Getting the (dance) Party Started

One of the many wonderful things Latin America is known for around the world is its music and dance. A little cliched maybe, but think of all the dances and musicians that have come from this part of the world. Merengue, Bachata, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Tengo, Samba, Mambo, the list of dances goes on.

Typical Beloit dance party

I don't claim to be the best dancer in the world. Formal lessons started at 6 and ended at 12 when I realized I was never going to be able to do the splits and my mom was a little concerned about how riskAy the dance teams in high school were. My awkward, nearly 6ft teenage self could barely walk in a straight line without falling down, much less get down. But my alma mater, Beloit College, taught me how wonderful a good ol' dance party can be. In college I would say I could hold my own on a dance floor. A lot had to do with the fact  that I was surrounded by mostly midwestern, white, suburban kids.  As much as Latin America is known for dance, WASPs are very much known for having whatever the opposite of rhythm would be.

One of the host-brothers in Uganda showing how it's done

Both in Ghana and Uganda, I came to understand rather than being an awkward and humiliating contest of swagger which I would inevitably lose, dancing is once of the most joyful and uniting experiences one can partake in. Where there was music there was dancing, and where there wasn't music, someone would make some! Children able to walk could dance and women who had seen most of the years of their life pass by would not pass up an opportunity to feel their bodies alive and moving.  I finally understood what church was all about when I went to an Anglican service in Tamale Ghana. EVERYONE was dancing and singing and being happy for life and what they had. It was contagious and it was uplifting. In the U.S. it seems like people need their dances to be choreographed and planned within a certain structure in a certain place. In Ghana and Uganda, life is a dance, you just have to be open to hearing the music wherever and whenever you are.

Back to my life in Latin America. I was fully anticipating clubs and festivals in Panama to be full of life and dancing. To be honest I was pretty intimidated (going back to me being the tall, awkward girl). Crazy thing is: in Panama, NO ONE DANCES!

Emmanuel practicing

An over exaggeration? Yes, a little. I actually was spoiled to meet a group of guys who breakdance the first time I really went clubbing. (Check out this video of some of the guys in Newton's Enemies) Wow! I thought, not only are guys dancing, but they're better then the girls! Then I realized, my friends and I were the only girls who danced. The more I went out the more I saw the Panamanian women with their stilt-like stiletto heels and their treated hair standing off to the side, doing everything in their power to move as little as possible, less they mess up their perm. Men too, apart from the Bboys didn't seem to have much interest in dancing.

Or maybe they did...

Leave it up to Sam, one of the other Fulbrighters here in Panama, to get the dance party started. We went to a bar in Casco Viejo one Saturday night and we were loving the music, but hating the atmosphere. Though the place was packed, no one was dancing. We said to hell with it and 4 of us Fulbrighters just had our own dance party in the middle of the bar. Apparently that was all anyone needed. Within an hour the whole place was alive and poppin!

Photo by Hood Arts https://www.facebook.com/HoodArts

Another instance was at a different club. Again the music was great but the people were just standing around. "What kind of Latinos don't dance?!" cried Elizabeth. Elizabeth's family is from the Dominican Republic and she had been hoping to find some of the same Latin flavor in Panama. Some Ron Abuelo Rum and few Balboa beers in and 4 members of our group were making our way to the front of the dance floor. If they weren't going to use it, we would!

We danced our asses off and had a blast doing it. You could tell the DJ and MCs liked having people show their appreciation of their music. Similarly, back at Beloit, bands that would come to our school would inevitably have a great time because Beloiter's dance to anything! What is it to an artist if you just enjoy their work silently to yourself? Music, especially live music, is something to be experienced and shared.

Afterward we talked to a Panamanian woman who had been singing and actually dancing with us. She said Panamanian women don't like to dance, but they get jealous of those that do.  We had the attention of the whole club and we were doing it in tennis shoes and sweaty hair.

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