Wednesday, August 16, 2006
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After long bus rides, taxi's beeping all night long,
and loud music playing until 3 in the morning we finally made it to Arequipa where the
highlight of our trip was. FESTIDANZA 2006. Tuesday morning, we were woken
up for breakfast, which consisted of freshly squeezed papaya juice, Mate
de Coca(Coca tea), and bread with jam and butter. After breakfast we
refreshed our costumes in preparation for our evening performance. Around
noon we went out in our FESTIDANZA bus for a quick city tour. Following
the tour we went to lunch that consisted of rice, a chicken leg, lettuce,
1 slice of tomato and a potato. After lunch, our bus dropped us off at our
hotel because we had to change into our practice clothes for our practice
that took place in the Coliseum. At 4 o' clock we headed out to door for a
5 minute walk to the Coliseum. When we got on stage, we found out that the
floor was veryslippery and the altitude made it even harder for us to
dance. After we practiced our dances we headed back to the hotel to get
ready for the performance, which took place at 7 PM. While, I was getting
ready for our performance I saw through my hotel window the extremely long
lines that were gathering in front of the main door to the Coliseum. I got
very excited and started screaming for everyone to come and see. After 2
hours of preparing for our performance we were finally ready to give our
best for the 10,000 Peruvians that gathered in the Coliseum. When we got
to the Coliseum everyone wanted a picture and couldn't wait for us to
perform. At the beginning of the show, one couple from every country in
the festival gave a mini parade for the observers. During the show, every
dance group gave one dance except Polonia. The organizers gave us extra
time because of the distance that we had traveled to get to Peru. When it
was our turn to perform, we all were eager to get up on stage. Pan Andrzej
Pietkowski introduced us and it was our time to shine. Our 1st dance was
Krakowiak and we had 2 minutes to change into Warszawska. When we appeared
on stage the crowd went wild. Both of our dances were successful. The
10,000 people loved the performance that we gave them. We were also very
honored to have the polish Honorable Ambassador of Peru Przemyslaw Marzec
to attend the opening night of the festival. We were soon to be the daily
press. The night ended very merrily and we had 2 more days of performances
to look forward to.
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