Latineos - Latin America, Caribbean, arts, culture

Dim lights, bodies moving rhythmically to the clave, gliding sonar waves reaching every eardrum. As I walk through the doors, I’m offered a hand and immediately swept to the centre of the basement bar dance floor.

When we think of the future, it is natural to contemplate our youth, whether past or present. One of my greatest accomplishments during my pre-adolescent years was my starring role in a dance performance at my elementary or primary school (as we say in Jamaica) when I was 8 years old. I remember now, 19 years later, the final rehearsal… pacing the steps, feeling the hot concrete on my bare feet, as I wore my big sister’s long, blue nightgown as my costume. The dance was choreographed in the spirit of a revivalist experience. It was an exciting time for me – head wrapped with a colourful scarf, anchored by two No.2 pencils on either temple. The tricky part about this last rehearsal was that I would not do the final, most electrifying segment of the Pocomania-flavoured piece on the burning, concrete, open-air platform.