White Men Can´t Dance

So today was our first dance lesson. We´ve been having exercise classes after training everyday, and someone had the great idea of having a dance class. One of our language professors, Pablo, has volunteered to teach us poor "gringos" how to move on the dance floor.

Dancing is a big deal in Peru, as I think it is in most Latin American countries. One of the first questions I get asked after meeting a Peruana, is "Do you like to dance," only after having been asked "What´s your name and why are you here." What´s great about dancing is that even if you can´t communicate, dancing is a universal langauge. Even the men dance in Peru, and boy can they move! I´m quite impressed with everyone´s dancing abilities and I really think the United States should take some lessons from Latin America.

Our gracious leader, Pablo, has decided to teach us all various dances in Peru including Cumbia, Salsa, and Afro-Peruana. Cumbia is more or less the "dance" of Peru, and so far, I haven´t quite figured out yet what´s the difference between that or other latin dances...To me they are all the same, but I know that I will have plenty of time to learn in the next two years.

Cumbia was more or less easiest to dance to I think, but once we got into the dances of the "Selva" (Jungle) and Afro-Peruano, things were getting a bit more difficult, but today was only Day 1. If someone was walking by our dance class, it would of been a funny site to see "gringos" trying to shake our hips, but Pablo was very patient with us. I can just imagine Pablo to be the "Pied Piper" with all of us "gringos and gringas" dancing behind him. ha. We are going to continue having classes every Tuesday until the end of training where we will have a big swearing-in ceremony. The plan is to choreograph a dance for our host parents and PC Staff. It should be quite the show!