La le padraig a shonna duit
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say Ireland?
Lucky Shamrocks, Guinness in Temple Bar, and St. Patrick’s Day are some things people first think of when I talk about Ireland. During March in Ireland, the city is dressed with flags and decorated in green colours.
In Dublin, the main streets and pubs prepare to receive guests for the most important and biggest celebration of the year: Saint Patrick’s Festival. On the streets, many tourists arrive from different parts of the world to be part of this International Festivity.
One of my biggest dreams before I travelled to study in Ireland was to participate in this special festival, and this year I prepared to make this dream come true. First, I applied to be a volunteer for the Saint Patrick Parade, and while researching their website, I discovered Peru Fusion Ireland, a Peruvian Folklore Dance Group based in Ireland.
At that moment, I felt very excited and happy because I had been in Dublin for a month and hadn’t met any other Peruvians here. Also, it was a massive achievement as it was the first time Peru participated in the most important Festival in Dublin.
I followed Peru Fusion Ireland on all the social media platforms, and immediately, I sent a message to contact the team. I remember when I attended my first rehearsal, it was Claudia Grandez, the leader of the group, who gave me a warm welcome and introduced me to the whole team. It was an incredible experience for me. I enjoyed dancing to Marinera, Festejo and more.
From that moment on, every Sunday at noon, we had a rehearsal of the different choreographies planned for the two days of the Festival. The festival was divided into two parts. First, on the 17th of March, Peru Fusion was going to be part of the Parade, and on the 18th of March, they will be part of the Community Culture Event, which was the event I will be performing.
One of the most impressive things that caught my attention was knowing about the origin of the costumes that were going to be worn on the 18th. All the team dedicated a lot of work to making each one of the costumes and accessories for each different dancer and dedicated extended hours to preparing different folklore choreographies and details for the special day. During the last week before the festival, the team had a lot of work with the details of choreography, costumes, music and more!
It’s today, It’s today!!
17th of March 2023. The main day arrived, and Peru Fusion was ready for this, and so was I. I woke up early to find multiple messages of support in the WhatsApp group. All the team shared a lot of good energy to represent Peru that day, and I was ready to support my team in the Parade. I will never forget that during my role as a volunteer, I saw the arrival of the demons and hyenas costumes worn by the other members of Peru Fusion. These costumes represented the storytelling of the message of awareness and consciousness about consumption in the world, which was the message of the Parade this year.
My main role as a volunteer in the parade was to let all pageants know that the live broadcast of the parade was going to start. They would be on RTE (the national TV channel in Ireland) and will be broadcast all around the world. Very important job, right? So, from the moment they saw me, they were supposed to start their choreographies from the beginning and in a very energetic and enthusiastic way.
Funny enough, when I saw Peru Fusion approaching closer to me, I forgot my place in the line and rushed to where they were to cheer them up. The excitement was contagious enough that even they forgot they were going to be on TV. It was the most exciting 5 seconds of our lives!
The festival quarter
The party continued on the second day, in the National Museum. Peru Fusion and this includes me, arrived early for makeup and costumes before starting the performance. I remember feeling different emotions a lot of nervousness, and I was very proud of having my first performance with the team. Backstage, the team supported each other. We were ready for some photos before the performance. With the red and white flag in our hands, we waited to start the performance. The host announced Peru Fusion and started the sound of Marinera Norteña, Maria, Gian, Ursula, Danica, and Eva started dancing. The audience really enjoyed this first dance.
Immediately, our second dance began. The song sounds very loud, “Anaconda!” Now is the time for the Amazon to be represented, and the team takes the stage with Claudia, Anany, Fiorella, and Marilu dancing and showing all the details of the handmade costumes. Interestingly, Saint Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland. However, with this dance, the snakes took over Dublin again.
At the same time, all the other dancers changed their clothes very quickly, and the music of Festejo began. When the song Jipi Jay started, now was the time to show all the red and white costumes, and all the team, including me, danced together at the last dance. The audience clapped loudly at the finish of the performance, and the National Museum dressed in red and white for one moment. All the team bowed to the public in a sign of gratitude.
After that, we felt many different emotions. Overall, I felt proud and very happy to have lived this incredible experience. All the team celebrated together with a delicious dinner and cheered with the champagne bottle in the back of the street. It was very funny, and I finally continued dancing at the party. The news of our performance travelled to Peru, and during the next few days, we were featured on Peruvian local TV, and our families could view our performance and enjoy it together from home.
Finally, when I remember this incredible experience, I feel so happy we made history in this festival, and for the first time, Saint Patrick’s Fest experienced Peru and Peruvian culture, and I am sure this will not be the last time.
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