Hola mis amigos. Es viernes de nuevo. I hope you have fun plans or at least relaxing plans for your weekend. Welcome back to my Friday Canción feature. I’ve got a well-known, dance inducing song for you today!
La canción de viernes: Bailando by Enrique Iglesias
If you’ve ever thought of football as a dance then this video will definitely appeal to you. Look at the dancers movements as they gracefully yet forcefully move that ball. Bailando by Enrique Iglesias is certainly one of the more popular Spanish language songs of recent years and I’ve even seen it used for several listening exercises. I also like that that song features Gente de Zona (of the La Gozadera song I shared last month) and also includes the dancers from Cuba’s Ballet Revolución.
That was the Spanish song and video and there is also the Spanglish version. That’s right, Spanglish… not English. Check out the lyrics ~ letras chart below the video and you’ll see what I mean. Both videos were filmed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and feature some of the same scenes, in fact there isn’t too much difference between them other than the inclusion of Sean Paul in the Spanglish version.
Bailando holds the record as the longest-running No. 1 ever in the history of Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. The story behind this song and how it almost wasn’t released is quite interesting. Let’s just say Enrique and Gente de Zona were a match made in heaven for the creation and subsequent popularity of this song; and Descemer Bueno can take the credit for bringing them together.
Suggested Activity for Spanish Class
Because the lyrics are mildly suggestive and also include the mention of alcoholic drinks, the material could be deemed inappropriate for classroom use with children. I teach adults so here is the verb tense identification activity I use with them. This may be an activity better suited to lower-intermediate students.
- Listen to the song Bailando.
- Try to identify 3-5 uses of the present tense.
- Try to identify 3-5 uses of the present continuous tense (gerund).
- Try to identify 3-5 uses of the infinitive.
For lower level students, print out the lyrics and have them read to identify the verbs instead.
Hope you enjoyed today’s song! have a great weekend.
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