Peru Negro

Last night, Mary and I went to see the Peruvian dance group Peru Negro. We’re blessed in our little town with a first-rate performing arts center that would be the envy of a town twice our size. Maybe even a town ten times our size. Sometimes we get performances worthy of the facility.

Peru Negro was one of the most exciting and enjoyable spectacles I’ve ever seen. I wish it had gone on for hours more, and I’d go back tonight to see it again if they were still playing here. It brings to the stage 22 dances, musicians and singers. Obviously, it celebrates the African slave heritage of Peru. In costumes and sometimes mannerisms of the dance, there’s a striking resemblance to American plantation life. The dances range from primitive to modern, but the music is always the driving, drum-centered rhythms I associate with Afro Cuban music. The singing simply stands your hair on end. In short, it was one of the most exciting performances I've ever seen. I found it very hard to slow down, my excitement was so great long after the performance.


Not the least of it was the costumes, which came alive with color, and color became a central part of the spectacle.

I see by their website at www.perunegro.org/ that they’re in Davis tonight, so I wanted to send a heads-up to Ed and Rhonda to try to make it if you possibly can.

¡Peru Negro!