Folkloric dance transcends movement in Seaside.

831>>TALES FROM THE AREA CODE

A line of about a dozen girls, some dressed in long, elegant dresses, spin and twirl their furls to classic folkloric songs from Mexico, leaning their bodies one way, then the other, while punishing the parquet floor with their sturdy heels. They’re part of a group that gathers twice weekly at the Oldemeyer Center in Seaside, eager to pound out their passion for dance.

Very noticeably, however, there are no boys waiting in the wings to match their moves. No caballeros have shown up for class.

Dance instructor Marcela Morgan got over the shock of this oft-recurring fact long ago.

“It’s not rare at all,” says Morgan, who leads the free Monday and Friday Mexican folkloric dance classes, which are sponsored by League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). “Basically anywhere you have a voluntary folkloric dance group like this, either in Mexico or the US, the guys are always in short supply.”

Morgan speculates that it might be rooted partially in Mexican culture, in which “guys think that dancing is a girl’s thing,” she says. But then, Morgan adds impishly, “Maybe it’s just because females are more talented.”

Whatever the case, what happens after Morgan completes her portion of the dance class—in which the choreography is altered to make up for the lack of dancers in pants—constitutes a small sort of sexual revolution that’s been a long time coming.