Dancing the Peña

On Monday night, Clay and I searched for a restaurante folklórico that would give us a taste of the Peña - the song and dance typical of Northern Argentina. We sat right in front of a charismatic and boisterous singer with a strong voice who played alongside a very talented violinist. Soon the dancing began in the typical ¨cueca¨ style: a gaucho wears a wide brimed hat, pleated pants tucked into tall boots, sheathed knife tucked in to his large leather belt, blanket over his shoulder, and handkerchief (pañuelo) around his neck dances with a maiden in a flowered dress and white handkerchief tucked into her full skirt. They dance with their pañuelos in the air and command the attention of the entire restaurant, the gaucho stomping his feet and the girl twirling her skirt. When it came time for audience participation the girl went right for Clay who kindly oblidged taking her hand to follow her to the dance floor. Luckily, this was not the first time we´d seen la cueca and Clay knew all the moves. With his gaucho hat and blanket over his shoulder, he danced in the rhythm of the music encouraged by the sweetly smiling girl. The crowd cheered as Clay stole the show twirling the girl and doing some fine spinning of his own. By the end of the song the other gaucho returned for his props, a worried look in his eye that he may lose his act to the impressive Gaucho Boltón.