Last weekend, one of my students invited me to her school dance show and competition in Huaycán and it was so fun to see of the kids dressed up in all different kinds of traditional Peruvian costumes! I unfortunately didn't have time to see the dance performances because I had to teach a class, but I did get to join the schools parade! After I arrived at the school and took some pictures with Shayla in her beautiful skirt and outfit, one of the teachers shoved a banner into my hand and asked me to join their parade! I ended up marching down the main street of Huaycan with a bunch of children all dressed in elaborate traditional costumes and all asking me TONS of questions! I am sure any passerby was quite confused to see this "gringa" girl surrounded by school children, completely out of place! I had no idea where we were going, but we ended up just walking around the neighborhood, stopping traffic and giving the kids a chance to show off their outfits. For some reason, schools are really into parading in the streets of Huaycan, so I felt pretty lucky to finally be part of one of these events! Once we arrived back at the school, I took a bunch of pictures with the kids. Its really interesting to see how every class, from the kindergarten to the high school, learns a different dance from a different area of the country. There were costumes from the jungle, the andes, the coast, and more Spanish looking costumes and the classes all compete. It made me wish that we had Dance classes like that in my schools growing up! Before coming to Peru, I didn't really what a central role dance has in Peruvian culture and I find it really inspiring to see how these dances are being passed down to the next generation!
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