Canutito learns to dance ‘bailes de más antes’
Un día after school Canutito came back pa’ la casa un poco worried. As part of their unit on New Mexico History, la mestra had told the class que they were going to be learning cómo bailar old-fashioned dances as their ancestors used to do más antes. Grampo Carlampio noticed que el niño estaba all preocupão por la expresión que tenía on his face. Grama Cuca also se dio cuenta que something was wrong so she came up to Canutito and she asked him, “M’hijo, ¿qué pasa? ¿Por qué estás todo worried?”
“The teacher told us que mañana vamos a bailar bailes de más antes, Canutito said. Los muchachos van a bailar con las muchachas and I’m afraid que I won’t know qué hacer. I’ve never even held hands con una muchacha before.”
“You’ll do just, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca said. “Girls don’t exactly have poison en las manos,” she smiled.
“I can teach you todo lo que tienes que saber about the old-fashioned dances, m’hijo,” grampo said. “Hay todas clases de bailes; mi favorito was called ‘mascando chíquite’.”
“Was ese baile really called ‘chewing gum’, grampo” Canutito asked him.
“Oh sí, m’hijo,” grampo replied. We used to sing: ‘mascando chíquite y mascando chíquite y mascando chíquite y no sabe dar’…”
“That’s funny, grampo,’ Canutito translated: ‘chewing gum and chewing gum and chewing gum and you don’t share any’…”
Actually, ese baile is known as ‘La Varsoviana’ or the Dance of Warsaw,” grama corrected him. Es un old Polish folk dance que hemos bailado aquí por años.”
Grampo Caralampio nomás hizo clear his throat y luego he continued. Hay otro baile called ‘pulling off the nuts’ que we used to do también.
“Was it really called, ‘saca-tuercas’, grampo?” Canutito giggled.
“Sí, m’hijo,” grampo said, “It was una wedding march que era just like pulling nuts out of their bolts.”
“Actually,” said grama ,“el baile se llama ‘La Marcha de Zacatecas’. Zacatecas es una región in Mexico.”
“Oh well,” grampo shrugged, “falta que la mestra won’t teach you that dance tampoco. Besides, hay bailes que son much more interesting que esos. I kind of like the ‘bologna’ dance,” he said. “Which baile es ese, grampo?” Canutito asked him. “That dance is called ‘el choriz’,” grampo said. “The boys hold a las muchachas real close como pan abrazando a piece of bologna,”
“M-m-m-m, grampo,” Canutito said, ‘I can almost taste la mostaza!”
“There is no mustard en el baile!” Grama Cuca exclaimed. “El baile isn’t called ‘el choriz’ tampoco! The dance is called ‘el chotis’. In English it is called ‘the Schottische’ yesun Scottish folk dance que los escoseses brought para esta región.”
Canutito estaba todo confused. He had no idea si iba a poder do any of those dances como su grampo y su grama. Just thinking about holding la mano de una muchacha kind of made Canutito sick to his stomach. He felt as if he was going to tirar tripas right then and there, pero he didn’t vomit.
Al día próximo Canutito went to school con las manos todas sweaty. La mestra didn’t teach the students bailes como la Varsoviana, la Marcha de Zacatecas or even bailes como el Chotis, though. Instead, she taught them old-fashioned dances como ‘el Twist’, ‘el Fox-Trot’ y ‘el Swim’.
Canutito turned out to be el mejor bailador de todos en la clase.