Blogs :: gringo dancing
So they say,
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
Yeah, screw that, I'm going to anyway. My glass house is insured. And by that, I mean I have permission to write this. Today's stone throwing will be directed at dancing, and more specifically Brendon's unique dancing "style".
So dancing. Neither of us are too crazy about it, though being in Latin America, and what with the great "Latin passion" for things gringos can't do, dancing comes up a lot (coincidentally, I recently had a discussion on said passion of Colombian women vs. American women, with a freezer repairman after I broke the freezer...but that's another story). Generally we try to avoid it (dancing that is), but as we are trying to make local friends, immerse ourselves in the culture and all that, it is often unavoidable. And no matter how we may try to convince people not to dance with us to save their embarrassment as well as our own, we still sometimes get dragged onto the floor, but never with as much alcohol in us as we'd prefer.
Brendon, having been traveling for over a year in Latin America, should have more experience in the department than me. And he does. But a little more than nothing is still a little. As I said before, I am in absolutely no position to criticize, but all the same, I'm going to.
This last weekend, we went to the birthday party of a friend here in Bogota. It was, of course, at a Salsa club. Salsa. You can't even fake that one. Brendon (to his credit) did not try to fake it, instead choosing to go all out, busting out such gringo moves as few have ever seen before, when the birthday girl dragged him onto the floor. You can't deny a birthday wish.
I thought perhaps the following birthday wish might be something involving time-travel and stopping herself from ever asking the first wish, but apparently not because Brendon was made to dance a second time. It was certainly entertaining to watch. Words such as "spasm", "seizure", and "convulsions" came to mind. Many people's feet were stepped on. The birthday girl herself said "You're sooo gringo."
I myself was made to dance twice as well (totaling three times in my life), and thankfully the train-wreck that was my dancing went mostly unseen, though I did not attempt moves anywhere near those of Brendon. With about six months left in South America, I shudder to think what lies ahead on the dance floor in this continent, much less beyond.
dancing, birthdays, Bogota, Colombia
Posted By:
David
12/8/2009