Danza de los Voladores de Papantla

This 1968 news footage for San Antonio’s WOAI-TV captures three Indigenous dancers blessing the site where they will later perform the Danza de los Voladores de Papantla, or Dance of Papantla’s Flyers, at HemisFair in San Antonio. Traditionally performed by the Totonac and Olmeca Indians in Mexico as an act of worship, the Danza is a ritualistic dance in which four men tied to ropes revolve around a 114-foot pole. The show was one of the main highlights at the 1968 World’s Fair.