Last night I had the priviledge to go to a dance expo at some ruins on the outskirts of Antigua. Before the show started, my friend, Doug, commented on how amazing of a setting it was to be outside and enjoy some traditional (as well as some Brittney Spears and Chris Brown) music and dance. I agreed, not knowing how profound the backdrop was going to be for me...The backdrop, as you can tell, is a ruin of an old Catholic Church, with a stage lit by both electric lights and beautiful little luminaries, to the right and left of this little ampitheater is a barbed wire fence containing rows of coffee plants. As the first traditional dancers came out I couldn´t stop smiling at the beautiful night and the backdrop for these girls to display their art. A few songs into the show, we noticed some flashes of clothing on one side of the rows of coffee. Not long afterward an entire family of children appeared along the barbed wire- completely oblivious that we could see them watching the show through the fence. The rest of the show my mind was not so much on the variety of different performances, including some not-so-modestly dressed Britney Spears impersonaters, belly dancers, and little kiddos dancing hip-hop to Chris Brown´s ¨I don´t hear nothing but the ladies calling¨. My mind was wandering to what could possibly be going through the minds of our little spectators on the other side of the wire... Were their thoughts far away from their current life? Were they looking in at the costumes- finer and more costly then any clothing they will ever own? Have they seen women on t.v. before dancing like Brittany (or Brittnay herself)- with such suggestive clothing? Were they looking in at the luminaries in wonder at so much cost for candles, and music, and setting? Where they in awe that so many of us had spent the 35Q (aprox $4) to get into the show? Did any of them work the coffee farm today? Shine shoes or sell candy in the park all day? If so, did they bring home that much money for their entire days income? Did they go home to a single bed to share (if at all) to share in the same dreams as well... dreams of being dancers, dreams of beauty, of a different life?
Guatemala is ranked number 13 in the world for the largest income gap between the rich and poor in the country... I don´t think that reality had set in quite so deep and true before last night.
