While in Cusco, we wanted to learn more about the culture of Peru. What better way to do this, than to experience some traditional Peruvian music and dance?
As we were walking around the city, we came across one of the last Incan descendants demonstrating traditional music. He was dressed in Incan attire and was playing a variety of Incan instruments including pan flutes of different sizes, a huge drum, whistles and many more. The most interesting were the llama toenails! About twenty llama toenails are tied onto a string and used kind of like a maraca. His music was very impressive because he was able to play three instruments at once (the drum, llama toenails and a flute for example) and did not need to take a break in between. We were able to dress up in Incan costumes and since we had already made our pan flutes, we felt like Incas in Training. All we have left to do is to build Machu Picchu! 🙂 (Almost there)
In the evening, we went to a Peruvian cultural centre to watch a live performance. There were many different types of acts. There was also a live orchestra who played the music for the show. We recognized some of the instruments from our pan flute making class.
Each of the dances came from a different part of Peru and represented daily life in that region. Both the men and the women had great costumes and accessories such as flags and whips.
The women had different costumes every time, but usually wore dresses with big skirts. I am a dancer and I know how hard it is to do a quick change back to back. I was amazed at how these dancers were able to change costumes so quickly.
The men’s costumes consisted of different shirts, pants and hats.
The dancers were very entertaining. There was a lot of spinning and twirling involved in each dance.
Here are three of my favorites:
This dance is from the region of Chumblivilcas in the district of Santo Tomas. It is performed on the 23rd of December every year to honour the community. The men wore pointy hats that reminded me of the hats worn by Incan Shamans. I liked this dance because they twirled so much that I got dizzy just watching!
The second dance was a Carnival dance. In this one the men had to compete for the women. The men danced all over the stage doing fancy footwork to attract the ladies. They also had whips as part of their costume for herding mules or donkeys in their region. The men wore hats and plaid shirts and both genders had flags to wave around. I liked this dance because it was energetic and a lot of fun to watch.
This dance is from the region of Calca about a bird with red and black feathers and a red beak. All of the dancers wore wigs covered with pink and red string and the men had really long sleeves to represent the wings of the birds. This dance reminded me of the native show about the raven that we saw in Alaska. I found this interesting because the birds are so important to both cultures.
This was the last dance performance we saw on our trip. On our trip we have seen so many dance styles and it has made me a better dancer because it has exposed me to ideas for costumes, footwork, artistry and much more. Here is a list of all of the different kinds of dances we saw, learned about and in some cases did:
- Irish Dancing- Ireland
- Scottish Dancing- Scotland
- Ballet- Germany
- Kathakali- India
- Apsara Dance performance- Cambodia
- Apsara Dancing- Cambodia
- Chinese Dance performance- China
- Greek Dancing- Australia
- Hula and Tahitan Dancing- Hawaii
- Peruvian dancing- Peru
Which type of dancing did you like the most? I liked the Scottish, Apsara and Greek dancing. Opa!
In addition to the dancers, we also saw some musical performers who were amazing! They sang in Spanish and played guitars, flutes, a cajon (a kind of drum that you can sit on) and many other instruments.
I really enjoyed all of the performances, especially the dances because they were all so upbeat and fast. Maybe, when I go back to school, I can teach everybody how to do all of these different types of dances.
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