THE DANCE OF THE TWELVE PRINCESSES

The Dream of the Dance of the Twelve Princesses is the great star of the exhibition. It is a large-format work (8 by 6 meters) inspired by the tale The Twelve Princesses, along with the works The Dressing Room of the Twelve Princesses and The Forest, which will be exhibited in the same room at the MACCO.

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A part of Alicia Christov's imaginary Joanna I is her love for literature. This work is inspired by the dream that Joanna might have had upon learning the story of The Twelve Princesses and admiring how they escaped at night, rebelling against their parents, their sexual freedom, and their ability to ignore the hundreds of men they killed to satisfy their desires. The tale, which ends with the princesses dancing happily ever after, without punishment, captured the artist's imagination when she was a child.

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In this large photo-painting, which took more than 8 months to create, Joanna floats in her dream of a wonderful and captivating dance. In the scene, full of characters and details, one can see many deceased people, Alicia's favorite friends and musicians, as well as artists and people who have collaborated in many ways on Juana's Odyssey and who have been included over time.

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In 2026, Alicia created a short film about the work with traditional animation and through AI; a walk through the details of the great party, where figures such as Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury, Chavela Vargas, Amy Winehouse, and Oaxacan characters such as Francisco Toledo and María Sabina appear. The soundtrack, created by Salvador Rodríguez Montiel, is a collage with fragments of music by The Doors, Queen, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Édith Piaf, and the traditional Oaxacan song El Feo, among others. With animation by Alejandro Voorduin and Indiana Christov, and AI direction by Alex Luke, the short film ends with the phrase: “Happiness consists of knowing how to celebrate. Start dancing.”