Costarican art, music and handcraft

The Arts of Costa Rica are diverse. Visitors and locals alike can enjoy a day of Dance or Music at a local Theatre or perhaps enjoy a presentation of Paintings or Photography at a local gallery. There are also countless Museums to be appreciated in the San Jose area and around the country. A walk around downtown San Jose can open one's eyes to a variety of different styles of Architecture from colonial to modern.  From oil canvases to digital photography, to Literature Costa Rica has it all from national to international artists who call Costa Rica home.

The Culture of Costa Rica

Music and dance in Costa Rica:

Ticos love to dance. By night San José gets into the mood with discos hotter than the tropical night. On weekends rural folks flock to small-town dance halls, and the Ticos' celebrated reserve gives way to outrageously flirtatious dancing. Says National Geographic: "To watch the viselike clutching of Ticos and Ticas dancing, whether at a San José discotheque or a crossroads cantina, is to marvel that the birthrate in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation is among Central America's lowest." Outside the dance hall, the young prefer to listen to Anglo-American rock, like their counterparts the world over. When it comes to dancing, however, they prefer the hypnotic Latin and rhythmic Caribbean beat and bewildering cadences of cumbia, lambada, marcado, merengue, salsa, soca, and the Costa Rican swing, danced with sure-footed erotic grace. 

• Folkloric music
• Classical music

Activities:

Reading Comprehension:

MUSEUM CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY
The Children’s Museum is holding a one-week celebration starting April 25. On the opening day of the celebration, they will have an “Intelligent Light Show”, where the lights will dance to a mix of music at 3, 4, and 5 p.m. Admission is free. On April 26, a Latin American Culture Night will feature dances, music videos, and paintings of various Latin American countries at the Museum. The ticket price is ₡ 1,500. A rock concert with the groups Gandhi, Evolution and Stigma will be held at 9 p.m. April 30 at the museum. The ticket price is ₡ 2,000.
On May 2, the final day of celebrations, the museum will hold a carnival starting at 10 a.m. and lasting to 3 p.m. 

1. What celebration starts on April 25? The __________ birthday of the Children’s Museum.
a. twenty-fifth
b. fourth
c. Tenth d. Fifth

2. What time will the rock concert be? At __________. a. nine at night
b. ten in the morning
c. nine in the morning
d. three in the afternoon

3. What will the last activity be? A (n) __________.painting exhibition a. intelligence
b. show
c. carnival
d. dance 

4. What will the Latin Night include? It will include __________. a. dances and music
b. paintings and a light show
c. videos and rock music performers
d.a presentation by the groups Evolution and Stigma

5.How long will the celebrations for the anniversary last? They will last __________. a. two months
b. one month
c. two weeks
d. one week 

Miguel· Brenes is one Costa Rica’s living master sculptors. f-Iisworks
celebrate the "Eternal Feminine'' in wood, stone, and bronze. Inaddition to holding a degree in Fine Art from the University of Costa Rica (U.C.R.), he studied extensively at the National School of Painting and Sculpture of Mexico.Brenes' sculptures have been widely shown in Central America and Mexico in individual and group exhibitions. A native of Heredia, Miguel Brenes has obtained numerous awards and honors for bis work, including a meda! in the First Fine Arts Salon of the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, the Acquisition Prize in.the Second Biennial of Fine Arts in El Salvador, and the first prize far Central American Sculpture in Guatemala.

Answer the following questions based on the previous reading.

1. What’s Brenes nationality? _______________________________________
   
2. Where did Brenes first study arts? __________________________________
   
3. Why is Brenes mainly famous for? _________________________________
   
4. Where did he get his first prize? ___________________________________