(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.

Ballet is a standard art form today, known and loved by audiences across the world. It is a formalized form of dance developed in the early 1600s as a concert dance form. It is an elite form of dancing that requires foot muscle movement, and suspension on the toes. This kind of dance requires strength, resilience, elegance and grace all at once, while making the different movements. In ballet, dance is performed purely to an orchestral accompaniment; there is no singing. Early forms used long skirt; today’s dances use both tutu skirts and tutu bodices. Learning ballet requires perseverance and hard work. Ballet technique is considered to be the basis of training for all types of dance like salsa, tango, cha cha cha between others.

Today exist the classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. The classical ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional ballet technique, is generally structured on a narrative pretext they can be based on traditional stories. Neoclassical ballet describes the ballet style using a traditional ballet vocabulary and is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet, because is more varied. The modern or contemporary ballet is influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. The concepts of the contemporary ballet came from the ideas of today’s’ modern dance.

Here in Panama City, Panama academies were formed to pass on the fundamentals and traditions of this popular dance with a great quality of dance training. In the different academies that exist in Panama City, Panama you can learn the different ballet steps and the fundamental movements and positions you need to get started in this classical dance.

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.

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.

Being a stripper may look like a fun way to feel sexy while bringing in the big bucks, but there’s a lot about the profession that you may not know about. When you enter a strip club, you walk straight to a front row sit and sit back to enjoy the show.  All you want is a lusty few hours to relax and forget any problems.  But, aren’t you a bit curious about the private life of erotic dancers?  What is underneath all the make-up and the sexy outfits? Are they really confident women in charge of their life?  How do they behave when customers are not around?  Let me help you think about it.

A few weeks ago, I went with my chicks group to a strip club.  We got to talk to some of the strippers and we learn a lot about “the business”.  And I learn something very important, than not many people takes in consideration, Strippers are smarter than what you think.  They do a version of what many girls do on Friday night when they go to a bar and get drunk and dance nasty to the guys, but strippers do it with one end: make money.  Many of them come from foreign countries searching for a better life.  As Melissa told me, it is not something they want to do forever, but for a few years to help them spring their life into a better one.

As for looking hot and sexy they required to take good care of their bodies.  Who want to pay to see a girl with cellulite and fat jiggling from their arms?  Strippers workout for long hours on the pole,  giving them a lot of strength and an excellent aerobic exercise, to be able to dance sexy in front of a bunch of strangers.  As for the clothes, well, they are like any other dancers who know how important the whole presentation package is.  Erotic dancers need the right clothes to take off and the shoes to complement their outfit.  And you have seen those heels; they are not a piece of cake!

When the dancers are away from home, they worry all the time about their love one.  No everyone knows what they do for a living.  The family may think they are away studying or even working in some conventional job.  Many of the girls have kids that they need to live behind to be able to give them a better future.  Would you be able to do anything like this to feed your child?
It takes a lot of guts to walk in a room full of people watching you take your clothes, looking confident and beautiful while wearing sexy lingerie. Definitely not a glamorous lives as you may think.

Even though the Tango dance is not categorized as part of the group of erotic dances, it is known as the most sensual dance in the world, followed by the flamenco and then salsa. However, people are starting to realize that it is indeed a dance that requires a lot of eroticism and sensuality.

When people hear Tango, they only think about Argentina. Why? As many of you will know, its origins are from Argentina, but according to the region it spreads into, it also had its origins in Uruguay, United States and Europe. People also don’t know that there are over 10 different types of tango that are also dance to different types of music. The most popular tango is, of course, the Argentine Tango. The Uruguayan tango, the Ballroom tango, and the Finnish tangos are also very popular. In every type of tango, it is pretty essential to dance with a partner, although there are some interludes where you can do some solos.

The popularity for this dance has been increasing so much that you may see it being feature in many films. Also, many gentleman clubs, nude clubs and even escort girls are starting to use this very provocative dance as a way to fill the environment with eroticism and desire.

Here in Panama, the most known type of tango is the Argentine Tango. In this type, you can either dance with a “frame” or dance very close to your partner. The eroticism of the dance lies in the expression and passion that is shown by the couple. To be great dancers, the couple has to be able to show true dramatic feelings that will make everyone get really involve with the story-telling dance. The steps for this dance consist of very complex figures that can be broken into smaller and not so complicated steps.

The tango has become part of the sexy dances in Panama. If you wish to enjoy a good tango night, you can go to the social club in El Panama Hotel on Wednesdays where you can enjoy a Buenos Aires TANGO Show or go to Pizza Piola on Fridays for another tango show or dance lesson. Both of these events are performed and organized by the “Academia de Tango Argentino en Panama”, Academy for Argentine Tango in Panama, which is located on Balboa Avenue in Panama City, Panama that specializes on the teaching of this type of tango, so you can learn more about the sensuality in this dance that is just starting to rise here in Panama City, Panama.

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.

