El sabor dominicano (Dominican Flavor)

In Spanish, sabor generally translates as "flavor". The word sabor makes me excited because if it comes up in conversation, it's probably because I'm about to get to eat something really tasty. In the Dominican Republic, however, and other Latin American countries, sabor also has a different meaning sometimes that has to do with the general feeling, vibe, or excitement that comes from music and dancing. This week we got to take a trip to a local university and begin experiencing more of the sabor dominicano that doesn't have to do with the delicious foods our host families give us each day. This week we learned to dance merengue!

Merengue originated here in the Dominican Republic, and is considered the country's national dance. Our dance instructors were students from the local university (PUCMM) and we started off counting from 1-8 muchas veces in Spanish. Sometimes it was a challenge to count to 8 – in rhythm – in Spanish – without stepping on your partner.

After a little practice, we started to feel the sabor dominicano and learned some more complicated moves!

It was so fun to see everyone dancing and trying new things together. ¡Bailaron muy bien y con un poco de sabor dominicano! Next dance class we’ll be learning bachata and salsa, so look forward to hearing more about that next week!