Moko Jumbie
Acrylic on canvas – 20" x 16"

The stilt dancer, or moko jumbie, is found throughout the Caribbean, and is part of the African tradition. The dancers, in earlier times, were men on stilts as high as 10 to 15 feet high. They were usually accompanied by dwarfs in similarly bright costumes.

We viewed these dancers on O'Reilly Street in Old Havana, near a small park where vendors were selling books, magazines, and old LPs. They danced to recorded music and exhibited an open box for collections from tourists.