cuban dancing, a funny mistake and more!!!

yesterday was great. seriously a total GDL moment. last friday we had purchased tickets to see the 'ballet de cámara de jalisco' perform 'alicia el el pais de las maravillas' at the teatro delgado which we thought was a jaliscan ballet company doing an alice in wonderland ballet. we put on our pretty frocks and i put on heels, and took a cab to centro in anticipation. it turns out we had bought tickets to a ballet school recital. seriously. they had the very little girls in costume as mushrooms and clams being herded by older dancers! it was totally unexpected and adorable and kinda funny that we'd been mislead, but we totally sat down and took pictures like we actually knew any of kids there. i try to get into the spirit of things.

we had arrived at the theater before they'd opened the doors so, we'd stopped at the cafe next door to have a refresco and tapas. our waiter was a loverly mexican gentleman named omar who offered to communicate with us in english, french or spanish. naturally we choose english. while we were leaving the theater omar was standing by the door and he invited us to join him and his co-workers at a local cuban bar where a cuban band was performing in an hour. naturally we accepted.

OMG, the bar was amazing. i don't remember the street name, but the building number was 99 and 1/2, kind of cool for a building number. it was large and packed wall to wall with people, and once the band got started the people were seriously dancing. i'm not talking the 2-step NY-type too-cool-for-school dancing, i'm talking salsa throwdown! everyone was good, but some people we amazing, twirling their partners across the room and back adding dips and fancy footwork. we were seated with a party of about 8 (mixed men and women) and i would dance with anyone who grabbed my hand, including one man (and his partner) who were not with our party but clearly a part of the serious dancers in attendence. i'd never seen a salsa trio, but last night i danced one with them! the beers were cheap and everyone was so cool. we were dancing on top of each other and it was just smiles around. not bad for a thursday night.

at one point i was seriously dancing with an afro-cuban man (who started yelling "chango" and doing bembe dances but that's another story) and erin says the group at the table next to us was totally checking me out, possibly disapprovingly. apparently there was pointing. it could have been the purple plastic shoes, or my dress that kind of twirled up when i spun, or the fact that erin and i were the only black girls there. or the feathered situation on my head. but hey, who doesn't appreciate a bit of foreign hateration!

these pics are of us in taxi heading the theater, the kids recital, waiting for omar in centro and an action shot at the cuban bar. i'm the dancing pink blur!

kisses!
m.