Blanca Ribas Turon continues her report on DanceSport in South America. This is the second part, the first part can be accessed here.
DanceSport in Brazil and Chile
The next country that followed was Brazil. Of course, I had my working stint there coincide "accidentally" with the carnival period. I was particularly happy that Marcos Eduardo da Costa took part in my workshops. He is a gifted Samba dancer in one of the biggest Samba schools in Sao Paulo. Thus I was able to do my workshops in the huge Samba school of “Império de Casa Verde” and I was invited to participate at the last pre-carnival trainings.
It goes without saying that I went to the competition at the Sambadrome to support “my” school with passion. During my time in Brazil, I thought it would also be worth celebrating carnival in the Sambadrome of Rio de Janeiro with thousands of dancing Samba fans. What an experience! We celebrated until the early hours of the morning in an amazing atmosphere!
After this Samba frenzy my journey led me back to the south of the continent, to Santiago de Chile. There many young couples were waiting for me and I could see that the popularity of DanceSport was boosted temporarily because of a TV show similar to “Dancing with the Stars.” However, the participants competing in Chile’s version were more interested in losing weight – according to the show’s motto “Dance Yourself Slim!” – than anything else. The show turned out to be not very successful with the audiences and was soon cancelled. I just hope that the DanceSport will remain popular, because what I saw convinced me. In 2012, Alfredo Araya and Viviana Diaz represented their country for the first time at the Senior World Championship in Belgium.
After Chile I went north along the Andes to Peru. In Lima it happened to me at last. Almost normal for the people living there, it was my premiere: early in the morning I experienced my first earthquake! At first I wondered why my bed was moving. But when I saw the lamp was also swinging, I instantly knew. It was quite a strong quake with 6.3 on the Richter scale. Three years earlier the Peruvian DanceSport scene had been shaken up too. Despite of it the number of dancing couples is on an increase and – as I was glad to discover – all ten dances are performed with great enthusiasm.
