Come witness an amazing modern dance competition at the University of Panama in Curundu. Danza Activa 2009 (which has been organized by Neysi de Sturlesi and Hannia Alfu from K-dance Productions) is the first competitive event in Panama that involves schools, companies and dance groups. The competition will be held on October 24, 2009 at 9am & October 26 at 7pm. Watch talented individuals of all ages strut their stuff by performing your favorite dances on stage such as Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Salsa, Belly Dance, Break Dance, Folklore and much more! You will get to see trios, groups, duos, solos, you name it! This is your chance to view the new dance moves that are being performed at shows and on the streets of Panama.

Learn how to Belly Dance, move to a hip hop rhythm and many others. Join the modern dance workshop on October 24th. Anyone who is ready to wiggle their hips to popular rhythms and dances can register at the University of Panama the same day of the workshop. Tickets to see the competition are now available at Super Deportes in Albrook Mall, Super Centro El Dorado and Multiplaza in Panama City. They will be sold at $10.00 and if you are interested in the modern dance workshop you can attend for only $30.00. For more information, go to www.glintsartspanama.ning.com. Don’t miss out on this chance to get to know the Panamanian culture through music and dances. We`ll see you there!

Panama is known as the “crisol de razas” or “melting pot” and that’s why it has adopted many of the traditions from these cultures, special in its dances. Dancing is not just a way of expression and sensuality but it is also a way to make dreams become true. With many competitions worldwide, Panama couldn’t fall behind and brought in “Bailando por un Sueño” or Dancing for a dream (for its English translation, which is a Mexican show produced by Telemetro in Panama.

In this television show, the contenders are coupled with national and/or international stars to dance and win the chance to fulfill the contestant’s dream. Many different dances are presented throughout the show, such as: mambo, tango, bolero, salsa, samba, hip hop, pop, rumba flamenco, disco, merengue, Reggaeton and many more.

Each couple has a choreographer who trains them all week long until the day of the show. Each season lasts about 8 weeks and each episode are presented among 1 to 3 different rhythms. There was even a special show dedicated to Celia Cruz on the last season of this contest.

As we all know, the dance in Panama has achieved great popularity; reason why contests such as “Bailando por un Sueño” are a total success in our country. There is no doubt that dancing is the biggest form of sensuality, eroticism and expression worldwide.

For more information about this contest in Panama, log into http://www.telemetro.com/bailando

The Bullerengue is a sensual dance that means happiness and movements; the dance is originally from the Darienita black race. This kind of dance is made up only of turns and a dance step call “seguidilla”, where the main character is the women, the one who make with attitude and concentration the different displacements the make up the dance. The Bullerengue is danced by the women with their body in a straight position, doing slowly movements with lots of coordination and the man display all his energy in acrobatics steps and sensual gests. This folkloric dance has small and sliding steps, where the feet are leaning on the floor. The displacements are done joining the feet and bending the knees in order to maintain the grace and the posture of the body. The choreography is made up of straight lines and sometimes circles. This dance ends up in a huge whirl of couples. The instruments that are use in this dance, el Bullerengue are: the song accompanied by drums, the music box, maracas and slaps.

The Bullerengue is maybe one of the dances who puts more emphasizes on the black race culture. The Bullerengue is a ritual dance. This is a special dance that is danced especially when young people have the higher age. The Bullerengue also symbolize women fertility and its music was created for the pregnant women who couldn’t assists to the different dances. The costume is made up of “polleras” or skirts, barefoot women and a flower on their hair.

The bolero is a dance and a musical form. The bolero is the slowest of the Latin dances and it combines controlled movement with dramatic expression of the music.In Spain, the bolero is a 3/4 dance originated in the late 18th century, and it is a combination of the contradanza and the sevillana. In Cuba the bolero was developed into a different dance in a 2/4 time. Bolero is often referred to as ‘The Dance of Love’. The tempo for dance is about 96 beats per minute and you can dance bolero either a soloist or a couple. The bolero is danced in a moderately slow tempo to the music, because the bolero invites visions of emotions and love.

The American Style bolero is a low Latin ballad, very popular in the United States. Is a unique dance style that is considered a cousin of the Rumba and both dances share many figures. The bolero is usually played in 4/4 time with a slower tempo than that of the Rumba. While Rumba music is very rhythmical, the lyrical Bolero sounds more like a Latin Ballad. It was introduced in the United States some time in the 1930’s and is distinguished by its slow, sweeping, and with romantic motions.

Bolero is one of the five rhythm competition dances in American style ballroom dance competition. The basic step of bolero is a long, sweeping step to the side on the slow beat, followed by a step forward or backward. Because bolero is one of the most beautiful, graceful and romantic dances ever created, it is danced slowly with a romantic music, it gives dancers the opportunity to cling close to their partner and sway or make sensual movements. When dancing bolero, you must have a amount of body control due to the balance required to dance at this slow tempo. Learning the Bolero can be easy and fun.

Merengue Dancing is a Latin America style dance and it’s the national dance of the Dominican Republic. Merengue is a combination of two dances, the African and the French Minuet. Merengue dancing is a couple’s dance, eventhough the original was not dance by individual couples and the original movements were only the shaking of the shoulder, nowadays it’s dance in 4 beats or 8 beats, and with a sensual movement of the hips. The basic steps counting on 8 beats is the most popular (1, 2, 3, 4 – 1, 2, 3, 4) and only after completing those eight steps you can change to some other movement. Merengue dancing is composed of three basic movements; they are the Side Basic Movement, Forward Basic Movement and the Back Basic Movement. The combination of these three movements, with small variations in body position, makes up the steps of the dance. In this dance you move in every beat.

