Monterrey PT. 3/3: The Mexican Cha Cha Slide
How Billy Ray Cyrus inspired the most popular dance in Mexico
This is part 3 of a series on my month working in Monterrey. You can read part 2 here.
In 1992, Billy Ray Cyrus released his hit song “Achy Breaky Heart”. In 1994, a Mexican band by the name of Caballo Dorado recorded a Spanish cover of the song entitled “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and the song blew up in Mexico. Like “Achy Breaky Heart” people began dancing a version of the electric slide to “No Rompas Mi Corazón”. And, while the trend eventually died out in the U.S., it remained popular in Mexico. So popular that when Caballo Dorado released their next hit, a fast paced song entitled “Payaso de Rodeo” (Rodeo Clown) everyone continued to dance the electric slide. In Mexico, dancing to “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and “Payaso de Rodeo” is a staple at weddings, quinceañeras, and in the club. Mexicans even taught a group of Saudis the “Payaso de Rodeo” dance at this year’s world cup.
I have yet to meet a Mexican who is not familiar with the Caballo Dorado dances and during my month in Monterrey I heard “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and “Payaso de Rodeo” every single night I went out. Part 3 of this series is about my nights out in Monterrey and my attempts to dance to “Payaso de Rodeo”.
The First Attempt: A People Tornado
The first time I experienced “Payaso de Rodeo” was on Halloween weekend. In Monterrey, I lived in a shared 6-bed dorm with other guests. During my second week, a group of Colombian college students arrived for a conference so the six beds were occupied by Tristan, four Colombian students, and their professor. Cozy.
The students made plans to go out dancing and they invited me to come along. We joined Armando (the hostel manager) and his friends and we all went to Art Studios, a club that became a fixture of my time in Monterrey.
Art Studios is a multi-level club where the first three floors play Reggaeton music and the top floor has karaoke. It’s super fun. Amusingly, the only English song I ever heard them play (and they played it often) was “Crank That” by Soulja Boy. The Columbian students insisted I show them the dance to “Crank That” which I was incapable of doing, but I appreciated their confidence in me.
The Colombians students loved to twerk. Never in my life have I experienced such aggressive dancing. One of the girls would not stop twerking on me, and not casually, but instead shoving her ass right up against me. I spent a good portion of the night wondering if I’m awkward or if she was just crazy and I think ultimately it was a little of both. They also kept insisting on “showing me how to dance” which gave me the impression that I was dancing like a white person but I did the best I could with the tools I had.
So we danced and danced and then, around 1:30am, it happened. They played “No Rompas Mi Corazón”.
Now, at this point, I had never heard that song before but I could clearly see that everyone was lining up to do some sort of dance. This dance is 100% a Mexican thing so the Colombians were as lost as I was.
The dance started and it seemed easy enough so I joined in. Here is a video of the three whitest people I have ever seen dancing to “Achy Breaky Heart” to give you an idea of what was happening.
It’s pretty easy to follow along. If you are semi conscious and have two legs you can do it.
So I danced to “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and all seemed good.
But like I mentioned there are two versions of the song, the slower “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and the fast paced “Payaso de Rodeo”. You get lulled in with the Billy Ray version and then out of nowhere they drop “Payaso de Rodeo”.
This is what “Payaso de Rodeo” looks like.
Now imagine this but in a club with people packed shoulder to shoulder. It was insane. As I struggled to keep up a guy turned to me and yelled, in clear English, “MOVE” and I obliged. Watching from the sidelines with my new Colombian friends I observed what can only be described as a tornado of people.
And despite my somewhat embarrassing failure to keep up with the dance I knew one thing to be true, it looked fucking fun. So I made it my mission, in that moment, to learn the “Payaso de Rodeo” dance.
The Second Attempt: Striking Out after the Baseball Game
The following weekend we went to a baseball game. With four people crammed in the back row of Armando’s friend’s car, we drove to the nearby baseball stadium, home of the Monterrey Sultanes. The hostel manager, Laura, had scored us free tickets because her brother worked for the Sultanes marketing department.
As it turns out a Mexican baseball game is more or less the same as an American baseball game except the beer is cheaper. They did have this nifty diagram explaining the rules of baseball when you enter the stadium.
Surprisingly, the primary sponsor of the Monterrey Sultanes is Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons has a weird stronghold over the people of Monterrey. They love Tim Hortons and Monterrey has a ton of Tim Hortons franchises.
