Peru Negro
Town Hall
February 21

The city's entire Peruvian population seemed to be at Town Hall February 21, or at least standing outside trying to get a ticket. Inside before the show, people wandered the aisles, visiting with friends and family, creating the comfortable ambience of a church social.

But once Peru Negro hit the stage for their New York debut, the room became a carnival lasting two and a half hours. Founded 35 years ago, this 20-plus-person ensemble of dancers, singers, and musicians celebrates Afro-Peruvian culture dating back three centuries, to African slaves' arrival in Peru.

From those tragic beginnings came a joyous art form. The costumed dancers—usually groups of four men in bright shirts and pants, plus four women in colorful wraparound print dresses accented with scarves and bows—moved with a synchronized grace punctuated by limber jumps, body shivers, head bobs, and sexual innuendo.

These numbers alternated with songs where the versatile, clear-voiced Monica Dueñas swayed as she took center stage and sang call-and-response lead. Mixing in European music styles like flamenco and classical, African hand drumming, and indigenous music of the Andes, the eight-piece band of percussionists, vocalists, and guitarists stood in a line at the back of the stage, leaving plenty of room for the athletic floor show.

As is the tradition, each dance told a different story and each had its own costume. One highlight, the "Toro Mata," had dancers, dressed in a mocking version of colonial formal wear, doing a waltz that parodied the stiff movements of the colonial masters while also adding playful African accents. In a drum circle called "Cajones Samba Malató," seven cajón (a box-shaped hand drum) players volleyed rhythms back and forth. Two comic sketches on universal themes—one about a stern teacher mocked by students, another about proving two older male dancers still have moves—dragged on longer than necessary. But overall it was an inspiring night of black pride, South American style. —Tad Hendrickson