White handkerchiefs that seem to float in the air. Vibrant sound of guitars and "cajones" (typical musical instrument made of a wood box), of drums and bugles. Claps that accompany and mark the rhythm and that become accomplices of a fine courtship, of a romantic persecution.

The man, straw hat in hand, imitates the walking of an energetic steed and surrounds his couple. The woman, coquettish and barefoot, comes closer while she smiles and shakes her skirt... and it seems that she is accepting the courtship, but then she escapes overflowing grace and sensuality.

This is La Marinera: a whirl of blinks, movement and sexy smiles. A retinue dance in which love is born of the magic movement of the handkerchiefs and that, as they say, represents the impossible romance between a turkey and a steed.

Being the most popular typical dance of Peru, different schools and dancing styles exist. La Marinera Limeņa (original of Lima, the capital city), is of moderate and elegant movements; the Northern one, full with romance, imitates the cadence of a Horseback Riding, while the Marinera Puneņa has an Andean shade.

La Marinera is danced in almost every corner of the country, but it is more popular in the north coast, mainly in Trujillo, city considered as the capital of this dance, because as their same residents say, couples fall in love when dancing it.

	The capital of La Marinera History of a dance