Cuba dances to a hip-hop beat

A new style of dance has come to Cuba. Young people are dancing and sharing new hip-hop moves.

Salsa and rumba are the traditional dances of Cuba. The country had no idea about hip-hop until recently. The Cuban government was strict and had problems with the US government. Because of this, Cubans only got the internet in 2015. Mobile internet arrived in 2018. Now, 4.2 million of 11 million Cubans have internet access.

Dance company 'Datway' has 16 members. They upload their videos to Facebook and Instagram. Their dance style is a mix of hip-hop and traditional Cuban dances.

Liuven Dopico dances with Datway.

Liuven Dopico: "Here we mix hip-hop a lot, urban street dance, we mix it with traditional Cuban music. We combine all that and create something really beautiful."

This new local style of hip-hop is now all over social media. This has made Datway famous internationally. They've received comments from reggaeton musicians and superstar Ricky Martin.

Datway recently won a dance video competition. The $10,000 prize is amazing for them. In Cuba, the average salary is $87.

Datway’s manager, Ernesto Rodriguez, shared the money with the dancers and children in the video.

Ernesto Rodriguez: "We are using technology. We bought a good camera for the group, and from that half of the money – of all that was left – I distributed it among all the members. I also gave money to the children who participated, the ones who passed by in the video, everybody."

Datway plan to include more young people in their videos. These videos will show Cuba to the world.

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