This post features student writing.

While going to the houses we were doing work on in El Peñon our group came across a small bar with locals dancing. It looked so interesting and the dancing was so unique that the group decided to jump in and dance too. Little kids that lived near by started to join us and we had a mini dance party. That little part of the culture opened our eyes to what a beautiful place the Dominican Republic is. My friend Omar and I decided we wanted to learn more about the local dances, so we told our group leader. We later found out that one of the women that cooked for us has a brother who is a professional dancer and he was interested in teaching us a mini lesson. A couple of days later the dancer came to the school we were staying at and he taught our whole group how to dance bachata and merengue and a little bit of salsa. Staying in El Peñon and dancing was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever been apart of.