Chilean Dance

The cueca is the National Chilean Dance that has been passed down for centuries, normally performed at special events such as birthdays or weddings. Unfortunately it is not as popular as it used to be, but is still very well known. The cueca dance is when a man and a woman hold a handkerchief and dance with it.  The outfits of both the man and women are very trditional and flowing to create an amazing visual effect.  The handkerchief symbolizes them being away from each other, but by the end of the song they link arms and finally touch.  After, they start to dance in circles and still use their handkerchiefs.

Under the dictatorship of Pinochet, the cueca became the national dance of Chileans. He tried to use this as a falsehood of happiness for the Chilean people, making them citizens sing and dance would make them happy! The the tables turned when the cueca slowly turned into a median for women to express their feeling towards Pinochets murderous path. To protest this, the Chilean women in the cueca would hang pictures of their loved ones on around their neck or pin it onto their dresses.  I feel like this really shows how determined Chileans are to speak their mind and get their opinions across. 

At first i thought it was the stereotypical dance that is shown through media. Almost like a salsa, but rather, the cueca has so much debt and power to it. The cueca became a symbolism itself to the dictatorship of Pinochet, but not to support it, to fight it. This consists of political resistance and speaking out about Chile's problems. I really hope we can see this while in Chile! That would be beautiful to see, but I dont think we would be invited to a birthday party or a wedding while in Chile.