We had a wonderful experience yesterday afternoon.  We were invited as a temple presidency to attend the Cobija Stake Dance Festival.  (All it means to be invited as the presidency is that we had to dress up in our Sunday clothes while everyone one else was in their comfortable casual clothes – but it did also mean that we got front row seats on padded folding chairs instead of having to sit on the metal bleachers – hurrah!)

Well, we’ve seen three different dance “shows” since we’ve been here – and all 3 were professional – one in Sucre, one in La Paz, and one in Puno, Peru - each at a sort of “dinner theater”.  Like the folk dances of most countries, I expect, the folk dances in Bolivia are very similar one to another – the only thing that seems to change is the costume.  The music sounds like the same song over and over and the dances themselves seem to be the same 2 or 3, repeated in different sequences.  Plus they tend to go on forever if all the different native tribes are represented.  So we weren’t totally looking forward to this, but I thought, “Oh well – if nothing else, it will give me some pictures for the blog on Monday.”  So off we went.

The program was held at a local high school ("colegio" in Latin countries is a high school, not a college.)

Well . . . we were very pleasantly surprised.  Instead of representing different Indian tribes (or parts of the country), each of the 7 wards represented a different country.  We saw dances from Colombia, Russia(!), Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Bolivia, Italy and the United States.  

Anyway – that was part of the pleasure.  It wasn’t the same dance over and over.  There were some similarities between the Latin American countries, of course, but not overly so.  Here are some pictures . . . 

 The first ward - Barrio Linde - presented two dances from Colombia.

The second ward - Barrio Chimba - represented Russia.

Third was Barrio Cobija, who presented dances from Puerto Rico.

This is one of our security guards at the temple; he is also the bishop of this ward.  It was so much fun to see him "in action".

Fourth, from Barrio Sarco, dances from the United States and from Spain (the flamenco).

One of my two favorites was the presentation of the “American” dance.  They chose movements similar to a square dance mixed with a little bit of line dance, but before that, they had several men pretending to play the various instruments used in a hoe-down – i.e., fiddles, guitars, a harmonica, a drum and I forget what else – and they carried an American flag around while they “played”.  The music was recorded and it was a VERY lively rendition of “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, which the dancers then used for their presentation.  It was FANTASTIC and very, very well-done.  Of course all us North Americans were delighted and showed it – which added to their and our enjoyment.

This is Brother Chambi, the head of the cleaning department at the temple.

The fifth ward was Barrio Rosedal, in which our good friends the Mogrevejos were the stars (in our opinion) of the Venezuelan dance.

The Mogrovejos were members of an international folk dance group when they were first married (in fact, that’s where they met) and they were simply a JOY to watch.  Such beauty and grace! 

Sixth was Barrio America, and they gave us 3 of the native Bolivian dances - the Cambinga, the Cueca and the Tinku (from an area where the natives speak Quechua).

These are two of our oldest obreras dancing in the Cueca.  They are both in their late 70s or maybe early 80s - Hermana Hinojosa with the (fake) cholita braids and Hermana Perez in blue.

The Tinku dance is VERY much from an indigeno culture.  Notice the amazing costumes.

This very Anglo-looking man IS an Anglo.  He served his mission here, came back, married, has a construction business now and is a member of the High Council in the Cobija Stake.

 

The last Bolivian dance from this ward was really sweet.  This is a traditional "couples" dance, and the couple in this case are at least 70 years old.  They were beautiful to watch.

And the last ward, Barrio Ingavi,  gave a TERRIFIC presentation from Italy (in which the intro was as good as the dance.)  Prior to each ward’s presentation, one person went to the microphone and gave a little information about the country they were representing – a little history, geography, interesting facts, etc.  Well, we were waiting for the “introduction” to Italy, and in swaggered this short stocky man in a dark suit, super-dark sunglasses and a fedora – the minute you saw him, you thought “MAFIA!”  And that’s exactly what he portrayed.  To top it off, after we got a good look at him and before he said a word, the DJ played the theme song from “The Godfather”.  I don’t know if everyone there got the joke but I assure you all the North Americans did. 

Anyway, he did a little take-off on Marlon Brando – to be honest, I was laughing too hard to listen as carefully as I should have, so I didn’t quite get the connection – but in a minute or two, some men wheeled out a cart with a (fake) pizza about 4 feet across!  

  Then two cute little girls in the costume they were subsequently to dance in came to where we were sitting and served each of us “important people” (hah!) a slice of real pizza.  

THEN, the dancers came on and did the tarantella while the “godfather” looked on benignly and clapped.  It was WONDERFUL!  The perfect ending to a most enjoyable show.

 

The VERY best part of the whole thing was seeing among the dancers so many people we know from the temple.  All in all, I (at least) came home quite “high” from the experience – the way I feel after a wonderful concert.  I’m still feeling it today.  Much of it, I know, comes from the genuine love that I feel for these people.  They are SO wonderful.  We really are brothers and sisters under the skin.  It has nothing to do with color, origin, ethnicity, or any other physical attribute.  We are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us, and we should love one another as He loves us.  Living here and working with these remarkable people, it is very easy to love them (even when they’re late for everything. <smile>)  

Okay, that's it for today.  Have a happy, healthy, safe week . . . y vayan con Dios!