“Zapateo” is a Peruvian dance mixing Andean and African heritage, popular in a few coastal towns south of Lima is kept alive mostly by Afro-Peruvian children living in the area.
Traditionally, children practice throughout the year to dance for “Baby Jesus” when Christmas comes but lately, little children have started to understand that it is up to them to maintain the tradition.
Children have started to join dance companies to practice and improve their skills, the video that we share with you is in Spanish but even if you are not a Spanish speaker you can be sure to enjoy the music and the performances. The kids in the video come from unprivileged rural areas south of Lima, but in spite of their financial situation, they find joy in what they do, stepping hard to show their devotion and commitment to the dance and their ancestry.
httpv://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=L79ymaMDmjU&rel=1&eurl=&iurl=http%3A//i.ytimg.com/vi/L79ymaMDmjU/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskKbkde1rz6CS8EYhwKIC7QT&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1
To fully join a company, the children have to be “baptized” which includes splashing with Holy Water, some encouraging words from their “Zapateo Masters” and eating some salt.
The dance consists of a competition between two groups of dancers and it’s also a way to create music using the feet as a percussion instrument. Usually dancers are accompanied by guitar and cajon (wooden drum box) players. The Afro Peruvian Zapateo is similar to the stepping tap dance of African Americans and other Afro descendant communities around the world. The origins of most of them are from Africa itself
Gigi Pedraza
Inca Kids, A Fair Trade Store
www.incakids.org
