Over the past weekend, Wheaton College hosted a Halloween dance. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to observe the reggae dancing that I was studying. At the start of the dance they played a few reggae songs that I and many others danced too. We danced by winding our hips, and we also did some free style dancing. One person that I interviewed said, “Balfour is a place where we can dance and just have fun with our friends.” This person was of Jamaican and Panamanian decent. She, who would like to remain anonymous, said that she feels like she has a special bond with other people of Caribbean heritage, especially Jamaicans. Another associate stated that “It is also a place where we can do the type of dancing that we like without have to go to some specified club made just for reggae dancers.” Being around, not just Jamaicans, but everybody “from the islands” brings about a new and different vibe and sense of energy. They look so confident when they dance and it make you feel confident too, because it is really about having fun and moving your body in a way they you never though you would. The more fun, I found out, that you have with it the more you can feel how they feel when they hear “their” music. Now that I have really had hands on, first approach encounter with this culture, I want to actually study more and go in depth about how it is in the country of origin, Jamaica.
No comments:
Post a Comment