Do not volunteer for Quinceaneras
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Quinceanera (I am not doing the tilde, okay? I am too lazy to find out how to make the tilde n and then keep doing it. SO DEAL WITH IT.): it is basically a sweet 16 for girls in some Latin cultures, except it’s 15 and not 16. And the Quinceanera seems nicer than the sweet 16, in my opinion. More at Wikipedia.
ANYWAY. That is basically what it is. I have a friend, who is Mexican. And he has a little sister who turned 15 this year and is having her Quinceanera next Saturday. A couple weeks ago, she asked me if I could help out. She asked in this way: “Are you a good dancer?” Umm, not particularly. I have bad balance and I’m not very coordinated. OH well, she is kind of desperate and needs another dancer.
I volunteer to dance, unaware that this is not just some easy little dance. NO. This is THREE, full-length, choreographed dances that require practice 3-5 times a week for three weeks. (It was originally three practices, then got bumped to four, and next week we have five practices.) Each practice is approximately two hours long.
Basically I got myself into way more than I was expecting and now I am like “What have I dooooone?”
But, really, it’s not THAT bad. I am just being a bit melodramatic because I am like that. On the bright side, I’m learning a bit about how to dance for realz and not just shaking what my mama gave me. And it’s a good exercise in self-confidence. If you can dance in front of people, you can do a lot of things. Plus, it’s fun hanging out and practicing!
OH. And I get quesadillas sometimes. :D I looove homemade quesadillas with homemade salsa verde. Mmmm. Plus I get to be the one white boy in a group of Latinos and be like “Yeah, I can move my hips like that too, sabes que!”
For most people, though, I would probably recommend against volunteering to dance in a Quinceanera. It’s different for each one, but you should probably expect to do plenty of dance practice. And possibly expect yummy Mexican food. It is up to you whether the quesadillas are worth it!
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Hello, my name's Josh and I might be a hipster (you decide!). I've been blogging and designing in some form for the past eight or so years and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it (once again, you decide!). I love indie music, coming of age stories, sarcasm, video games, and aesthetics. At the moment I'm working part-time and going to college with hopes of being a web designer. 
Posted by Lucy — Saturday, July 17th 2010
Mira nomas! I feel your pain, as I had to go through many quinceañeras myself, including my own. I am Mexican as well, and to not have a quinceañera is blasphemy. So I had to endure it. I put the limit at two dances, and that’s all I was going to do. I’m very uncoordinated as well. I went the traditional way with my dances, but I’ve been in some that rivaled hip-hop music videos. Glad I’m not young enough to be considered to dance for them, because oh my god do I still have plenty of cousins that have yet to turn 15.
Good luck with the practices! It’ll be over before you know it, and it’s a good experience. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. :)
Posted by Clem — Saturday, July 17th 2010
I do not have anything to say other than I enjoyed this post when I read it at like… 1:30am last night, because it made me laugh. Internally, because it was too late to really be laughing. BUT I WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE!
Um… I want a quesadilla so badly.
Posted by Kinza — Saturday, July 17th 2010
the right hips can solve everything!
good luck by the way ;)
Posted by Meg — Saturday, July 17th 2010
Yummy Mexican food? Learning a choreographed dance? This sounds more like a “Do volunteer for quinceañeras!!!!” post :P
Posted by Diana — Sunday, July 18th 2010
LOL, “Yeah, I can move my hips like that too, sabes que!”
That was really sweet of you to volunteer! And yeah, the dances get complex. I never had a quinceñera because I wanted mine to be vegetarian and everyone freaked out. u__u I got to see my cousin’s, though. Rigorous dances, they are. I’m sure you’ll do amazingly!~