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After lengthy COVID-19 lockdowns, a weary world is ready to dance

From Buenos Aires, Argentina to South Africa’s Soweto, dancers around the world are letting loose.

Abegail Mesa (C) dances with members of the INDAK Banak Dance Company in Taytay, Rizal province, the Philippines, as they practise their routine for an upcoming virtual dance competition next month. The group practises in open spaces wearing face masks and in small groups. [Aaron Favila/AP Photo]
Published On 17 Oct 2021

Even in the depths of the pandemic – even when the world locked down, leaving billions isolated and desolated – some danced.

“I did not stop dancing for a second,” says Federico Carrizo, who competed in the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month. “In the kitchen, on the street, on the balcony …”

Some danced alone. Some danced alone and yet together, swaying and twirling across the internet. Some danced to be freed of the shackles of the coronavirus, if only for a moment.

“It was very hard to be for a year and a half without being able to go out to the recreation centre to dance,” says Joaquin Bruzon. “Sometimes during the quarantine at home we would dance to try to improve our spirits.”

Now, once again, the Failde Orchestra of Matanzas, Cuba, can perform danzóns like El Naranjero and Cuba Libre, A La Habana me Voy and Nievecita. And once again, Bruzon and his wife, Milagros Cousett, can glide across the dance floor.

Maybe it is because of the advent of COVID-19 vaccines. Maybe it is because feet can be repressed for just so long. But it seems that everywhere, dancers are letting loose.

At a family gathering on Topanga Beach in Malibu, California, Pejiman Sabet takes his wife, Gili, in his arms and dances in the sand. “Love is everything right now,” Gili says.

In Taytay, the Philippines, members of the INDAK Banak dance company wear masks to prepare for an upcoming competition. Abegail Mesa is overwhelmed – finally, she can dance with her friends.

In Beijing, a park is alive with plaza dancing – an activity popular with middle-aged and older women, curtailed at the pandemic’s height. “As long as I can move, I will keep dancing,” says Li Fei, a lead dancer.

In a Soweto studio, Tsimamkele Crankydy Xako practises South African dance gleefully. On a Cairo rooftop, Nadine El Gaharib spins in the air. In Gaza City, Palestinians romp in traditional uniform.

And in Oruro, Bolivia, the Diablada de Oruro dance – a fixture of the Andes for hundreds of years – is back after a one-year hiatus. Its absence was keenly felt. Dancer Andrea Hinojosa recalls how hard it was to sit at home last year and watch tapes of previous carnivals; he was elated to don the spectacular devil’s costume once more.

“Today,” he says, “the joy is back, we are dancing La Diablada again.”

Egyptian 26-year-old, Nadine El Gharib, dances on the rooftop of her home in Cairo, Egypt. 'Dance was crucial when COVID-19 started in terms of taking care of my wellbeing,' Gharib said. 'When restrictions forced us to stop going to the opera for classes I started online dance and it introduced me to a new world of dance. It was very inspiring.' [Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo]
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People dance on a promenade facing the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets at a beach in Barcelona, Spain. Every Sunday, swing lovers gather to dance in front of the sea organised by the swing dance school MesqueSwing Poblenou. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]
Tsimamkele Crankydy Xako, 28, a professional dancer, practises with others at the Soweto Moves Projects dance studio in Soweto, South Africa. [Jerome Delay/AP Photo]
A woman dances to the rhythm of the Mandinka drums during the Kankurang ritual in Bakau, The Gambia. [Leo Correa/AP Photo]
Palestinians perform during a folklore dancing festival in Gaza City. [Khalil Hamra/AP Photo]
Joaquin Bruzon and his wife Milagros Cousett dance during a rehearsal for the Failde orchestra's danzon music in Matanzas, Cuba. The couple said it was very difficult for a year and a half without being able to go out to the recreation centres to dance. 'Sometimes during the quarantine at home we would dance to try to improve our spirits.' [Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo]
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Andrea Hinojosa (C), dressed as a devil, performs the Diablada de Oruro dances in Oruro, Bolivia. Hinojosa says, 'It has been difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, I missed not being able to dance at the Oruro carnival, I remembered with nostalgia watching the videos of previous years how we danced, today the joy is back, we are dancing La Diablada again.' [Juan Karita/AP Photo]
People dance at Paradiso pop venue, club and cultural centre, in Amsterdam, on the day The Netherlands dropped the coronavirus-related 1.5-metre (five-foot) social distancing rule. Paradiso is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the 19th century. [Peter Dejong/AP Photo]
Federico Carrizo and Juan Segui dance while competing in the final round of the stage category during the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 'Although all these months that we spent in lockdown at a global level were difficult, especially for cultural workers, personally it helped me to reinforce that this is the profession that I enjoy doing,' Carrizo said. 'Likewise, I did not stop dancing for a second, in the kitchen, on the street, on the balcony ...' [Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo]
Indian classical Odissi dancer Damini Mehta, 22, on the ghats of the river Yamuna, in New Delhi, India. Mehta, a professional dancer and a young entrepreneur, said that she has cultivated a sense of sacred significance with the dance during the pandemic, it has helped her experience familiarity during uncertain times. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
Oksana Kagno and her dance teacher Yuri Nezdoiminoga perform during a rehearsal in Moscow, Russia. Oksana runs a successful business of supplying LED screens to TV shows and events, but in her free time, she enjoys ballroom dancing. In 2019, Oksana and her dancing partner Yuri Simachev earned the title of the world vice-champions in Pro-Am, a discipline of ballroom dancing in which a couple consists of a professional dancer and an amateur. [Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo]
Ana-Maria Simionescu [L), a dance instructor of the Swing Steps Bucharest club, dances with Marian Ganciu at sunset, in Bucharest, Romania. Members of the club gathered for an outdoor dance session in the Kisselef park, as the sharp rise of new COVID-19 infections led to restrictions on some indoor group activities. [Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo]
Members of an informal plaza dance group wave cloth fans as they dance to music at a public park in Beijing on Tuesday. Plaza dance, group dancing performed in public spaces like parks or squares, is a popular activity in China particularly with middle-aged and older women, that was briefly curtailed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its popularity has returned as China has lifted many restrictions on daily life amid a largely successful battle to control the local spread of coronavirus. [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
Pejiman Sabet and his wife, Gili, dance in front of their family members on Topanga Beach in Malibu, California, as a surfer rides a wave in the distance. The couple, who are fully vaccinated, said the gathering was just to appreciate life. 'Love is everything right now,' said Gili. [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]
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