About two weeks ago I arrived in the colorful city of Salvador and so far it is all I was waiting for. Before visiting a place I always Google it and to some extent create a physical expectation from the pictures I see. However, when I got to the places for which Salvador is known, I started realizing that those are not really the main identifiers of this place. All the things other than physical structures that I have been identifying as key factors of the city of Salvador is what I’ve started to refer to as “visible culture.” From the music, the dances, the colorful clothing, the different hairstyles, and the lively personalities of the people, I see Salvador as a unique and colorful city!
This week I had the opportunity to visit the organization ILÊ AIYÊ, which is a space for the cultural and artistic development and celebration of the Afro-Brazilian population. In that place we took an African dance class that was an intense non-stop workout to the beat of live drums. It was amazing! Something that was really special to me was the view from the window of that classroom. Growing up as a dancer of many styles, the classrooms really become a space of enthusiasm, perseverance, joy, and passion. What was significant to me was how different that view from that specific classroom was, compared to the views outside the windows of the classrooms were I grew up dancing. From this window I could see a very challenged community, but still within that community I was able to find this special place where others can also share and live a same passion. This view wasn’t the little park or benches under a tree that I could see from my window at my dance academies; it was a large amount of little houses in a place where you know there are so many existent challenges, but it is still a colorful view. This view is colorful from its literal meaning and colorful just by knowing that in that classroom and in the community outside that window, such a lively culture is celebrated and most importantly, preserved! Salvador has amazed me!
