Dancers take to the streets in Havana

Dancers take to the streets in Havana
April 02 2007 at 02:13AM

Havana - Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion on Saturday became probably the
"biggest ballroom of the world" when thousands of Cubans gathered for a
mass dance.

After the traditional "catonazo", the canon shot fired every night at
Havana's port at exactly 9pm, 600 young dancers divided into "ruedas" or
groups of six couples started dancing the traditional "casino", as
Cubans call the salsa dance and competed for the title of best Best
Dancing Group.

An estimated 200 000 people gathered to watch the dance and listen to
the music of Cuba's most popular artists including Adalberto Alvarez y
su Son or Pupy y los que Son Son, press reports said.

Celebrated every year to mark the anniversary of the Young Communists
Union as part of the "healthy, useful and cultural amusement this
organisation promotes", this year's event was held in an unusual place.

Revolution Square is one of the main spots of revolutionary Cuba and has
witnessed some of the most important political speeches and military
parades by the Revolutionary Army Forces in the past decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have paraded there over the years,
marching past the memorial to national hero, Jose Marta?, and under the
watchful eyes of Fidel Castro.

The Palacio de la Revolucion where some say ailing Fidel Castro has been
recovering from surgery that forced him to delegate his powers
temporarily eight months ago, is one of the main buildings on the square.

It was also here that late Pope John Paul II celebrated mass attended by
a huge congregation during his historical visit to Cuba in 1998.

But although the dancing event had a political background, the
celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Young Communist Union (UJC),
politics was not on the minds of most dancers.

"We are having fun because we love dancing", Zuleita, a dancing
contestant, told reporters.

"This is beautiful. It's something different for the youth," said Maria,
an older woman watching the competition and dancing with her partner.

After the competition, the contestants and the public merged into a huge
dancing crowd and danced the night away until Sunday. - Sapa-dpa

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