Mapalé

Mapalé is a Colombian and Ecuadorian dance original of the Afro Colombian and Afro Ecuadorian culture of the Caribbean Region of Colombia and the Coastal cities of Ecuador such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas.

The dance was introduced in Ecuador by a fleet of ships full of African Slaves that broke down in the Gulf of Guayaquil and in Colombia by African slaves bought by the Spanish from Guinea. The dance represents an erotic courtship between a male and female couple characterized by its frenetics acts towards each other. The couple dances to a fast rhythm of cumbia music also originally of the African slaves brought to Ecuador and Colombia. The movements are based on the Mapale Fish movements when it was out of the water. Slaves tried to copy it.