As part of the week of celebration of the shared history between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Guateque Folkloric Ballet Company of Puerto Rico performed at Island Center in a free exhibit for the community. It was a night of dance and music.

	We enter and pass the concession stand on our way to find a seat at the open air amphitheater.

	The evening began with a few words of welcome from VI/PR Committee persons Vera Falu and Samuel Sanes.

	The narrative was given in Spanish but the translation went something like this: At first, the Taino lived peacefully on their island, Borinquen, living off the land and celebrating life.

	Fishing and planting took up their time.

	And then arrived another band of people, the Caribs, a warlike tribe. There were raids and times of peace.

	Carib raids were sometimes for food and sometimes to steal away women.

	And now, a new arrival was witnessed. The Conquistadors had arrived and life would change forever.

	The conquistadors built plantations and needed workers for the fields, so they enslaved the Taino to make a profit.

	The Taino toiled in the hot sun, and many died of disease. What had their world come to?

	While most perished, some Taino escaped to other islands and to South America. The Conquistador saw that it was time to usher in a new system. Thus began the African slave trade.

	During a brief interlude the First Lady Cecile de Jongh greeted the crowd and was given gifts from the various groups performing. The dance troupe leaders in turn gave each other gifts and received gifts. The band played Virgin Islands tunes to which Virgin Islands dances were performed, such as the Quadrille.

	The plain white of these gowns represent the time of slavery when finery was made from bleached flour sacks and crocus bags. Without money, colored cloth could not be bought. It can symbolize mourning as well.

	The Madras cloth of these gowns represents the time after slavery when actual cloth could be bought and so could have a pattern. It also represents the African individual in diaspora and a more prosperous time post slavery.

	While the Eurpoeans had their own dances which were copied by the enslaved and made into the recognizable forms we know today, this dance celebrates the comingling of the European, African and Indian heritages to form the Caribbean and Latin America that we know today.

	After the dance, the Three Kings were presented. The Three Kings celebration is the culmination of the Latin American calendar year. It is more popular than Christmas and actually comes in January. Christmas isn't over until Three Kings Day.

	We are next given a glimpse of the culture of Latin America with the representative dances of various South American countries. First is the Waltz Venezuelan style.

	With a representative headpiece, the Chote from Panama.

	From Colombia, the Gomba.

	The merengue from the Dominican Republic.

	From Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the Jarana.

	From Ecuador, a dance representing the humbleness and love of indigenous people.

	Chile's Pasqual Islands bring us a dance in the Polynesian tradition.

	From Puerto Rico, Salsa.

	And also from Puerto Rico the Plena.

	And we end with Carnival Puerto Rican style!