Since coming to Costa Rica I have become a lover of latin music and latin dance (see my squidoo lens…My Favorite Latin Music). After many lessons and a lot of practice, I have become what I would consider an “adequate”dancer of salsa and merengue. However, I am most interested in learning how to dance cumbia…tico cumbia. I was once at a bar/disco in the little Southern Pacific beach town of Dominical. I spotted this very lovely latin girl and I was trying to muster up the courage to ask her to dance. However, before I could make my move a local guy grabbed her and wisked her onto the dance floor. For the next half hour or so I sat mesmerized as I watched these two dance in tico cumbia style. It was almost like watching an olympic gymnastics routine. By the end of their dancing I was even sweating from watching the display. I decided then and there that I had to learn to do that. I am still learning, slowly. Cumbia is a form of music that is popular throughout the Latin world. If I am not mistaken I believe it originated in Colombia. However, ticos dance cumbia in a style that is unique to their culture. It requires a lot of hopping with complex turns. I have tried to learn it, but I have a long way to go to match what I saw on the dance floor that night. I was relieved that I did not ask this young lady to dance….what an embarassment that would have been! The cumbia music and dance here in Costa Rica is folkish and spirited. It reminds me of the clogging they do to bluegrass music in the mountains of the state where I was born, North Carolina. To me it is the music and dance that best embodies the spirit of Costa Rican culture. A culture that is unique in the Latin world, but also a culture that reflects a joy of living. I guess that is why only in Costa Rica do we say, pura vida, or pure life. Life here is pure and the dancing shows it.
Video of Cumbia – Costa Rican Style
Comments
Costa Rica Blog - 365 Reasons I Love Costa Rica » Blog Archive » Reason #143: Tico Culture - Ten Things You Might Want to Know
[…] 5. Costa Ricans love their music and dance. The most típico (again, traditional) style of dance is the “swing-criollo” style of cumbia that ticos dance in a way that is very unique to their culture. If you ever get a chance to watch a couple who really know their stuff, it can be quite an amazing sight. See previous blog post. […]