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 Vallarta Living | December 2005 
Vivendo en Mexico (Living in Mexico) 4
 Korah Winn - PVNN
I have finally put some days behind me now in Puerto Vallarta. The first few semanas (weeks) were rough in the sense that I had to deal with the culture shock of living in a different country. I realized that if I did not start getting involved in more actividades (activities) I would end up spending way too much time at the house thinking about the difficulties that involve being here instead of enjoying the change of pace and culture. Because of that, I headed to the local biblioteca (library) and signed up for a flamenco class.
The name of the library here in Puerto Vallarta is La Biblioteca de Los Mangos (The Library of the Mangos). I am very fortunate because I live within five minutes walking distance of it. This library is very diversified because it has a huge focus on the arts.
In many areas there are brightly colored pinturas (paintings). They also have sculptures and black and white photography. Often, there are announcements posted giving times for varied art exhibitions. Members of the community are invited to take workshops on playing the guitarra (guitar), the piano and also dancing.
The class I wanted to participate in was the flamenco dance class. Flamenco is not actually a Mexican dance. It is credited with having originated in Spain. It is a beautiful dance that involves complicated choreography. The Spanish roots of the dance make this art form very compelling. When you get more advanced you are allowed to use castanets, decorated fans and fringed shawls. There are many websites that explain the history of the dance incredibly well. One of my favorites is http://www.flamencodance.com. When I started the class we began very simply and just worked on the footwork. I learned a basic step called a sevillana. From there we branched out into adding our brazos (arms) into the mix, which made the whole process a lot more complicated.
The dance is extremely elegant. I caught onto the basic footwork just fine but adding the arms about does me in. I just have to laugh when I make massive mistakes because I am in good company. The other girls and women in the class are such warm and caring people. We are mostly all new to learning flamenco. You see many understanding and sympathetic sonrisas (smiles) exchanged as we all try to gracefully throw our brazos up in the air during a spin and some of us end up facing the wrong direction or messing up our steps because of concentrating on our arms.
I am very fortunate because the class is completely in Spanish but there are actually quite a few people who speak English who can help me out if I run into trouble and cannot quite figure out what is happening next.
I look forward to going to the class very much each Monday and Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. We are beginners and our ages range from four years old up into the fifties. Our teacher is an incredible mujer (woman) named Gabriela. When I watch her dance I cannot help but respect the years she has poured into learning the intricacy of the dance steps.
She traveled as a professional dancer to many countries. Sometimes I wish that I could snap my fingers and speak Spanish so much better so that I could talk to her fluently and hear more of her stories. Whenever I get discouraged and lose patience, I just try to remember that learning a new dance and language is always poco a poco (little by little). ‘Salud!
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