Finding a nice place to eat and dance is never easy, but luckily Panama has a number of places you can definitely enjoy. If you’re visiting the country for the first time, you might want to try the local music and food in one single place, Al Tambor de la Alegria offers all that and more. Located in the heart of Amador, Flamenco Island, you’ll find the restaurant facing the parking lot towards the ocean, it’s very easy to find. If you want to enjoy the main dancing event, I suggest you head on over there 4 PM.

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Panama has a wealth of music influences on its dances. Its traditional or folkloric dances are very popular among Panamanians and tourists alike. And has gained acceptance as one of the most beautiful dances in the world. Folkloric dances in Panama are staged choreographies that depict a wide range of emotions, activities and feelings. One example among the abundant traditional folkloric dances is called “El Punto” (literally: the point).

Named that way because of the accentuation on the beat. It represents how a man woos a woman until he wins her affection and finally seals their love with a kiss. When executed by dancers that have chemistry with each other, it’s almost a play on its own.

Another folkloric dance in Panama doesn’t require you learning a choreography. The popular “pindin” is what most people refer to as “tipico”. It comes from the Colombian cumbia, played with somewhat similar instruments but with different rhythm and melody.

In Panama, there are places called “toldos” where people gather specifically to move the rhythm of the accordion the whole night. Toldos are usually packed, so people have a chance to romantically fuse each other with the sweet melody. For the tourist visiting Panama who wants to appreciate the beauty of the folkloric dances, places like Restaurante Las Tinajas and Mi Pueblito have shows all year and have accessible prices. If you want to learn how to dance pindin, go to any disco or toldo and pick up a local girl. They’ll show you the simple steps, and then just let the music drive you.

El Bunde is a folkloric Panamanian dance with a sensual and religious rhythm that is danced in Darien province of Panamá City, Panamá. El Bunde is also known as “The Panamanian authentic Christmas” because it is danced during Christmas festivities especially on December 24 and its improvised verses and songs talk about the arrival of the baby Jesus. This Panamanian dance is only danced by couples that are replaced in front of an image of a boy that represents the baby Jesus. El Bunde is a popular religious Panamanian festivity that is celebrated from December 6 to January 6 by the black people of Garachiné Town of Darien Province in Panamá City, Panamá.

The Bunde is a Panamanian dance with religious sense that constitutes a beautiful hybrid where best contents of each ethnic contribution of Panama City, Panama are joined and harmonized.  In Panama City, Panama this dance consists of only one figure, where the couple star dancing in front of the boy, this folkloric dance is a glad religious dance that is continuously animated with real fervor. The instruments that are used in this Panamanian dance are: the drawer, the drum and a pair of maracas accompanied by a singer. The dance of El Bunde is doubtless one of Panama’s typical dances where it is emphasized the grace of the black race of Darién province.

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.

(Picture by: Carlos McNulty) DIA DIA Newspaper

You will find a huge variety of folkloric dances here in Panama City, Panama; among them, you can find the Diablos Espejos dance, originally from Colon Province. The Diablos Espejos dance has become so popular that it has extended to different parts of the country. You can enjoy this dance in school presentations and in different panamenian folkloric manifestations. The young people continue promoting this culture with the confection of the costumes; especially the masks that are purchased by tourists, what has taken this art to go overseas. At the province of Los Santos in the Corpus Christi festivals we can see the dance of the Diablos Espejos.

The Diablícos Limpios or better known as los Diablos Espejos use costumes made with fine silk pieces of multicolor cloths with tiny mirrors that decorate the whole skirt, the animal mask (the representation of the devil’s different transformations), a baton equally adorned and far colorful, gloves, and different figures with mirrors in the chest. This dance is of religious origin and it represents the fight of the good against the evil; the good represents the religious part with the take of the Eucharist and the parishioners attending church; and the evil that represents the devils dancing around the church preventing the mass to take place.

The music of the Diablos Espejos is an instrumental music and is only interpret with the drum and the accordion. Los Diablos Espejos have their own music and musical instruments, demonstrating the cultural and ethnic diversity that Panama City, Panama has. Nowadays, you can appreciate this type of dance in carnivals, in TV commercials, in private parties and in touristic presentations.

I used to do a lot of things before. I used to do “típico” or folkloric dance, I used to travel to the “interior” (countryside) and ride on wagons pulled by oxen. Even my quinceañera birthday party theme was folkloric and I remember dancing “El Punto” with my brother. Today I was reminiscing those days and just wondering about our regional dances. That is why I am sharing with you about folkloric dances from Los Santos.

