Dancing our way through Mallorca

What a great day we had today! 

Today we had dancing lessons taught to us by local Mallorquinas. A traditional dance here in Mallorca, Ball de bot, was a hit amongst all the kids, even though some of them were not okay with the idea of having a dance class for a cultural activity. 

"I definitely did not want to do this dance today. But it was the best work out on the trip so far," Katie recounted.  All this kids were timid at first, especially learning the first steps of the dance. It is a lot harder than it looks. 

"I didn't expect to like it, but dancing with the instructors was awesome," said Caroline. The kids really got into the dancing once the instructors started to interact with us and gave us more steps to learn. One of the hardest was when we were all in a circle, rotating around everyone while maintaining the steps of the dance. 

"It was definitely one of my favorite activities of the whole program so far," said Brynn. Once everyone was finally on board with the dancing, they put us into another circle and showed us how people used to "court" each other during this dances. Two people enter the circle and dance, and if someone wanted to dance with one of the dancers, they would replace that dancer.  It was fun for the kids, as some of them were brave and decided to jump in the dance while everyone was watching! 

To end the cultural activity, one of our teachers dressed up in a traditional Mallorcan dress that was used in the dances. She also danced while our other teacher played music for her.  "It was a once in a lifetime experience and I will cherish it forver," said Laney.