Dancer with tall headdress and rattles on her legs

The attire of the woman represented in this small sculpture is striking due to the role women seem to have played in the great festivals that were celebrated in these ancient times in the Valley of Mexico. The face presents the typical elements of tradition D, particularly the detailed pupil with a circular perforation in the center. However, what makes it unique is that it does not seem to be the character's face but rather a mask that is a little smaller than her own face hidden behind it which extends into a high oval headdress forcing the dancer to move with great skill to keep the headdress in balance while her body moved to the rhythm of the rattles tied in two rows on the edge of the pants she was wearing below her waist.

The bare and delicately modeled breasts leave no doubt about the gender of the dancer. The mask is outlined by a front band from which hang two long strips or strands that behind the earrings in the shape of a perforated disc. There are remnants of the facial paint consisting of a vertical band under each eye. The inside of the half-open mouth also has red paint which we can relate to the habit that women still had at the time of the Conquest of painting their teeth with cochineal. The sculptor seems to have also wanted to allude to the dental mutilation practiced by a minority of the population.

The resounding rhythms and solemn steps of this masked dancer with her tall finely-balanced headdress illustrate the kind of dances in which the numerous clay masks found in the burial offerings at Tlatilco may have been used.