Mexican Retablo is one of many works Sokolow choreographed on Mexican themes. The first part of the piece shows "Our Lady" standing on a pedestal, as depicted in native paintings, while the second shows a supplicant kneeling emotionally in front of the Virgin.

Notes: Description from Margaret Lloyd, The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance, cited in Larry Warren, Anna Sokolow: The Rebellious Spirit (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998), 80.