Cumbia Dance in Costa Rica

Since coming to Costa Rica I have become a lover of latin music and latin dance.

After many lessons and a lot of practice, I have become what I would consider a functional to adequate dancer of salsa and merengue.  However, I am most interested in learning the Cumbia dance like a tico, which they generally call here, “Swing Criollo.”

I was once at a bar/disco in the little Southern Pacific beach town of Dominical.  I spotted this very lovely latin girl and I was trying to muster up the courage to ask her to dance.  However, before I could make my move a local guy grabbed her and wisked her onto the dance floor.  For the next half hour or so I sat mesmerized as I watched these two dance in Cumbia style.  It was almost like watching an olympic gymnastics routine.  By the end of their dancing I was even sweating from watching the display.

I decided then and there that I had to learn to do that. I am still learning, slowly.

Cumbia is a form of music that is popular throughout the Latin world. It originated in Colombia.

However, ticos dance Cumbia in a style that is unique to their culture.  It requires a lot of hopping with complex turns (see video below). I have tried to learn it, but I have a long way to go to match what I saw on the dance floor that night.

The Cumbia dance here is folkish and spirited. It reminds me of the clogging they do to bluegrass music in the mountains of the state where I was born, North Carolina, but a lot more complex.

To me it is the music and dance that best embodies the spirit of Costa Rican culture.

A culture that is in many ways unique in the Latin world and one that reflects a joy of living.

I guess that is why only in Costa Rica do we say, pura vida, or pure life.

Life here is indeed pura vida and the dancing shows it.

image credit: ★ FANTASMA ★ via Compfight cc