"We will be your representatives," Juan said and then he repeated in Spanish for the benefit of Carlos."In America we call that 'pimps'. You will be my dancing pimps!"
I had been telling Juan and Carlos about my night out at Bar Diego (the bar where the putas hang out) and that I had had a great time dancing not only with my fellow Americans (and the Fat Pigeon of a dog who since her outing on New Year's Eve has become a dancing fool) but with many of the Mexican men as well. That's when Juan came up with the idea of charging for my dances; I'd be like one of those old-time Dime a Dance girls.
I love to dance. It is the one thing I do well. It is the one activity I would do every day if I could, if I had someone to dance with. The Jailbird said that he is a good dancer and he told me about the time he taught the 8th-grade boys how to dance so that they could more actively participate in the 8th-grade graduation party. He used Samurai movements as the basic moves so it didn't seem so "sissyfied" to the boys. Alas, I never did get to dance with The Jailbird.
But I am happy to report that at Bar Diego I mastered that held-tight-bodies-as-one dance the Mexicans do. (We may have to charge more for that one, what with all the physical contact.) With a good leader, I can grasp almost any dance. I used to watch the ballroom dancing competitions on PBS, knowing that with training I could have been just as good as some of those salsa dancers. Or quicksteppers. Or tango-ists. Dang it, I coulda been a contender, but I was too short. Short women cannot be successful at ballroom dancing competitions which was always pointed out by the dance competition color commentators. "She just doesn't have the long flowing lines of the other dancers," Juliet Prowse would say whenever a petite dancer was on the floor.
Smith magazine held a contest a couple years ago and has recently published a book of entries. The competition was this: Write your memoir in six words. Here's mine:
Not tall enough to dance professionally.
But hell, now that I'll be charging for my dances, I'll be considered professional, right? Comment on that, Ms Prowse!
3 comments:
How odd ... I did not know this about you.... that you are a dancing fool! You GO, girl!!!! :)
kat, you did not know because when we lived in the same city we never had the opportunity to go dancing due mostly, i think, to our differing tastes in music. hey, that reminds me, are you still line dancing? hard to do with snowshoes on your feet :o)
Hey Antonia ~ You are indeed a most interesting and full of talent woman! What fun - and I laughed when I read your memoir sentence. junemoon
Post a Comment