|
This Saturday 18 of April will appear the great closing of summer 2009; MINISTRY OF SOUND Summer Closing Fest in Amador, Isla Perico reuniting 3 great talents of worldwide electronic music: Harry “choo choo” Romero, Erik Morillo DJ BERHROUZ and DJ RAP – best female dj. By Panama will be performing Tom Sawyer, Edward Allen and Antonio Diaz.
Before all the prognoses the Panama selection overthrew the champion of the area Costa Rica, and it became for the first time champion of the Cup of Nations DIGICEL. The Panamanians celebrated an end with flavor of revenge and won the favorites by the route of the penitentiaries with a marker of 5 – 3. The final, played in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, ended in a 0-0 tie after regulation. It was the first championship victory in the history for the Panamanian selection.
When was seen by international television the victory of the selection of Panama, the Panamanians get ready to celebrate the title with a great caravan of vehicles crossing the 50th street; one of the main routes of the Panama City. Panama filled of joy and celebration with the victory of the national team. Hundreds of happy Panamanians and dressed with red t-shirts filled the 50th street and other streets near the same. It did not matter that was Sunday, the Panamanians decided to party all night the triumph with music, drinks and dance demonstrating to the entire world that the one that persevere reaches. Panama has become cradle of champions in different competitions throughout the last year and in soccer was not the exception. Congratulations to the 2009 team champion, the Panama selection, and to the red tide that throughout the years has supported the team to the 100%.
This is the longest theatre season for a play in Panama’s history with 69 presentations. “Gentlemen Prefer Them Naughty ” will be in scene until November 30th in the Aba Theatre, located in Transistmica almost next to TVN. Functions are Monday through Friday at 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 4, 6, and 8pm. Don’t miss this play! The Rockin’ Gorilla (just simply called Gorilla by the people) is centrally located at Via Argentina in Panama City. Gorilla is a restaurant, a bar, night club, and a dance club so it’s ideal for any occasion. They have a huge variety of food that you can enjoy with their broad selection of imported and national beers, mixed drinks (cocktails), wine and hard liquors in a very friendly atmosphere. One night, I called my girlfriends and asked them to go out with me. I wanted to go out to relieve all the stress from the week. So, I went to pick them up and as we were driving around we saw Gorilla. I have never heard of this place before, but one of my friends did so the rest of us decided to give it a shot. As we were approaching to the place, I saw a lot of guys and girls just hanging outside. They have a patio were you can sit and enjoy the fresh air, have a cigarette if you want to, and of course drink, eat, and listen to the music that is playing from inside. We finally walked in; the place was pretty crowded but not over-crowded. We didn’t have a problem to find a table. We sat down and a waiter immediately came to take our orders. It was already 11:00pm so we were not going to eat, but we were going to drink! We didn’t know what to order so the waiter explained to us their drink special. They had “cubetazos” (buckets of beers) of national beers. My friends ordered one, but I’m not a fan of beers so I ordered myself a Mai-tai. While we were waiting for our drinks, they started a karaoke contest. Only a couple of people went up and sang, so they decided to stop it for a while. Then they started a dance contest. The host asked for four guys to volunteer to the contest. They all went up, danced and followed all the directions from the host. As always, there was one guy that stole the show. Everyone was applauding him. Then the host asked for the contestants to find a partner. Once again they started dancing and followed the host’s directions. The one guy that stole the show dancing alone did it one more time. He started doing crazy things so his partner followed. She started to dance in a very sexy way and everyone was enjoying the show. The show finally ended and of course the crazy, provocative, sexual coupled won. It was an amazing Latin night, a crazy and wild party, a real Panamanian party. But many other things happened that night, amazing things. Stay put until next week to read the end of this party. In Latin American countries the quinceañera party is a big celebration for the young woman entering womanhood. Its origins in Latin America are a mix of the Spanish culture and the indigenous people culture found in the new world. The origin of Quinceañera dates back to the Aztecs around 500 B.C.
The ancient Mayas and Aztecs girls once turned 15 year old of age were considered women and were given the instruction and responsibilities of womanhood. Older women used to train or teach them their future roles as young women. During the girls’ rite of passage, the community would thank the gods for the future wives and mothers, and the young women would vow to serve the community. The young girls were instructed on them tribes’ history and they would take new responsibilities that would get them ready for marriage. Music would have been the thread that held the entire party together, and everyone would have danced and sang and prayed along to it. The Spanish since the middle ages have been doing debutants ball, which is just a way to let society know that a young woman is ready for marriage. With the merge of both Spanish and indigenous culture, the age of 15 was for a young woman in the new world a time of decision for the girl who would decide whether to join the church or get married. The event became a personal agreement of faith and a pledge to become good Christian wives and mothers.
Today quinceañera parties are big religious and cultural celebrations, where the entire family gathers to commemorate this important time on a young woman’s life. And although this is a hugely significant rite of passage, it is also an enormous honor girls look forward to with pride and happiness. Quinceañera party can be a very formal ball where the birthday girl wears a beautiful and usually old fashioned gown, plus she gets to have a court, made up of several of her girlfriends and boyfriends. The “Court”, or honor escort, plus the birthday girl and her male escort dance several choreographed dances. The quinceañera wears a tiara which symbolizes that she is a princess towards the eyes of God. And is given a precious jewel, usually a ring which symbolize the unending circle of life, and she and her father have a special father-daughter dance to a sentimental song, and then he introduce the young woman to society, just like at a wedding. Many quinceañera parties today have a more modern flavor and the quinceañera do not wear the traditional ball gown, but many different alternatives. Depending on the party theme, the girls may wear a belly dance outfit, hula girl’s skirt, or even pants for a hip-hop party theme. Quinceañera Cruise party is also very popular among the young travelers. Cruises and travel agents have packages specially designed for the quinceañera to go on her first trip without her family and walking towards womanhood. Don’t you wish you were young like them? |
|
If you are in need of a time out from the dance and drink scene and want to do something a bit different, you will like to know that Panama has lots of cultural life. Not only we are party, live music and dance performances, but we also have excellent actors and actresses. Last Sunday, I went to Aba Theater with a group of girl friends to watch the production “Gentlemen Prefer Them Naughty”, a very funny comedy under the direction of Baby Torrijos. 12 actors are in scene and this comedy has all the ingredients to keep you laughing the entire show: a wild girl, naughty Pepito (you are going to love this character), sexual tension, the sexy girl, drama, drama and more drama! I am not going to tell you the story line that is something you need to discover by yourself.
The sexy Panamanian actress Aurea Horta is participating in this play with a double role, and also the rename actors Juan Manuel Ferrer, Carlos Caballero, Luis Gustavo Macías, Masha Armuelles, Yiniva Cárdenas, Hugo Rodríguez, Carlos Quintana, Eladio Aguilar, Idania Ceville, Abdiel Tapia y Mónica Miguel.
