Peru Gozando, a folk band based in Falls Church, Virginia, returned to the Folklife Festival for a special Community Day performance. In 2011, they performed along with the dance school Raices y Expresiones as part of the Peace Corps program. This year, singer Laura Sosa led the five-piece band to accompany the reigning World Champion Marinera dancer, Milagros López Loli, and her partner Dieter Bauermann.

It’s hard to find a perfect English translation for the band’s name, “Peru Gozando.” “Peru is having fun,” comes closest to capturing the Spanish phrase. The celebratory music and dancers’ joyful faces seem to confirm that, at the Festival, Peru was indeed having fun.

Videography: Courtney Adkisson, Pruitt Allen, Marisol Medina-Cadena, Andrea Curran, Abby Sternberg, Albert Tong, Paul Weiss
Editing: Courtney Adkisson