The province of los Santos is considerate one of the most important exponents in folklore in Panama. Los Santos is not only the HQ of the world famous Carnaval Tableño but it is the birthplace of Panama’s folklore. There dances are of great variety, from popular dances like pindín to tuna, puntos, tamborito, cumbias, mejoranas, all of them with lots of passion and sensuality. The most popular dances from los Santos in the whole Panama are:

The Cumbia Santeña:  One of the most popular dances in Panama.  It consists in four forms of steps:  paseo (a traveling step), seguidilla (another traveling step), cruces (the couple dance a crossing step) y zapateo (tapping step).  La cumbia has giving birth to a popular dance you can find in salons and bars around the country: pindín.  The cumbia santeña has four important variants:

• Cumbia Cerrada (Close Cumbia): A fast dance where in the seguidilla step a circle is form and closes the formation to open up again.
• Cumbia Abierta (Open Cumbia): A slow dance.
• Cumbia Zapateada ( Tapping Cumbia): Tap movements accompany the music.
• Cumbia Atravesada ( Crossing Cumbia):  a very fast and happy dance.

Tamboritos (Drums Dance): These drums are of Spanish origins and they are of melodic and lovely rhythm with tales of love, passion, sentimental, or it can be of insults, hard and rebellions.  They also tell about animals like iguana, dove, and snake.  And tamborito has two important variants:

• Tambor del Norte ( Northern Drum):  It is a soft drum and the dancers execute soft sensual movements.
• Tambor Corrido ( Running Drum):  Faster paces drum than the tambor del norte.

Also the Dirty Devils are from Los Santos regions, check my pass blogs to learn more about them.

It is difficult for me to explain in great detail how this dances are performed or explain the steps.  I am not very sure if the translation in English is correct.  But I just wanted to share a little about Panama’s dances.  I have added a little video that I hope can give you some light on Panamanian dances. Of course, this video is courtesy of youtube.com.

Chitre is one of the most important regions in Panama. A very famous place and well known because of the Spanish heritage and it´s  that popular dances from the Province of Herrera came from the Spanish flamenco in the colonial age, as well as Los Santos, Cocle, Veraguas, Chiriquí and Colon. This colonization brought an endless variety of foods, celebrations, music and ceremonies. Panamanians captured this cultural baggage and adapted all of them and made their own.

Even though we have lots of dances in our country, there is a special magic from a Panamanian dance called Dirty Devils (Diablicos Sucios) that comes from this province and that has a greater importance for all Panama girls that usually practice this discipline.

Panama dancers try to adapt this dance as a special interpretation from the old Spanish priests that remarkably split the two orientations:  “Dirty Devils” and “Clean Devils”.

CLEAN DEVILS

This is the most traditional dance of the festival of Corpus Christi. It is constituted by diverse hierarchies and the devil is the main character. The Devil emphasizes his rank by wearing the most luxurious clothes. Then the Angel comes (in the old plays was Saint Michael, but is no longer like that) dressed as a little boy with a veil that covers the face to him.

Then the Devil Captain appears and has some participation in the central dialogue. Other important character is the Diabla (Lady Devil), the only hilarious character at this dance. There are some other feminine dancers within this dance such as Virgin Mary and some minor devils.

The idea of this dance is to represent the fight between the good and the evil within a soul. The Angel defends Virgin Mary from the Devil´s offenses. And tired of this situation he proposed to the Devil build a gallows/hangman to destroy the soul. But of course that was not the original ideal of the angel, but to build a cross to save it, and that´s how the Devil was cheated by the angel in a “clean fight”.

DIRTY DEVILS

The main difference between this dance and the “clean” one is mainly in the clothes. The Dirty Devils dance uses dark colors and generally dance by pairs and in groups up to 12 dancers. During these executions the Diablico (Dirty Devil) must dance to the rhythm of the guitar, clapping the castanets that take in the hands.

The masks are done of paper, covered and painted by local artists.

Both dances celebrate the good and evil fight between the human souls.

CULTURAL EXPRESSION

Diablitos Sucios (Dirty Devils) dance is a cultural expression of a Panamanian dance that without any doubt girls in Panama like to participate due to the lack of sexual content.

Most Girls in Panama City usually go to a Dancing School in Panama to learn this specific dance and also La  Mejorana, Panamanian Cumbia, Panama Indian dances, Cumbia from Chorrera and some other beautiful dances from the Azuero region.

Once these dances are learned, it is common to see men and women in Panama performing these exotic movements in celebrations like Carnival, Corpus Christi, Holy Week and many others.

