There is a new Blog that has come to our attention that anyone interested in Peruvian weaving crafts should check out. It’s The Loom, published by Monica Vanthoff, owner of Peru Art Australia, which promotes and sells, among other products, the shawls and scarves produced by the Parubamba Weavers Association in Cusco.
Our favorite documentary filmmaker Mitch Teplitsky, director of Soy Andina, and Peruvian filmmaker Gaby Yepes, director of Danzak, will be at the Lima Clubhouse of South American Explorers next Wednesday to offer a presentation on their new project about Scissors Dancers.
Machu Picchu has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, but visitors are often surprised by gaps in knowledge about the Lost City of the Inca. Why was it abandoned at the time of the Spanish conquest? How did the Inca move the enormous stone blocks into place without using the wheel or metal tools? How do we find the answers when the Inca left no written history?
There’s a lively debate about the origins of the Marinera, and several contrasting schools of thought. It’s not surprising that everyone in Peru wants to claim a slice of the country’s most popular dance. It’s a dramatic and romantic paired dance, with the couple making sweeping gestures, showing off the white traditional costumes of Peru’s north coast. Watch this clip from the documentary Soy Andina, which travels through Peru, explaining the country’s diverse regional cultures through the story of two dancers.
Sharing the ¾ time signature of the Viennese waltz, the Peruvian version also plays on themes of love and loss, but as this video shows, both the music and the steps have a more vigorous, staccato style than the traditional European dance.
