Colima Dancer in Costume with Mask

This figure represents a dancer in costume, including an elaborate mask and headdress. The dance was a crucial part of ritual in the ancient Americas, and pottery depicting costumed dancers is ubiquitous throughout Mesoamerica. This figurine is meant to be a permanent rendition of a performance. As well as a memorial, these intricate figures are also thought to be an educational tool to document the visual aspects of the dance. Themes of duality are inextricable from everyday life in ancient America. When the dancer dons the mask, they are transported to a liminal space, where they are both, yet neither, the dancer and the spiritual figure they are impersonating. This spirit-human hybrid is what the artwork strives to embody.
Special thanks Sydney Barofsky