Hips don’t lie: dancing, sharing, having fun!

This Tuesday was a special one for the volunteers. The sun was out, the weather was warm, and the sweet sound of salsa music was playing from the speakers.

Our volunteer, Alexandra, had prepared a small warm up to get in the right mood and to break down barriers to keep the lesson informal and fun!

Our sweet volunteer Ewa had prepared a special dance class for us and she taught us the basic steps of salsa. Not all of us had taken dance lessons before but we all had a great time trying to learn the steps and the movement of the hips. Ewa learned how to dance salsa from her two years of living in Argentina and she was an amazing teacher – super kind and helpful!

The dance lesson continued for another hour, but we switched to traditional Greek dances. As our teachers we had Katerina, one of our mentors, and Eliana, our project manager.

Not only did they teach us the steps we also learned about the history of the traditional dances, and how the dances are different in each region of Greece.

Listening to the traditional music of Greece inspired our Turkish volunteer Metehan to teach us a little about the Turkish traditions, and it was great! Greece and Turkey share some similarities in their cultures which was very noticeable as we started learning the steps to the Turkish dance.

It was so cool to have this intercultural exchange sharing our knowledge and traditions with one another, and to see that the traditions of each country of the world aren’t as different from each other as we think they are. This is what EVS and Youth Exchange is all about. It’s about being open-minded and accepting and about sharing our cultures for a better understanding of the world.