As we sat watching the Sultanes battle the opposing team, the Mazatlán Venados, I spotted a girl a few rows down from us drinking a neon pink drink. I knew I had to try whatever it was. I went to the bar and after some inquiry I was able to purchase this giant tequila drink called a “Vampiro” for $7.
So we watched the game, did the wave, and yelled “ponche” which is what people yell in Mexico instead of “strike”.
After the game as we filed out of the stadium we were lead to a stage where they were playing traditional Norteño (northern Mexican) music. Apparently after Sultanes games they have a little dance party!
We danced at the baseball game for a bit and then decided it was time to ditch the Norteño music and find some Reggaeton. We made our way back home and went to a bar down the street from the hostel.
We closed out the bar and as we walked home we came across a guy blasting music from a stereo in his car trunk. A group of people had formed to dance in the street. We weren’t done partying yet so we decided to join them.
The group got larger and larger and after recovering from a few stereo malfunctions we had a real party going.
Then someone put on Caballo Dorado.
Once again I was lulled into confidence with “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and once again I could not keep up with the fast paced “Payaso de Rodeo” and I had to make my way to the edge of the crowd to once again be a spectator.
The Third Attempt: Practice Makes Passable
After my second failure to wing “Payaso de Rodeo” I realized I was going to need to put in some work to learn this dance. As they say we don’t rise to the occasion we fall to the level of our training and I had not trained enough.
So I had one of the other receptionists, my girl Rocio, teach me in the hostel lobby. She, like every Mexican I’d met, could dance to both songs flawlessly. She explained the difference between the two songs, the different steps, and eventually after 30 minutes of practice I felt ready for my next attempt.
And wouldn’t you know it, that night we found ourselves once again at my favorite club, Art Studios.
We began the night on the top floor, where they sang karaoke. I will say it was my first time watching karaoke and not knowing a single one of the songs, they were all Mexican hits from the 90s. But it was still a good time and I was introduced to this total bop of a song, “Cuando Calienta el Sol”.
Then around 1:30am, when they started closing down Art Studios I made my way back downstairs to one of the dance floors for my third attempt at “Payaso de Rodeo”.
Because “Payaso de Rodeo” is a line dance, everyone needs to be facing the same way. So when the song starts in the club, everyone does this weird homing thing where they point on beat to whatever direction they think the group should start in. Then it comes down to which side the majority of the room is pointing at. It’s fascinating to observe.
I found myself a spot on the dance floor and we danced to the slower “No Rompas Mi Corazón”. Then I braced myself for what would come next.
Someone had spilled beer on the floor so it was extremely slippery but despite the adversity I prevailed. My practice with Rocio had paid off and I was able to keep up and successfully dance “Payaso de Rodeo”!
The Fourth Attempt: Going Pro
After my success in the club I had to return to the site of my last failure — the streets.
My last night out in Monterrey we found ourselves once again at Art Studios which at that point felt like an extension of the hostel. We had spent the night dancing on the 1st floor rather than our usual 2nd floor and unfortunately on the 1st floor they do not play “Payaso de Rodeo” to end the night.
We filed out of the club and onto the street where I purchased elotes that came in a Tostitos bag. It was more or less a variation of the walking taco and it was delicious. 10/10 would recommend.
As I munched on my post club Tostidos I heard Payaso de Rodeo playing down the block and I took off running. Once again a group of people had gathered in the street to dance and I had another opportunity to show off my new skills.
So we organized ourselves and I completed another successful run at “Payaso de Rodeo”, this time with elotes in hand which upgraded my status from amateur to slightly less amateur. I don’t know if I can call myself a pro yet, some of the Mexicans go pretty hard.
The closest thing we have in the U.S. to the Caballo Dorado songs is the “Cupid Shuffle” or the “Cha Cha Slide”. And while I enjoy both of those songs, they do not even come close to being as fun as “No Rompas Mi Corazón” and “Payaso de Rodeo”. While the “Cupid Shuffle” and “Cha Cha Slide” are considered cheesy in the U.S., I get the impression that everyone unironically really likes “Payaso de Rodeo”. When they play it at the club people get really excited and those guys blasting music from their car trunk put it on knowing it would be a hit.
My nights out in Monterrey were some of the highlights of my time in Mexico. I loved learning the “Payaso de Rodeo” dance, going to the baseball game, and getting to meet all of Armando’s friends. And, getting to dance with everyone on the street really felt like a proper Mexican cultural experience. If you ever find yourself at a Mexican wedding you’ll certainly hear the Caballo Dorado songs, but watch out because “Payaso de Rodeo” goes really hard.