In Meso-America, dancers have a purpose — they tell stories.  Dancers have been used by the Aztecs, Maya, Mixtec, and Zapotec to teach. When they perform, a story is read while the movements of the dancers tell of the events of the tale. The dance goes on for hours because it is a long story.

In the Maya area, the Holmul Dancers were discovered on the vases excavated at the site of Holmul. The racks worn on the backs of the dancers depicted are made of lightweight materials, probably of feathers and bamboo. Most of the forms found on the backrack are symbols acquired over the years and used by those who drew the codices. (You can view an image of a Holmul Dancer here.)

Each dancer has a backrack (you can see one in the image linked above). When viewing the vases excavated at Holmul, the dancers appear all around the vase surface, as if they are dancing in the sky that encircles the world. The artwork appears to say that it was a dance about a historical sky event.

Mayan scholar Linda Schele had a drawing of the Holmul Dancer which clearly showed sky bands over and under a bird who spewed fire (symbolized by feathers). Rat bones were also used as symbols of land elements. Some of Linda Schele’s Holmul Dancer drawings can be seen here.

 

(Adapted from source)