Yay, culture class! We had two very skilled high schoolers give a presentation of traditional Costa Rican dances. Above they are wearing typical Puntarenas costumes. These costumes are blue to represent the sea because it was traditionally a fishing village. The fact that there was only lace along the bottom symbolizes poverty. Her large skirt moved like ocean waves

After their performance, they asked for volunteers from the audience to give it a try. Yoshi and I stepped up to the plate, and had a great time trying to mimic her swirls and twirls.

After the initial lesson everyone was invited to join it! Lauren, follows Sue, Julia, and our teacher around in a circle.

This dance imitates a bull fight. One partner waves a flag and the other charges like a bull. Clockwise from left: Gina, Laura, Emily, Erin, and Yoshi.

Swing your partner, round and round, Meredith and Yoshi.

I’m not sure how traditional this dance is, but we ended the night with a limbo stick. (It was a completely different tune from the American Limbo though!) There was a notable amount of Spanish influence in all the dancing. It reminded me of a traditional dance lesson I had taken while studying abroad in Spain for two weeks in high school. All of the motions were very bold, proud and swanky. Though our teacher is an excellent dancer, she told us over dinner afterwards than she plans on studying science in college because it will offer her more career opportunities than dance.

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Side note: Guess what! I just found out that my Costa Rica photography is going to be featured in a two man art exhibit in September at Tuttle Gallery in Owings Mills, Maryland in September with a painter. So I'm going to get to work with a photographer teacher in a dark room and print up large scale photos to display and sell! Joy! Thank you Mrs. Olethea Devane, Head of the McDonogh School Art Department, and of course thank you, Mom!

Note: Not all of the above photos are mine because I set my camera down on a chair and told my friends to take pictures while I was dancing.