I had begun a new journey into dance: Samba. Samba came to Brazil via African slaves.  The meaning of the word Samba is an ongoing debate whether it means belly button, pleasing, enchanting, honoring, or revering.  What I am sure is that Samba comes from the African word Semba and this very erotic dance is highly known around the world as synonymous of Brazil.  When we think of Brazil we think of Samba and beautiful women.

Three Saturdays ago, I took my first class of Samba.  A friend and I enrolled together in this energetic and fun class.  We went to Rasheda studio expecting to find a few students, but we were very please that this is a full class.  The instructor, Elizabeth, is from Sao Paulo, and she came ready to teach the most basic step in Samba.  Elizabeth told us to relax and have fun with this dance.  Samba has not steps with specific meaning like in ballet.  It is a more free spirit dance where you can make it as sexy and erotic as you like, or you can just do a nice dance.  To Sambas is about feeling free and use your body to express this feeling.  Samba is using your femininity and saying without words how happy you are.

The basic step is about stepping back with one foot while you touch with the heel of that foot you moved the side of the arch of the foot that didn´t move.  You do a three step movement while going back and once you manage to do the step, a lot easier than it sounds, you can focus on do some movement with your upper body.  We spend a full hour doing this basic step at different speed, and I didn’t really found the femininity and free part she explained. It was pleasing enough, but I guess it will take a lot of practice for me.

Last week Elizabeth was out of town.  So Kira, a belly, samba, and salsa dancer, was there to substitute for Elizabeth.  I thought we were going to be doing the same basic step in Samba and I didn’t know better cause I missed a class the week before.  Boy, it was nothing like that.  Kira puts on a full hour of nonstop aerobic exercise.  We were moving, dancing, jumping, and all this while on our toes.  It felt great to be shaking the booty and finally experiencing the free I was looking for.  Kira is a very good dancer and she showed us three new steps in Samba:  Side to side jumping-shaking thing that I can’t really explain, going forward with pelvis circles, and down to the floor with pelvic circles.  Also she took the basic step to the next level making us do it very fast and incorporating twist and drops with the hips and the use of the arms.

Kira explained to use that she learn just watching her instructor, without any instruction about how to do the steps.  She basically stood there in her class and followed the instructor.  Good thing for us, she is very patience and explained each step very well.

At the end, we have all this great feelings around us from the enchanting dancing. It was exhausting and exhilarating, but I am definitely waiting for Saturday for the next class.

What’s next?  Stay tune!

Today, I am going to finish with my tale of a night at the strip club.  You may remember we were drinking and watching the strip shows.  Well, let me tell you, the open bar promotion is a great idea.  Drinks kept coming and we were drinking them fast.  We were looking for more fun, and then is when things got hotter.
The music was contagious; we wanted to dance so badly and we did just that.  We were dancing very sexy and shaking our booty right next to the stage.  And we were getting even more attention than the dancers! Dancing in a very erotic way with each other got all eyes on us.  How did we feel been the center of attention? , great!  Some of my girls got clients wanting more from them, which of course did not happen. The dancers where topless and we were fully clothed and we still got the crowed going.  We started to encourage the strippers: “Shake it, baby”, “To the pole”, “Take it off”, while we kept doing out thing.   Oh boy, we were more aggressive than the men!  Other strippers and dancers that where there came to the other side of the stage to also encourage their fellow girls.  And the strippers on stage got wilder!  It was amazing to see how strong their bodies are.  Some dancers got on all four and they were moving their pelvis rhythmically simulating sex.  Others moved to dance on the pole, and it was fascinating and scary at the same time to see how good performers they were.  Upside down, spinning, and even one leg hold were part of their pole dance routine.  Tips kept coming and drinks kept flowing.
After we calm down some, I went to speak to Melisa.  I ask her how it feels to dance on the pole and how long it takes to be able to hold to the pole.  She was very honest and said that is scary at the beginning.  They are afraid to hurt themselves while practicing their erotic acrobatic dance.  And even a stripper fractured her foot during practice.  To be able to do a simple pole dance they need to practice a lot for about a month.  They felt down a lot and learn how to angle their bodies for the best support.  It is not as easy as it looks.  Melisa also commented on how important your appearance while performing a striptease is.  You need to look the part.  When they performed in costumes they are fulfilling fantasies that many men would like to do with their partners, but are denied.  And taking care of your hair and makeup also helps to the mystique of the exoticism of being a stripper.  Very easy tips we can all use, even if you are not an erotic dancer.
More strip shows continue and after been fuel by our enthusiasm it was nonstop eroticism.  The strippers where smiling and even having a good time, the clients where spending money on tips, and we were just taking it all in to remember this erotic night at a Panama strip club.  We never imagine a strip club could be a great place to enjoy a night out. I would definitely advice you girls to take a night out and go see firsthand what striptease and erotic dancing is all about.  We have the best time experiencing what men like to do and exploring our own wild side.  Who knows, maybe next time we’ll take the stage!