Latin America

From Nancy Gonzales, Kalealoa
I would like to think of an immense film, shot at the altitude necessary to include the whole American continent. The larger picture remains frozen, the camera fixed, & thus we can observe the movements occurring on the continent in 1492, a few days before the arrival of the first illegal aliens. I would behold something like a rhythmic dance of harmonious, coordinated gestures, a bubbling beehive of activity, charged with life. It is estimated that over one hundred million persons lived in America at that time, organized in thousands of independent centers & sub-centers.

"Social dancers move rhythmically, usually to music, using prescribed or

improvised steps and gestures. They perform a set of movements that 

may communicate with other members of the same crowd."

In Mexico, Canada and the United States, there were more than a hundred groups of distinct languages that were spoken. Then we see a grand diversity of usages & customs, ceremonies, festivals, & local dress & beliefs, among the groups from Argentina to the Alaska. Along with the different groups was the importance of music and dance, the hub which was established in the Mexican Indian Empires, where they had "Professionals" along with the royalty. Climate, geography, & geographically determined fauna & flora occasioned limitless particularities among these peoples.

"In This Life" by Amy Hanaiallii

WE WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU TO JOIN THE FUN!

Submitted by Maile Yagi

These particularities, consequently, manifested themselves in most varied ways, surprising & delighting us with the wealth of their content & forms (which distinguish & mark them off from one another). In over half of the Americas, the foreigners did not bring their wives so that the mix had to begin there and that is really the basis of all that is Latin. And the reactions were different in Mexico or Argentina. Today the mixing continues but the identification is clearer. Latino! And there are people that still believe in White Supremacy and "Their Country." And at moment we are a not a good example for the banana republics.

"Social dancers believe that if we’re growing, we’re always

going to be out of our comfort zone. Let's face it."