A rich cultural program has been planned in conjunction with the Pan American Games, with events covering genres to suit all tastes and ages.

The most informal setting in which to be entertained will undoubtably be the Fan Fest zone, situated on the city’s finest boulevard,  Avenida Chapultepec – often referred to as the Zona Rosa or Pink Zone.

The Fan Fest will encompass a six-block area, between Lopez Cotilla and Niños Heroes streets. Three performance stages will be set up for non-stop entertainment from countries participating in the games.  A great emphasis will be placed on the folklore of the nations involved. For example, from Canada come the Children of Takaya, a group that shares the rich family traditions of the song and dance of the Coast Salish Tsleil-Waututh people. Their songs speak to what is important and their stories speak to where they live and where they come from, on the Burrard Inlet, a coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia.

The Fan Fest area will be THE place for the public and athletes to mingle and for the spirit of fraternity to come to the fore. Television channels will be broadcasting live from the zone, and the many restaurants and cafes in the zone be busy serving up their fine fare.

Eagerly awaited among the many formal shows planned is a performance to be given by the Mariachi Monumental Panamericano, a band comprising 200 mariachi musicians from all over the state of Jalisco. They’ve been practicing for weeks for their free concert scheduled for the plaza in front of the Cabañas Cultural Institute on Sunday, October 22, 5 p.m.  An mind-boggling 1,200 couples will be dancing Mexican folk dances, including such popular tunes as “Las Alazanas,” “Guadalajara,” “El jarabe tapatío” and “El Son de la negra.”

As well as the Pan American mariachi group, a special symphony orchestra has also been formed for games, made up largely of talented young musicians from all around Jalisco.  They will perform along with the mariachis and the State Ballet Company, (known as the Compañía Estatal de Danza Clásica y Neoclásica de Jalisco) at the Cabañas Institute on Friday, October 21; Saturday, October 22 and Sunday, October 23.

AT GUACHIMONTONES

In a country as diverse and as steeped in history as Mexico, you are never too far away from wondrous cultural monuments.  Guachimontones, the state of Jalisco’s premier archaeological site, can be found near the town of Teuchitlán, about an hour west of Guadalajara. It’s well worth a visit and a new museum at the site is scheduled to open just before the start of the Pan American Games.

The site was the center of a thriving civilization around 2,000 years ago and has been expertly excavated. Its main features are an exceptional series of circular stepped pyramids.

During the games, a special presentation will take place at the site  on Sunday, October 30, at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.), featuring the State Dance Company, plus demonstrations by the famed Flyers of Papantla (Voladores de Papantla) – five men who climb a 30-meter pole from which four of them launch themselves tied with ropes to descend to the ground. A sight not to be missed!

AT THE DEGOLLADO THEATER

No one should visit Guadalajara without experiencing a performance at the majestic Degollado Theater in the city center. The theater is more than 120 years old and furnished in a style that harks back to a bygone age when people dressed up for a night out. Nowadays, of course, attire can be less formal, but it’s rare not to feel a emotional kick as one walks through its elegant foyer and into the stunning stalls area, to look up into the gods and see tier after tier of seats rising up to the rafters.  Here’s a sample what’s on offer at the theater during the games:

Ballet fans will delight in the dance gala “Estampas Panamericanas” with Elisa Carrillo and Mikhael Kaniskin, principal dancers at the Staatsballett Berlin, as well as Guadalajara’s very own superstar, Isaac Hernandez of the San Francisco Ballet, and other invited dancers from Latin America.  The show is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25, 8:30 p.m.  Tickets cost from 110 to 200 pesos.

Another show well worth taking in at the Degollado will be “Sonidos y Movimientos Panamericanos,” a multidisciplinary spectacular highlighting the folklore of Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States. There are two performances: on Sunday, October 16, 12:30 p.m. and Friday, October 21, 8 p.m.

And jazz fans should make a bee line for the Degollado on Tuesday, October 18, 8 p.m., when a host of local and international names will be performing. The acoustics are great and the atmosphere unbeatable.

ELSEWHERE

Presentations with a Guadalajara theme will be given by the acclaimed Ballet Folklorico de Amalia Hernandez from Mexico City.  This is one of Mexico’s finest folk dance troupes that performed at the 1968 Olympic Games opening ceremony.

You can see their stirring show featuring traditional dances and colorful costumes from all over Mexico at the Plaza Bicentenario de Zapopan on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15, 8 p.m. They are free of charge.

Also planned is a production of  “Carmen,” an opera and ballet gala with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra directed by American Leslie Dunner. The gala will also feature the Jalisco State Choir and the State Dance Company, and include choreography by Dalirys Valladares, one of Mexico’s leading ballerinas. The performance is scheduled for the Plaza de Toros Nuevo Progreso (bullring) on Thursday, October 20, 8 p.m. TBC.

ART

The Cabañas Institute will be showing works from the Coleccion Jumex, one of the nation’s largest private collections of contemporary art.

The Jumex Foundation (a philanthropic offshoot of the well-known juice company) has gathered around 2,000 works (including conceptual and minimalist pieces) over the past decade, which are kept in a 1,400-square-foot gallery in the capital. They include emblematic examples from the history of contemporary art, as well as the work of artists who have favored the development of the Latin American scene. In addition to its curatorial labors, the Foundation is permanently involved in lending programs with institutions around the world.

It supports young artists by commissioning projects and says its mission is to promote the conservation, production, investigation and construction of meaning of contemporary art produced in Mexico and abroad. Visitors to the Games will be privileged at the chance to see some of the finest examples of contemporary art first-hand.