The past few weeks have been crazy hectic as we are in the middle of midterms. What is the Spanish solution to becoming burnt out from one’s studies? Dancing.
The director of the Wake program here in Salamanca decided on a whim to hire a dance instructor to come in and take over our classroom and turn it into a dance studio for a night. As we all are cramming for an exam the next morning—which has more notes than my other four classes combined—he is corralling everyone into the classroom so the instructor can give an introduction to the art of Spanish dancing.
The instructor was probably a good eight months pregnant, and she still danced much better than every one of us in the room. We learned how to do both the Rumba and the Pasodoble. The Rumba is a really fun and upbeat dance that is performed with fast-paced Latin music, similar to what you would hear in a Zumba class. The Pasodoble, however, was in a league of its own. It is a very traditional dance that uses the same music matadors use to make their entrance to a bullfight.
While the Pasodoble is certainly more serious of the two dances, we were in stitches the whole time in our attempts to make it work. The gentlemen took the lesson with utmost seriousness, bordering on ridiculousness. The instructor was wild and would demonstrate and in Spanish yell, “Come on ladies, shake you’re a**! More! More! Shake them!” Each go-round she would watch us and literally laugh at us and our failed endeavors at partnered Spanish dance.
Although none of us had much success on the dance floor, it was well worth the time. We entered the room stressed, not wanting to learn the Spanish dances with exams hanging over our heads, but it ended up being such a great time. We probably burned more calories laughing than we did dancing. Not a bad way to take a study break.
*Photography by Sarah Hinshelwood