By JING LIN
Observer Staff
NOV. 8, 2007

Despite common perception, everyone can dance. At least that’s what was proved at the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center last Sunday night.

Men and women, 70-year-olds and toddlers, abandoned themselves to the passion of Latin dance in an instructional dance session from authentic Latin dancers. The want-to-be dancers learned to step to a live performance of Latin jazz music from the Afro Bop Alliance. Afro Bop Alliance, a Latin jazz septet from Annapolis, Md., performs throughout the greater
Baltimore-Washington D.C. area and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Dancers perform for the Afro Bop Alliance
Photo By Jing Lin

These talented musicians, made up of three horns and four rhythms, perform at a variety of events - including ethnic, cultural, and music festivals, thrilling audiences with their infectious polyrhythmic grooves, harmonic colorings and improvisational lines.

Right before the Afro Bop Alliance guys started jazzing, two dancers from the Ballet Hispanico School of Dance, dressed in Latin dance apparel, taught the audience the simplest Latin dance steps. At first, some people were too shy to shake their bodies in such a seducing way, but soon, they all looked like dancers by nature.

“There was no dance in primitive age, human moved his body according to his mood, and found the movement made him happy. It was how dance came into being,” Jason Chen, a member of the audience, said. “You shouldn’t be awkward when dancing, because it’s your natural movement.”

People visiting the Kennedy Center for other reasons were attracted to the Millennium Stage by the sounds of the Latin music and laughter from those dancing.