Wednesday Whimsy: Watch ‘Es Show’ Take On La Quebradita

La quebradita is supposed to bend, bounce and nearly defy gravity

Wednesday Whimsy: Watch Mexican late-night variety show Es Show take on la quebradita — or, perhaps more accurately, take on what la quebradita is supposed to look like.

For our English-speaking readers who did not grow up around banda dance floors, here is the quick translation. Quebradita roughly means “little break” or “little bend,” from the Spanish verb quebrar, to break or bend. But this is not a dance built around one little move. The real thing is fast, athletic partner dancing with tight footwork, quick turns, hops, lifts and a signature backward dip that can send one dancer almost down toward the floor before their partner pulls them upright again.

In other words: controlled chaos with trust. One dancer leads and supports while the other commits fully to the bend, the spin or the lift. When it is done correctly, the pair move as one through quick, almost galloping steps before breaking into the dramatic dip that gave the style its name.

So What Is La Quebradita Actually Supposed to Look Like?

The dance is closely associated with banda and technobanda and became a full-blown craze in the early 1990s, particularly across Mexican and Mexican-American communities in Los Angeles and the Southwest. Partners dance close together while their legs keep a quick bouncing or trotting rhythm. The upper body stays comparatively controlled while the feet do much of the frantic work.

Then come the tricks: turns, sudden changes of direction, lifts and the famous quebrada — the backward bend. Traditionally, one partner supports the other through the dip, sometimes lowering them so far back that their head and shoulders come close to the floor before bringing them back up. More acrobatic versions pile on spins and lifts that require serious timing, strength and cooperation.

So if you are watching the Es Show segment and wondering why everybody looks like they are trying to survive a dance floor rodeo, that is the basic idea underneath the comedy. La quebradita is supposed to look fast, sharp and slightly dangerous — but very much on purpose.

The Dance Became Huge on Both Sides of the Border

The exact birthplace of modern quebradita has long been debated, with different accounts tracing pieces of it to northern Mexico, Sinaloa, the border and Los Angeles. What is clearer is how enormous it became in the early ’90s. Banda clubs and dance crews helped turn quebradita into a youth-culture phenomenon across Southern California, where the style mixed Mexican musical traditions with the energy of the local dance scene.

It was not simply about the backbend either. The whole presentation mattered: cowboy boots, hats, fast partner footwork, banda blasting and dancers constantly trying to outdo one another with cleaner turns or bigger tricks. For a generation of Mexican and Mexican-American dancers, it became both a party style and a very visible piece of cultural identity.

Scenes from the la quebradita segment on Es Show. Images: Es Show / Multimedios Televisión / YouTube.

And Then There Is Es Show Being Es Show

Es Show is Multimedios Televisión’s late-night regional variety show out of Monterrey, Nuevo León, hosted by Ernesto Chavana. Its fast, spontaneous and sexy format is a total eye-gasm of laughs and gasps, with a rotating cast moving through games, dance-offs, live music and whatever other chaos the night decides to deliver.

Which makes la quebradita a rather perfect assignment. The dance already has speed, danger and spectacle baked into it. Add a television cast, cameras and Chavana overseeing the proceedings and you have Wednesday Whimsy practically writing itself.

Watch Es Show Take On La Quebradita

See the full Es Show segment and compare the on-air antics with what this famously athletic partner dance is actually supposed to do.

Sources: Es Show / Multimedios Televisión / YouTube; Multimedios Televisión; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española; Los Angeles Times.