of fire, later sharpened into gentle mockery of Spanish elders. The costume is fixed: a wooden or paste mask with pink cheeks, a toothy grin and deep-carved wrinkles, white cotton clothes, an embroidered sarape over the shoulder, a beribboned straw sombrero and a wooden cane. The comedy is in the contrast: dancers enter shuffling, trembling and leaning on their sticks, collapsing into each other and coughing - and then the violin, guitar and jarana strike up and the "old men" break into a hammering zapateado, canes rapping the boards, sombrero ribbons flying, before subsiding back into decrepitude to howls from the audience. Boys learn it in the lake villages; teams perform for Christmas, Candelaria, Night of the Dead and any tourist evening at Patzcuaro's hotels. On a good night, with a good group, it is both hilarious and technically ferocious.

The main sights

• The masks - grinning pink-cheeked old faces in carved wood.
• The shuffle - the collapse-and-cough comedy opening.
• The zapateado - hammering footwork that ends the joke.
• The trio - violin, guitar and jarana driving it.

When to go

Christmas week, Candelaria in February and the Night of the Dead season bring the fullest performances; Patzcuaro's plaza and hotel evenings carry it year-round.

Before you go

Street and hotel versions vary from superb to perfunctory - village fiesta troupes are the real thing. Tips are the street dancers' pay. Photography is welcomed; a coin in the hat is the courtesy.

Nearby

Patzcuaro's plazas, Janitzio's island and Tzintzuntzan's yacatas frame the lake circuit where the dance lives.