There is a new dance fever hitting the streets of Panama and it is called Passa Passa also known as dance hall. Passa passa is an addictive energetic dance which worked its way to the streets of Colon and various places in the city of Panama. There are even people dancing to this popular Caribbean rhythm in the outskirts of Panama where the smaller towns are located.

Dance hall originally came from Jamaica and started in the late 70s. This dance and music initially came from reggae and like reggae; dance hall brings many different people across the globe together. Although dance hall or passa passa dancing came from Jamaica, it has moved on to different countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and now Panama. Passa passa involves a lot of movement and difficult steps, but it can be learned with practice. Once you got the passa passa riddim you can pretty much learn to dance all the steps. There are very popular parties such as dutty fridaze where many people go to dance passa passa. Usually men like women go to these parties to compete with their rivals. There are many popular dance hall steps like hot wuk, tek weh yuself, willie bounce, dutty wine, and wacky dip that they dance when competing. These dance hall moves are a more decent way of dancing passa passa.
Others dance passa passa in a more sexual way. This usually involves the man and the woman dancing erotically. Not everyone likes this type of dance so a lot of people in the Caribbean and Panama prefer to dance Passa passa in the more decent version. The general attire worn by women dancers for this kind of dancing is more revealing and sometimes even R rated. Others go dressed normally but this doesn’t stop them from busting a move on the dance floor.

Everyday more and more dance steps are being created for dancehall. Some very popular dancers of passa passa are Ding Dong and his crew. They dance passa passa steps like the badman pull up, wacky dip and many more. Ding Dong also makes popular dance hall music which Panama enjoys listening to. You get different themes and tones from this kind of dance and music. A lot of passa passa rhythms’ are influenced by religion, sex, violence, social issues, and issues like women’s rights.

Panama dancers are catching up with the rest of the Caribbean pretty fast. Soon all of Panama will be dancing the difficult but fun steps to passa passa. Next time you go out, look for your nearest dance hall parties and learn the steps to the most popular dance in the Caribbean. In passa passa for every song there is a dance.