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How a girl from Mexico fought to dance in the clouds

Irene García Hernández defied gender norms to take part in a high risk aerial tradition called The Dance of the Flyers.

When Irene García Hernández was six years old, she looked up at the sky and saw men spinning around a pole on ropes, 36 metres above the ground. They were performing the ‘Danza de los Voladores’, or Dance of the Flyers, a tradition dating back thousands of years in Mexico which is typically the preserve of men. A rebel by nature, Irene was set on becoming a flyer too. She’d have to overcome family barriers, and her fears, to become one of the few Mexican women to dance in the sky.

Presenter and producer: Louise Morris
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: The Danza de los Voladores being performed in Cuetzalan del Progreso, Mexico. Credit: Gerardo Borbolla)

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 2 Oct 202302:32GMT

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  • Sat 30 Sep 202304:32GMT
  • Sat 30 Sep 202310:32GMT
  • Sat 30 Sep 202318:32GMT
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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected