On the way to the center of the town, I met men and women dancing in costumes. The simple but passionate beats were repeated again and again. The dancers moved forward slowly by turning left and right in a rhythm.
Ladies were in top-hat and knee-length short skirts, holding beers, shaking to left and right like butterflies, drinking and dancing. Men dressed like martial actors in Peking opera that wore a three-layer tube skirt, handing a sounding metronome, sonorously forward and backward, cross stepping on the drums. The silver armors shone in the sun. Even more, cute children in heavy tube skirts also swayed with adults.
The repeated passionate music made me, who was always sensible, exciting involuntarily and prompted me to take an ocean of pictures at various angles. And those handsome guys danced more energetically facing my camera.
Tagging after the dance team, I entered a hall. They continued dancing in circles. A boy at the periphery of the team greeted me laughingly and asked my name. I replied loud with "CHINESE" and "X, U". He told me that they were from the border of the desert in Bolivia, and handed me a beer. We toasted and cheered facing the camera. The boy shouted "Dancing, Song, Song, Song!" to me and took me to see the leader of the dance team, where he pointed at me and still shouting "Song! Song!" I was confused like in a fog. What was the meaning of "Song"?
I didn't realize it until dinner. I ordered dinner and signed "XU" to wait for the meal. When the meal was ready, the waiter waved the paper and yelled "Song! Song! Song!". Now I finally reacted that what they called "Song" turned out to be my surname "Xu". I immediately checked via the internet and realized that in Spanish, sometimes the "Xu" in the name sounds "S". So that's "Song".
Later, I went to the information center in the town to ask what dance it was so exciting. The service staff turned on the computer and pointed at the full screen of Spanish to tell me that it was a kind of religious dance. But I still doubted it. When I was back and continued to search various verification materials, I learned that this was a Bolivian national dance called Morenada (dance of black slaves), a music and dance style from the Bolivian Andes, and its characteristics were a mixture of African and local elements.
The origin of the dance was said as that the silver miners of Potosi were inspired by African slaves; it was also said that the dance was based on the Aymara culture and was created by the discovered cave paintings on the coast of Lake Titicaca in the Taraco peninsula.
In June 2011, Morenada had been declared as an intangible cultural heritage of Bolivia a diverse country.
On August 4, 2013, a historic event called "100% Bolivia Morenada: for World Peace and Bolivian Cultural Respect" was performed by tens of thousands of people in 76 cities in 23 countries around the world. This event was organized by OBDEFO (Bolivian Organization of the Defense and Dissemination of Folklore). The purpose was to show the pure Bolivian dance to the world.
I encountered such an exciting dance parade as soon as I arrived in the town. I deeply felt the splendidness of American culture and the enthusiasm of South American. What else did I worry about? Just went into the enthusiasm of the Latin Americans. I thought even if I did not see any spots later, I was already worthwhile.