It’s dark outside. Music is blaring from the speakers. Sweaty girls are bumping into each other as they dance to the beat. Guys are screaming and laughing at each other. And I’m having the time of my life. Can you guess where I am? Nope, it’s not a raging party in the Mods on a Friday night. It’s the Fuego del Corazon auditions, which is where I happened to find myself at 10:00 p.m. this past Monday night. Now I‘ve never taken a dance lesson in my life and my understanding and familiarity with salsa doesn’t exceed a Tostitos chip. So how, you might ask, did I wind up at the Fuego audition the second week of my senior year at Boston College?
Actually, I blame Julie Wojno, one of the Campus Correspondents for Her Campus BC. After all, it was Julie who, at our first Her Campus meeting of the year, threw out an idea for a “True Life: I tried out for Fuego” article. She thought it would be hilarious and wanted to know if anyone was willing to go to the auditions. Julie eagerly told us how “intense” auditions are and how girls are even sore the next day after trying out. I was intrigued and clearly, I was the only in the room who caught the “Fuego Fever” that Julie was spreading. After no one else volunteered, I broke down and said I would go….if Julie went with me. Julie agreed (with much more enthusiasm than I had) and so it was settled, we would attend Fuego auditions the following Monday night. I have to admit, I was secretly excited.
Coming home that night, I told Annie, my roommate, what my first Her Campus BC article of the semester was going to cover. She seemed more into the idea than I was and so I suggested she join Julie and me. Annie was thrilled at the idea and I felt way more comfortable with the idea that there would be two other girls I could laugh with as we would awkwardly try to fumble our way through a Meringue dance.
By the time Monday afternoon came around, my conversations with nearly everyone I bumped into went something like this:
Me: “Hi so-and-so!”
So-and-so: “Hey Emma, what’s – – – “
Me (interrupting): “I’m trying out for Fuego tonight!!!”
So-and-so (eyes bulging): “You’re what?!?”
To be honest, I got a little thrill every time I told someone the shenanigans I was getting myself into and they reacted with the same eye boggling amazement (which, looking back, I may have mistaken for them thinking I was out of my mind).
At 6:30 that night, I met Julie, Annie, and what looked like hundreds of other people outside of Lower Dining Hall for the first night of Fuego auditions. The Fuego captains led us to the Brighton Dance Studio, which until that moment, I had no idea even existed (I guess you really can learn new things about BC even as a senior!). When we got to the dance studio, the captains handed out pieces of paper, which we used to fill out our information. You know, basic stuff, like name, grade, cell phone number, dance experience. Dance experience?! Ok, to lie or not to lie? I wrote down “Figure Skating”, something I could actually do and sort of resembled dancing. We’d been there five minutes and I already felt out of place.
When we got inside the dance studio, the captains suggested we start stretching and warming up. Suddenly I’m surrounded by girls in leotards, twisting their arms and legs around their bodies like pretzels. I, who can’t even touch my toes, decide not to embarrass (slash hurt) myself, and instead stare in amazement at the Gumby girls. Salsa music begins to blare through the speakers and the captains have us gather around them so they can show us the dances that we’ll be learning for the audition.
“You’ll be learning one Salsa, which deals with more of a technical dance element, and one Meringue, which is where you’ll really have the chance to show off your personality,” one of the Fuego captains says. They proceed to perform what seem like two incredibly challenging dance numbers, each only about 30 seconds long. Their bodies move so quickly and swiftly that I’m in absolute awe. I’m now 100 and 10 percent positive I don’t belong here. If I can’t even move my head fast enough to follow them, how am I supposed to get my feet to? After performing the short routines one more time (ok, now I’m not only nervous, but jealous of the talented Fuego dancers), we’re broken up into groups of girls and guys.
Over the next few hours, the two girl dancers try to teach us the Salsa and Meringue dances. Every time the captains teach us the next 1-2-3 5-6-7 count of steps, I think to myself, “Ok, that’s gotta be all right?” Wrong. Just when I think I’ve mastered the dance, a new, even more difficult, component is added on. Miraculously, Annie, Julie, and I manage to get a hold of the steps and follow along, even as we picked up the pace. By the time we’ve run through the 30 second Salsa routine about five times, the three of us are sweating and out of breath. “It’s fun, but it’s…really hard!” Annie says to me. I would agree, but I’m too busy watching a few of my fellow auditioners go through the dance routine effortlessly without so much as a misstep. Their hips sway back and forth, their arms move with the beat of the music, and they make it look as easy as eating a sandwich. Some are taping up their feet with ace bandages and duct tape, like a scene out of “Center Stage.” These girls are intense and way out of my league. I look around trying to figure out if there’s anyone else here just for fun.
During one of the much-needed water breaks, Annie and I ask one girl how she had become so skillful at the Salsa. “Well, I’ve been a dancer pretty much all my life. Plus, I’m Latino so I grew up going to family parties where we’d always dance,” she says matter-of-factly. I curse my mom, wishing that instead of taking my brother and I to the pool or the beach, she had thrown a fiesta every now and again so that I could have Salsa-ed my way through childhood.
When the captains finally think we have the two dances down (I personally could have used about ten more years of practice), they tell us that now it’s time to audition. Wait, hadn’t we just been doing that? Nope. Apparently, the actual audition is American Idol style where small groups of eight of us stand in front of four judges (captains) and perform each dance two times. If I hadn’t been auditioning for kicks, I would have been utterly terrified and intimidated performing, basically one-on-one, in front of these Meringue masters. Luckily, the pressure was off and I figured I’d go all out, being as theatrical as possible. As the eight of us performed the two routines for the captains, I may have missed a step or two, but I never stopped smiling and trying to be as “Fuego” as possible. When the captains told us we were finished and could head home, I felt a mix of relief and disappointment. Trying out for Fuego del Corazon was probably one of the most hilarious and memorable moments of my time at BC. I got a free four-hour Salsa and Meringue lesson/workout and got to experience something completely foreign and out of my comfort zone. On the walk back to campus, Julie, Annie, and I re-hashed every second of the audition and were buckled in half laughing at how ridiculous the entire situation had been. I don’t regret trying out for a second and the memories I have of the three of us fumbling our way through a Meringue will stick with me even after graduation. Just one more thing to check off the “BC Bucket List.”
So, in response to everyone who asked, “what happens if you actually make it?!” I’d like to say that I’m pretty confident I won’t be getting a call-back. But blast some Salsa or Meringue from your iPod at the next Mod party and I may bust out my moves.