From all the dances, merengue is the easiest to learn, if you can walk you can dance merengue. One important rule of all Latin dances is “feel the music”, is important to enjoy the music in order to make your movements look natural. The music indicates what to do, just feel the music, because dance is based in listening and moving to the rhythm of the music. Another important rule is the tempo of the music, the tempo indicates dancers how fast or pause they should make the movements, displacements or turns. The tempo is the important component that differentiates merengue from salsa, mambo and other kind of dances. The music tempo is about 120 – 160 beats per minute.

Here in Panama City, Panama merengue is one of the most popular dances and there are many academies where you can go and learn in the different workshops, more of how to do the merengue dance, the important steps and movements such as the position,  the correct posture, and men’s and women’s basic steps. Learning how to dance merengue is a great way to start familiaring with Cuban Motion.

Salsa dancing is a couple’s dance. Salsa dancing is one of the most sensual dances around the world. Here in Panama City, Panama we have a lot of academies where you can go and learn how to dance salsa, but I especially recommend people go to “El Bohio Florencia” located in Via España, infrot of ULACIT University, behind Galerias Florencias. The “Bohio Florencia” have its famous “talleres aprende a bailar salsa” (salsa lessons workshop) all Thursdays from 6:00 p.m to 10:00 p.m.

In these workshops we learn 2 different types of style: the Puerto Rican style, the most common when we talk about dancing with a partner and “La Rueda” originally from Cuba. There also is “cha-cha-cha”, that is even more sensual; its basic steps are 1-2-3 cha-cha-cha 5-6-7 cha-cha-cha. The modern salsa has elements of jazz, ballet, hop-hip and reggae.

The workshops are divided in three groups, the basic level, the intermediate level and the advance level.  In the basic level we find amateur people who are learning the basic steps that are, the forward steps 1-2-3 and the backward steps 5-6-7, the displacement and the lateral steps, and people dance alone the classic “rumba”. In the intermediate level people usually put in practice what they have learned in the basic, but here they are going to dance with a partner. In the advance level people learn the different turns, new steps of “rumba”, and also the famous cha-cha-cha.

Salsa dancers can dance on style 1 and on style 2, the difference of the two is that when people dance on 2, the leader steps forward are done with the left foot on count 2 and when we dance on 1, the leader steps forward are done with the left foot on count 1.  Here in Panama when people are learning how to dance, they usually begin dancing on 1 and then they learn how to dance on 2, something they cannot do, is dance 1 and 2 at the same time because then there are not going to be on tempo and when you are not on tempo you are not dancing salsa. In salsa the men are the one in charge of guiding the partner and memorizing the choreography because if it is a contest the women most follow him, he’s  the leader and the women is the one who excel the couple.

The Kunas are an indigenous group located in the Caribbean Sea, a few miles off the east coast of mainland Panama, lay the San Blas Archipelago, a series of exquisite tropical islandsThe Kunas are a charming and very spiritual people who deeply believe that “all things come from Mother Earth and nothing exists more necessary than she is.”

Kuna are spirited and vivacious. They have ancient myths and perform exotic dance ceremonies. The dance ceremonies serve as a means of communicating these myths.

These dances are a cultural legacy that has a metamorphic meaning, because during the performance they recreate animal movements, wind, seas and rivers, creating a natural bond between mother and the Kuna people.

At the Dance Kuna we can appreciate a large quantity of musical instruments made of wood, bones, shells and skeletons of marine animals.  Each one of these instruments produces an special sound of percussion, wind, string and brass instrument.

In this culture the most popular dance is called “Chachachá” or “Noga Gope” where six men and six women participate. Each village selects the best dancers, getting them together during an afternoon before new year´s eve to perform in front of the people. Men play the flute or “Kammu Burwi” and women play the “Onassis” or maracas.This dance is taught from generation to generation. It is a high honor to win for their village.

In special events, as the puberty initiation, there are specialized singers known as “Kandures” that sing to welcome adolescent to the adult world and the village´s musicians play the “Tool” another type of flute. The entire village prepares a party to receive the new members of the village, cause from now on, the will be considered as decision making individuals.

Most of these dances have no religious sense but it is part of their culture and they carefully celebrate each one of them. Kunas indigenous are very proud of their own customs, laws, and legislation enabling them to preserve their natural environment and heritage.

Thus, the islands lying within San Blas province are rich in tradition, following their own Dedicated Kuna have managed to start a grassroots movement, known as Project for the Study and Management of Wild Areas of the Kuna Yala (PEMASKY), to help protect endangered species along the Caribbean coast and to prevent outsiders from settling on their land.

Kuna take pride in adorning themselves elaborately. Doing so thru vibrant dress and bright jewelry, including tight strings of beads around their legs and forearms as well as gold rings in the bottom of their noses. Kuna tend to have striking, relatively short figures, on top of having the highest rate in the world for albinism. Kuna also speak with a unique dialect known as Kuna.

The breathtaking scenery and unique indigenous culture encompassing the San Blas Archipelago make it a truly unique place to travel to in Panama. The Kuna have stood up for their beliefs, enabling them to live the life that they believe is best for them. The Kuna and their islands are undoubtedly vibrant, colorful, culturally rich and unforgettably hospitable.

Welcome to our website, join me in this adventure were we are going to explore the different sides of Panama Dance, we’ll see the Panama dance history and origins, aborigines and its costumes, development after colony and conquer period, carnival and typical dances and why not, its present and future.

Let`s explore my passion for night clubs, strippers clubs, discotheques, gentlemen club and bar. We will enjoy this process and will definitively learn more about Panama´s night life.