Hola amigos! Angela and Emily here! Friday marked the last day of teaching at Malambo. We had a restful night and peaceful morning after sleeping in this morning. We had the opportunity to explore the streets and shops of Casco; some people exploring new areas, others sitting in coffee shops, and others relaxing at the hostel. Coming together at noon to eat lunch, we shared our last Panamanian lunch of rice, beans, vegetables, and meat, and after that hopped on the bus to teach at Malambo for our last day.
Molly Cook taught a classical ballet styled class to the 10-18 year old girls. It was impressive to see Molly’s ballet expertise shine through in this particular class as the girls seemed to be the most focused we had seen them all week. Though the movement was foreign to some of the girls, they seemed to enjoy the challenge of learning a new style. At the end of our class, both groups of students (10-18 and 5-9 year olds) came together for a showing. Both groups had learned quickly and presented combinations that they had learned throughout the week. In such a short time, the girls had impressively immersed themselves in our communication through movement. It was exciting to see the girls to enjoy different styles and teaching methods. After the show, we had a dance party and beautiful friendships and connections began to form through the exchange of movement, culture, photos, and music.
On the way back from Malambo we had time to reflect with each other on the bus and continued our discussion back at the hostel with pizza. This ending reflection was a beautiful representation of growth between our group and the students at Malambo. Later on in the evening some members of the group made it to a latin dance class taught by our very own Move EX director, Kimberly. She taught a fun Latin class with merengue and bachata. We ended our night in style by dancing the night away in our hostel living room during a power outage that affected the whole area of Casco.
Our week was filled with moving, conversation, reflection, sightseeing, eating, and sharing. There was no better way to end our week, but to dance, dance, dance!