Chile's National Dance is called La Cueca. Much like the cumbia and zamba that trace back to a mixture of cultures so does La Cueca. It's roots are a mixture of African and Indigenous cultures. Chilean people had been dancing it for years, but it was not declared the official dance until September 1979.
In Pepe's Chile he explains the choreography of La Cueca: "The Cueca is a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster. The dancers
wave handkerchiefs above their heads during the dance. These handkerchiefs can
symbolize the feathers of the bird or the rooster’s comb.The choreography
(movements) of the Cueca consists of circles, moving in semicircles back and
forth (known as half moons), and turning towards the partner and then away.The
dance happens in an imaginary circle, with the man in one half, and the woman in
the other. It starts with a promenade where the man invites the woman to join
him by offering his arm. This is done while instrumental entry music is played.
The couples stand facing each other about three meters apart. Before the song
begins, the couple claps their hands in rhythm of the music."http://www.joeskitchen.com/chile/2007/08/24/chiles-national-dance-the-cueca/ It is said that Chileans associated La Cueca with Pinochet's dictatorship. The music of the cueca can be linked to American blues. The dance golden years were in the 1930's thought the 1940's were the best music came from the poor .The dance is also about the romantic conquest of love. People had a connection with La Cueca, that is until Pinochet made La Cueca part of his parades, glorifying his dictatorship; the dance became a symbol of the dictatorship. A student at the University of Chile stated, ""The dictatorship brought repression; it relied on fear and distrust ... One of the important symbols [of the dictatorship] was the cueca, and it canonized the cueca to a point that many youth rejected the official cueca." During the dictatorship there was a new Cueca developed. Many men were taken to the National
Stadium were they were tortured or murdered. So many women would dance La Cueca alone in protest, this dance is known as La Cueca Sola. This connection of La Cueca and dictatorship is now disappearing. People dance La Cueca to help reduce stress as well as to sing loudly. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120619384
La Cueca Traditional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGKLjVg1nIU Click on this video to see women dance Cueca Sola. These women say the names of their loved ones who disappeared or were killed during the dictatorship. This clip is also part of Chile's No Campaign that I will talk about in another blog.
Michelle Bachelet is BACK!!!!!!!!! As I had mentioned in an earlier blog Michelle Bachelet was Chile's first female president from 2006 to 2010, she had the approval of 86% of the Chilean population. Chile's current presidential election has been launched and Bachelet is once again a presidential candidate. She will be running (coalitions candidacy;left wing) against Laurence Golborne (he was in charge of of the rescue of the 33 miners, who were trapped underground in 2010) or Andres Allamand; defense minister. Chile's current President Sebastian Pinera (right wing) is believed that Bachelet will win the election once again!
President Pinera
Laurence Golborne
Although Pinera has negative attention form the student protests it is believed that Chileans are better off now with Piner, than with Bachelet. The economy has improved with Pinera; its economy has gone up 5.6% during his presidency, and unemployment has gone down. Yet the distribution of wealth is still not equal, regardless of who wins they will be faced with demands to improve the distribution. Bachelet has already promised if elected she would send a bill to end private funding to school as well as end profits form this funding. As well as combat the distribution of wealth, and keep fighting for women's rights. She also advocating for marriage equality; Chile currently does not allow gay couples the right to marriage, yet are trying to pass a law were they can have equal amount of resources. Finally, she also wants to legalizes therapeutic abortions or abortions for those who faced sexual abuse.
Andres Allamand
It is believed that less people will vote in the elections since it is the first time that elections will be voluntary.The winner will be announced November 17th 2013. These candidates can sure to face demands from Chileans and most likely marches and demonstrations for equality of education, gender, and distributions of wealth.
Chile's National Dance is called La Cueca. Much like the cumbia and zamba that trace back to a mixture of cultures so does La Cueca. It's roots are a mixture of African and Indigenous cultures. Chilean people had been dancing it for years, but it was not declared the official dance until September 1979. 
