Dirty Dancing: Ecuadorian Afternoons

The girls and Jonathan have decided to join one of Universidad Politécnica Salesiana’s cultural groups, Danza Tropical. Anna and I arrived to our first lesson dressed in our ropa deportiva, just as Marco instructed us: spandex and sneakers. As far as I can tell, the primary function of this clothing was to make us that much easier to identify among the well-heeled students. We were awaiting Marco in the hallway outside the cultural center when two boisterous guys sporting tight-fitting t-shirts and cigarettes rolled up to us with delight: Ah, here are the gringas! Before their arrival, Anna had confided that she was nervous to dance with the more rhythmically-inclined Ecuatorianos. Me, I hadn’t put too much thought into it, save fleeting visions of Diego Luna in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. But these guys are not of the same ilk as Diego Luna with his perfect bone structure and halting smile. They’re built more like football players than anything else. And they’re my height. Sure I’m a gringa with absolutely no experience and an injured knee, but for the fleeting minutes in which we collected audio equipment from a dank basement and trucked it over to the cafeteria, I was sure this going to be a cinch.

In Ecuador, the ability to dance is absolutely crucial for dating success. In fact, so much so that I didn’t have to work hard to convince my host brother to taking extra salsa lessons with me. He knows he needs them if he’s going to have any real prospects. I imagine that it’s for this reason that even burly guys like these can shake their hips like nobody’s business. Marco began the lesson with some easy moves for those of us who, and he didn’t mince his words here, can’t dance because we’re from the United States. After a few jumps, my knee was aching but I was grinning with that dumb smile that seems to make an appearance so often here. All my hard work learning jazz squares for my eighth-grade performance of The Music Man was finally paying off. I could do this. Then the real dancing started. Everyone partnered up and I was paired with David, the burliest and of course the best dancer of the group. Perhaps forgetting that I am indeed a gringa (they had all smiled when I said my name) he attempted to lead normally at first. Then he took a step back and showed me the rhythm. Twice. Three times. After the fourth attempt this way, he spun me around, grabbed my hips, and attempted to physically guide me through the motions. From my many viewings of Dirty Dancing I knew to expect this kind of close contact and remained calm. For a few minutes at least. However, unlike Romola Garai’s character, at no point did I start to get the hang of the moves despite his best efforts. Finally, I had to face him and announce that I am not, in fact, Shakira. And this was the first time since we had been partnered that he cracked a smile. Despite my Argentine heritage, I will probably never be able to tango. But my fiery Latina personality will make up for it. Right?

Even more embarrassing was the fact that we were practicing in a room made of glass. The glass functioned like a mirror, so I could see from every angle just how awkward I really was. And so could the group of 20 or so students that had been playing basketball in the adjacent court. They spent what felt like hours standing outside the huge windows with wry smiles. Luckily, Jonathan and I had to leave early for a meeting about our Kichwa class. When we returned, Anna and the rest of the group were doing some incredibly complicated circular dance that I couldn’t even follow visually. I was enjoying a sense of relief that I would have week to practice in front of my mirror at home when Marco announced that we would all be meeting up Saturday for conditioning. This includes lunch, rugby, capture-the-flag, sprinting, and swimming. I’m slightly concerned that I may spend most of my time here in Ecuador on crutches. But I’m also delighted for another chance to hang out with this affable and open group.

I have tons more to update about classes and I’m working on posts about our adventures in Cuenca and thoughts about Quito, which I’ll try to put up as soon as possible. But I just had to share a bit about Danza Tropical, or as I like to refer to it in my head Dirty Dancing: Ecuadorian Afternoons.