"All the heart wants is to be called again." Julia Alvarez

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Kidde Rave and Merengue--no firearms allowed.

So as I have mentioned before, Sunday was not a great day for me. I had some papaya and slightly greasy coffee for breakfast and it was all over but the crying. I was hoping to get over it and get to the performance with Balsamo in the afternoon, but it was not to be. I recouperated, and wrote and wrote and wrote, and waited for them to get back. The performance was supposed to happen at 5:00 and when it got to be 7:45, I wondered if I had missed the last dinner and party as well! Now, I was really sad. I found Canal 10 on the TV and watched Mariel and Ramon's coverage of the company being in Puerto Plata. It was really great. Penny was talking away in Spanish and they had all these wonderful shots from the concert and rehearsal. Not two minutes after it was over, Penny walked in. Shoot! She was absolutely exhausted, but ecstatic about the show. Apparantly, the show did not start at 5:00pm, but at 6:30pm. The show happened in the Parque Central and there is a church on one corner of it. Well, Mass starts at 5:00pm. Arisleyda tried to convince the deacon, or whoever he was, that they wouldn't hear anything in there because of the air conditioning, but he wasn't having it.
So, they waited. And the 150 people in the park waited. The Company members played games with them, and Kirsi came flying off the bus at the last minute from Ocean World and the show started. Apparantly the staging was quite flexible, according to Christian. The stage was a series of 2x4 and 2x6 laid across some sort of structure, so every time there was enough wait in one particular area, it would sag. It was a bit like dancing on a waterbed evidently. Once the show got started, the now 200+ people in the park had surrounded the stage, leaving room in front of the stage for the kiddie mosh pit. I am not making this up, all the Company members agree, it was a dancing mayhem down front. So, quite successful. The Company and Teatro Balsamo performed the children's songs and dances, to the delight of the mosh pit and their parents. Then the Company did the kids piece right on the cement blocks of the square. Penny said "Apparantly that piece can now be done anywhere. Who knew!" The more I heard about it, the sadder I was to have missed it. It was time for dinner, and Penny promised everyone a little dancing and merengue and Rancho Tipico, so I pulled myself together and off we went.

Dinner was a funny little thing. First of all, everyone was totally exhausted--5 hours in the heat will do that to you. Then, Balsamo was there and it was sad to say good-bye. Someone took a picture of the group, there were hugs, not too many tears. Kirsi stayed a little while longer, eating with us, then walking back to the hotel to get a ride home, since she lives close to Rancho Tipico. I had white rice and 7-up for dinner. The waitress had asked what I wanted.
"Arroz" I said.
"Arroz con pollo?"
"No."
"Salada? Papas Fritas?"
"No, arroz solo."
"Ok." Much shaking of the head as she walked away...

We finished up, gathered everyone up at 11:15pm and headed out. Crazy, right? As Phillipe would say, my body is a champion. Rancho Tipico is a car wash by day and a dance hall by night. Only men can order drinks at the bar, or the waitresses, and no loose clothing is allowed. Also, no firearms according to the posted sign. We were there to listen to the live band play real merengue, and maybe dance a little. The band was fantastic, the accordian player in particular was impressive. The students made their way to the dance floor and it was great. I loved watching them, and all the regulars. There was one woman there, not very tall, but you know, not lacking in endowments, and she was amazing to watch. I mean she had hip movements--ai Mami! I got Michael Chorney up there for one dance which was great. We just needed the one to get the job done. Jenn, Nic and I had had every intention of only going for half an hour, and of course we stayed to the end. The band had noticed all the Americans, and had called us out, asking us to clap if we liked the music--no problem there! We loved it. We piled back into cars about 1:00 and drove home through quiet streets, with only a few dogs and motos spotted along the way.

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