Yuditza, barefoot passion
Marinera was her passion, her love. Once she heard the music of the drum nothing stopped her. Dancing made her feeling alive, in that very moment dancing was the only thing that mattered to her. Marinera was a feeling, not a just a dance. Yuditza was happy perform her beloved marinera, without caring about the ground she was on. Rough and hot pavement, dirt with stones, whatever... In fact she liked such challenges which allowed her to demonstrate her passion and love for this dance.
So, one day, encouraged by her friends, she decided to go barefoot in the street. Not to dance, but to train her feet, to make her soles stronger. The sensation of freedom was indescribable. She began doing it more often...in Ayacucho, her hometown. In Cusco, while visiting her beloved one. In Lima, after a performance. In the middle of the highlands, in the snow! Walking barefoot made her feel like she didn't have to rely on shoes, it made her feel more alive and free.
She liked to challenge her feet by walking on rocks, on the sharp track ballast of the railroad, on the millenary roads of Saccsayhuaman in Cusco. She even agreed to walk barefoot on thorns...it hurt at the beginning, but she succeeded and defeated this self-imposed challenge.
That was the way to go! That which made her adrenaline flow...
Then with the help of some good friends of hers, she started to put herself through challenges and dares. To push her feet to the edge...It wasn't enough to step barefoot on several broken glass bottles ... she went beyond that...she started to stomp and grind the broken glass with her bare heels, smashing it into smaller pieces. One of her friends even went so far as to rearrange the sharp glass to all point upwards. Yuditza wasn't afraid of this, on the contrary, it gave her a renewed strength.
She made the dare even more challenging: she stood on one foot. Resting all her weight on the sharp glass... She exposed the beautiful sole of her other foot. Revealing the strong, hard, well seasoned sole... One after the other, her friends began to put cigarettes out on it. She felt a nice heat, which became more intense. She liked being able to endure it. A nasty incandescent ash lodged inbetween her toes. On the part where the skin was delicate, making her scream in pain and laugh in astonishment. It was fun to her, the slight pain made her laugh and feel alive. The fire of the cigarettes caressed the soles of her feet again and again.
But the challenges went on. Then Yuditza asked her friends to whip the soles of her feet. So she bought a small three-tailed flogger, hand-made of braided leather and with knots on the points. It looked like a three-headed viper willing to bite her feet with no mercy. One, two, three, four... the whippings began to make a cracking sound as they hit her soles. They begun in a shy way, but got harder each time. Yuditza felt the pain...it hurt, it stung...she pulled her feet back sometimes, laughing though. But then, stubborn and strong as a good Ayacucho girl, expose her soles again to the whippings. Each time the hits were harder, but she was stronger too... Those challenges, those dares not only made her soles stronger, but above all, made her spirit stronger. She was learning to enjoy them.
Her pictures and videos went around the world thanks to the magic of the internet. Without realizing it, without seeking it, Yuditza had became famous... She had fans all over the planet who valued her barefoot lifestyle. The beauty of her strong feet, her courage to face challenges that became harder every time. This was her destiny, it had always been. This was her reason to live, her mission in life. Yuditza was a barefooter. This had taken her into Marinera, and Marinera had taken her into it. Shoes were now so uncomfortable to her, she felt the need to take them off, to free her little feet. She needed to live barefoot, no matter if it was hot or cold, no matter the place. She even attended to university barefoot, with the approval and understanding of her teachers, these open minded professionals who understood the courage of this young woman. Yuditza needed the adrenaline of walking without shoues and submitting her feet to more challenging dares. There was no way back, nothing would stop her now...she was a barefooter.