For those of you who have been reading our blog, you know we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Rio Carnival in Feb. As the Carnival celebrates the Samba dance, our travel planning had us really reminisce another very romantic dance performance we saw last year.
The dance is called La Marinera, and it is the National Dance of Peru. According to the Wikipedia,
“Marinera is a coastal dance of Peru, generally called the “National Dance of Peru.” Marinera is a graceful and romantic couple’s dance that uses handkerchiefs as props. The dance is an elegant and stylized reenactment of a courtship, and it shows a blend of the different cultures of Peru.”
We have heard of the Samba in Brazil, Salsa in Cuba, and Tango in Argentina, but have never learned of the Marinera until we watched it at the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo in Cusco. Since then, we have been watching the video below every now and then to “relive” the moment.
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The dance performance also included many other Peruvian dances, although I think the best hands down is La Marinera, which is usually is the last dance of the night. Pictures of the other dances are in the photo gallery at the end of the post.
If you like the performance in the video and you are or will be in Cusco, head over to Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo to watch it yourself. The performance, together with the other more well-known tourist locations, are included in the price of the tourist ticket. So if you are going to the other sites anyway, you can argue that the performance is “free.”
To follow our other adventures in Peru and our journey to Machu Pacchu, check out these posts:
- Starting Our Machu Picchu Travel from Cusco
- Sacred Valley, Peru – Pisac, Moray, Salinas and Ollantaytambo
- Seeing the Milky Way in Aguas Calientes
- 10 Tips for Getting to Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu – Lost City of the Incas
