Dancing in the Park

Have you ever been walking through the park when something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye, and you are immediately intrigued and wanting to know more about the situation? Well this past Thursday I was finishing up a meeting with my pastor, at a coffee shop, when I decided to take a stroll through the park to look at the scenery on my way back home. As I was walking I looked at the different crafts that were being sold, smelt the lovely smells of the foods in the park, and then out of the corner of my eye I saw a camera crew and a guy standing there with a microphone...

I don't know about you, but when I see a random TV crew and a person with a microphone I often ponder what they are doing and then wander over to get a better look. At that moment it looked like the guy was not only standing there waiting to record a show, but he was looking for volunteers to join him. Since that was the case, I made eye contact with the guy holding the microphone and was quickly pursued and asked to join in on their festivities. Being the adventurous person I am I jumped on the opportunity to join in the fun and then realized that I was joining a group of Peruvian guys to do a dance routine. At the time I wasn't really sure what the show was, but soon after dancing I found out that the show was called "Esto es Guerra" and it was a game show where guys and girls compete against one another.

Before starting the recording we had a few quick run-throughs of the moves we were supposed to be doing and then we got down to business and started filming. Since everything was in Spanish I was not 100% sure what we were doing but I caught on pretty quick. Then within a few seconds of our recording I saw one of the producers point out to the male host that I had blue eyes, as did he, and they had me come up to the front and we showed of our blue eyes to the camera. One thing that I have noticed being in South America is that they really like blue eyed people! Anyways, after showing off our eyes I began to return to my position when the host told me that I was supposed to stay up front and show off a dance move to the camera. Having been put in similar positions I through down a move or two and then realized that everyone was following along, so the host told me to continue. So what did I do...I threw down moves like the sprinkler, shopping cart, among others. Along with that I had people move forward and back and side to side and they would all follow along. I have to admit it was a pretty fun experience!

After the dance I watched the ladies do their dance and quickly realized that the dudes were far superior in their dance skills, although I may have been mildly biased. When all was said and done I went up and met the two hosts and a few of the crew members and they informed me that that show will be aired this following Monday the 28th of May at 6:30 PM on Channel 4. If you are in Peru you should definitely tune in to watch "Esto es Guerra" this following Monday and watch me as I make a fool of myself on TV!

To further the events of this story I will add that I actually saw some of the crew members later on that evening while I was walking to a friends house in another part of town. As I passed by a parked car I made eye contact with the person in the passenger seat, who looked a bit familiar, and then the gal in the backseat said "Dani, Dani!!!" I was a bit confused for a second as to who it was and then realized it was the group from the park that I had danced for earlier that afternoon. What a small world, right. As I talked with them the second time I shared with them that I had an idea for another dance party in the park that was inspired by the video on youtube called "Dance Walking Fitness." Now I am hoping to connect with the cast and crew from "Esto es Guerra" and film an amazing Dance Walking routine through Parque Kennedy in Lima, Peru as a way to unite music, exercise, and dance all together with friends and foreigners!

Stay tuned to see what will happen in the following weeks regarding this story. Hopefully I will have an amazing followup story that includes a video of us dancing in the park as well as a clip from the TV show that was filmed in our first encounter in the park!