Festival Reflections
Sometimes art and learning takes place away from the classroom and away from the paint. Last weekend was a bit of a vacation from vacation school. El Festival del Ocobo is a weekend long festival with two nights of dancing and partying. I enjoy dancing, but really It ends up being me making a fool of myself, the way I try. Going with just the adults of my host family, I wasn’t exactly sure what I thought it would be, but I don’t think I expected all of my students to be there too, dancing right alongside everyone else.
Everyone here seems to be able to dance, it doesn’t seem to matter how or old they are. I also don’t seem to be able to figure it out, which naturally means everyone had to try to teach me, especially the kids. Before I realized it, I found myself being taught salsa, bachata and countless other dances by the many talented seven year olds in my class. They tried their best, but I’m apparently not a great dance student.
I think a lot of us have memories of awkward school thrown middle school dances where everyone sat around in trying to look cool instead of having fun. With kids here, they didn’t feel the need to be shy or worried about how they looked on the dance floor, nor were they worried about a few kids ruining it for the rest. Instead they were enjoying themselves and welcoming me into their festivities as well.
