Cabildo

  In the month of November, Cartageneros celebrate their independence from Spain, which took place November 11, 1811.  Not only is there partying involved, but some traditional dances are performed as well.  Five years ago, COJOWA started to reenact the celebrations at school by having every other grade level perform a dance.
  You know what that means!  That's right: the teachers are invited to participate in a dance.  Never one to pass up the opportunity to delve into a culture or to make a complete fool out of myself, I nervously signed up, telling everyone within earshot that I have no rhythm.  Unfortunately, that didn't phase them in the least.
  For the last two months, we spent several Wednesdays after school practicing for two hours (instead of getting professional development or free time).  Halfway through, Sandro, the coordinator of it all, would come in with juice boxes and some tasty, fattening snack, i.e. cheesy bread.  Thankfully, they hired a professional choreographer to help us learn the dances, and you could just tell that she would so much rather be teaching the lithe Colombian kids than the mostly North-American-two-left-footed staff.
  Luckily, we pulled the dances together.  The first one, the Bullerengue, is a traditional dance that has a whole lot of symbolization.  Our choreographer put heavy, bright makeup on all the girls and helped us put our hair up in a wrap.  While watching the video, I am the fourth person in the left line at first.  Otherwise I'm on the very right in the second row.  If it wasn't for Jen standing in front of me for both dances, I don't know what I would've done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDMHjdtNCQ&feature=youtu.be

  The second dance, the Ras Tas Tas, was a wee bit more provocative.  After running outside and taking off the flaw-covering white dresses, we quickly started this popular tune.  My students were right to the side of me, so I could hear their cheers and see their delighted faces (knowing they would have something to tease me about for the rest of the year).  After the dance, several of them came up and showed me homemade videos of the dances.  Uggghhhhhh......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8JeHhmJII

  Although I had that awkward, get-me-out-of-here smile plastered to my face the entire time, I quite enjoyed the camaraderie my fellow dancers and I had and am definitely planning on doing it again next year.  Plus, it's all for the kids, right?