Definitively is a remarkable experience to enjoy these dance live, one in a lifetime experience!

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.

Tamborito (Little Drum) is the most popular folk dance, danced by women and women dressed in typical costumes. It is a contagious rhythm that makes everybody dances, because the interlocking and call/response lyrics, followed by the drum beat, mix the feelings and emotions of being Panamanian or a foreigner in loved of Panama. No one can resist it and must be danced.

Like most typical dances in Latin America, it is said to have originated in the Negro slave dance as a pray to the Gods. During the gathering at the plantations or near gold mines, this pray was sung and danced to beat of drums, bonfires and weeping. Homesick for Africa, slaves acted out tribal wars, courtships and also mimicked the behavior of their abusing masters.

But as time passed by, the dance changed due to the Mestizo´s (Spanish born in America) aroused, because they didn´t consider themselves as Spanish nor Americans, but they had both heritage and they incorporated the negro slave into the Spanish dance in the ballrooms by watching the Creole patios at fiesta and carnival time. There they saw it and introduced it to their own homes and it became part of them and that´s how Tamborito was born.

There are certain elements involved in this amazing dance such as African drum rhythms, coquetry, deception, faith, love and death, jealousy, pleasure, eroticism and even sex.

Although the Tamborito is milder that Congo Dance, there are some love-making movements that are quite lascivious but in a very smooth way.

Women Role

The tamborito is led by a Cantalante, a female lead singer, who is backed by a clapping chorus (the “estribillo”).

Women have a very important role in Tamborito, because they create the flirtatious movements that make men react in a very gently courtship and retreating figures. They interact in the dance at the pace of women, following the lyrics of the song. While a few women dance, others sing and clap, leading the chorus so the dancers represent the message with body language.

At some point similar to leading singer of the black dance from the black communities of the northern coast in Costa Arriba, which includes Portobelo, province of Colón.

The most luxurious costume is worn by the woman. It is called “La Pollera” the Panamanian National Dress, which is voluptuous in spite of its ruffles, accompanied by gold chains, medallions, and coins, and the elaborate combs, hair ornaments and earrings were the product of craftsmen working with native pearls and gold.

For decades “La Pollera” was a plebeian garment. In the 1880s Country women and lower-class city dwellers wore a simple version of the dress for everyday and an embroidered, lace-trimmed one on fiesta occasions. But high class women started to feel that this dress was a symbol of our Spanish heritage due to the similarity with Spanish typical skirts and could be up scaled for them also.

The Tamborito is danced in couples and each pair continues to dance for an unspecified time, taking into consideration those who must take their turn.

Sticky Lyrics

“Panameño, Panameño (Panamanian Panamanian)Panameño, vida mía (Panamanian, my life)

Yo quiero que tú me lleves (I want you to take me)

Al tambor de la alegría (To the drum of joy).

The idea of these catchy lyrics within a Tamborito is to make everybody sing it without having to memorize much. The Cantador Adelante (first singer) starts the song. The rest of the women sing the estribillo (refrain), carrying the beat with their handclapping.

Themes vary from political issues with some spicy proverbs to love songs or simply by expressing joy. The refrain of the chorus is unchanging, but each Tonada has its special one.

Tamborito is a dance that comprehends many circumstances through the life of Panamá as nation, before it was accepted as one.  It is not just a dance, is a culture speaking on its own.

These lyrics are known by all Panamanians, representing the most popular sonnet in the folkloric music.

Congo is a popular dance performed mostly by Afro Panamanians from the Atlantic Coast, specifically in situated in Portobelo, Colón.

Its origins date back to the immigrants that were brought from Africa during the 18th and 19th century and they established in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Martinique.

These black immigrants were mainly used during the construction of the Panama Canal for hard manual labor and tasks, and due to their muscular tone and strong physical appearance they were mainly hired to perform intense physical labors.

Although these men were undergoing extreme emotional loss due to the fact that they were hundreds of miles away from home and their families, they seemed to always find time to rejoice, sing, laugh, talk, and dance to the drums of their native island tunes. 

It is an extremely erotic dance that in most cases represents the foreplay, flirting with the other person, but not getting too personal. Men pretend to gawk in front of the ladies, trying to get closer to their skirts, closer to the body, but women keep them apart.

Congo dances can get really hot, because it is actually an art of exotic dancing, where the dancers perform a private dancing for the partner, using the body as a seductive weapon with erotic moves, dancing when the drums guide the hips and the thighs, while the rest of the village just stares like voyeurs, surrounding a circle, a get together of physical love.