Venado Dance

One of the most representative dances of the state and pride of all its people, is «La Danza del Venado» or The Dance of the Deer, created by the Yaqui tribe which inhabits the southern part of the state, and also known as the Mazoyiwa dance. The grandiosity of this cultural expression comes from its significance, as for the Yaqui it represents nothing else than the human ideal, since the dancer is a man chosen while being still a child to play that role specifically, and which implies a long preparationin every detail aiming at a well-fed, athletic and slender human male capable of performing the gracious and delicate movements proper of deer. As such, the perfect performance of a deer-man struggling for dear life as it is fatally wounded by an arrow, results in a spectacular scene along the rhythm of exotic instruments like a «water drum» also known as the bueja, the reed, and the hirukiam or wooden stick rubs.