Peru

Peru's Dances

Peru

Marinera Norteña — Peru’s elegant handkerchief courtship dance, queen of Trujillo

Huayno — The heartbeat of the Andes: song and dance shared at every highland fiesta

Festejo — Exuberant Afro-Peruvian celebration driven by cajón and quijada

Scissors Dance — UNESCO-listed Andean ritual duel of astonishing athletic skill

Tondero — Piura’s joyful rural courtship dance with guitar, cajón and handkerchiefs

Diablada Puneña — Spectacular devil masks and archangels at Puno’s Candelaria festival

Wititi of the Colca Valley — UNESCO-listed courtship dance of the Colca Valley, Arequipa

Huaconada of Mito — New Year ritual of masked elders who keep order in the town of Mito

Huaylarsh — The energetic sowing-and-harvest carnival dance of the Wanka people of Junín

Zamacueca — The 19th-century coastal couple dance that gave birth to marinera, cueca and zamba

Alcatraz — A playful Afro-Peruvian game dance with a candle and a paper tail

Landó — A slow, sensual Afro-Peruvian rhythm reborn in the 1970s

Pandilla Puneña — Puno’s elegant mestizo dance of bowler hats, polleras and handkerchiefs

Chonguinada of Junín — An elegant satirical dance mocking colonial aristocrats with mesh masks

Ayacucho Carnival — Comparsas, guitars and witty songs filling Ayacucho’s streets every February

Sarawja of Moquegua — Aymara music and dance of Moquegua, inscribed by UNESCO in 2025

Qhapaq Qolla — Masked highland traders dancing for the Virgen del Carmen in Paucartambo

Carnival of Lamas — Kichwa-Lamista carnival of the Amazon foothills, with flutes, drums and the humisha tree