Colombia is full of beautiful traditions. My favorite traditions are those of music and dance. Culture here is so rich that when you travel around different regions of Colombia, you will see that every region has their own genre of music, dance and costume to go with it.
I have learned a lot about dance culture in Colombia. Throughout my time living in the departments of Boyacá and Atlantico, plus traveling to different places, I have gotten to see many different festivals. In these festivals there have always been presentations of music and dance. I remember seeing live cumbia, mapale, bullerengue and pajarito on the coast. I have also seen bambuco in multiple places that literally comes from the Bambouk region of western Africa. The truth is there are more styles of music and dance than you could count.
Here the dance culture is something special. I remember on my first day of school, I came to class and every student stood up to dance as another student brought in a speaker. I remember reflecting on my high school experience, that would have never happened. Here I had students teaching me carranga, salsa, merengue, and bachata the first day they met me. I was the only one who felt even a bit awkward about it. But eventually, I learned why this was part of introducing themselves to me: because dance here is important.
