A Very Merry Christmas???

Ok, so I wasn't able to properly photographically capture all the slendour that this evening was so I'll just have to attempt to describe it.

The Christmas Eve show at this resort involved about seven 'acts'.  Each little vignette was a dance show.  Before arriving in Cuba I already understood that Cuban culture could at times appear highly sexualized, especially when compared to the more priggish culture of North Americans.  I did not however expect to be so fully exposed to this cultural display on Christmas Eve, in the presence of my mother and so many small children hoping to see Frosty the Snowman or some Latin American derivative, but what they got was Booty Shaker and her team of Too Small Thong Dancers.

They performed 'Men in Black', 'Roxanne' and a dance from 'Dream Girls'.   In Roxanne the scene ended with a mock rape and the lead dancer screaming high-pitched.  In the Dream Girls dance, if you can call it that, the dancer was simply running around the stage and up and down the aisles screaming and she finished it off by rolling herself down a small flight of stairs.

Now, I consider myself a fairly open-minded person...  But, this is Christmas and there were small children in the audience.  I can definitely say that I was not impressed with this.

As a student of history, politics and anthropology, I can say that I found it interesting and educational.  Clearly these dancers, their choreographer and the hotel management thought that that this was appropriate, so that definitely says something about their own conception of Christmas, festivities and sexuality. 

If you are Cuban and reading this, perhaps you can comment on this and let me know how far one should read into it.

Cheers,

Josh