Los Negritos of Huallanca

My town has a "famous" and traditional dance called "El Baile de los Negritos" that occurs every Christmas and New Years in Huallanca. It's a dance that started around the 1950s and derives to "fondly remember" the black slaves who were brought to the area to work in the mines. For the dance people basically wear black masks that have wide noses and huge red lips (I know, I know, the racism but Peruvians don't really care), and very colorful outfits. This dance is so popular and loved in the area that kids start learning it when they are toddlers.

My brother, sister-in-law and her parents were in Huallanca visiting me for New Years and so they got to watch the dance and it was very special for me to share that with them. I have a lot of pride for my town and the local traditions :)

There were some other fun cultural dances going on that we got to watch. I just love Peruvian traditional dances from the mountains! They are so beautiful and have been preserved for so long and it's just amazing to me. People have such pride for their culture and traditions here which is so beautiful to me.

When my family from the US got to meet my Peruvian family :) It was very special!

My boyfriend dancing it up! Being from Lima this was all new for him!

A two year old dancing with his grandma. It was so adorable!

Watching the dances with my Peruvian family :)

I tried to upload a video of some of the dancing but the internet is too slow (even in Huaraz, the capital city of the state where I live!).

Stay tuned for the next blog post of teaching summer classes in my new library :)