Voladores de Papantla

The dance of the flyers is a Mesoamerican ceremony in which five participants climb to the top of a 150 feet pole and then, suspended by ropes wound around the top of the pole, four of them fly through the air upside down as they are rotated and lowered to the ground. The fifth dancer remains at the top of the pole playing a drum and a flute. Flyers, known as voladores (flyers in Spanish), wear bright colored, traditional attire which highlights their dance (flying costumes originally were decorated with real feathers). This video was filmed at Playa del Carmen, México.