Las Vegas dancer’s flash-mob proposal destined to be ‘super special’
Miguel Reyes knows a little something about grand gestures.
The 27-year-old performer in “Le Reve” has been dancing since he was 12 years old and has been all about the show for even longer. Proposing to the woman of his dreams was no exception.
“I think I have that in my blood,” he told the Review-Journal. “Every time I want to do something, I want it to be super special.”
When he decided in November to propose, it wasn’t a question of whether it was going to be big, but how big. The Bellagio fountains were out because he planned to use a professional photographer. A professionally produced short film didn’t work out. Then a friend told him about Container Park.
“I fell in love with it,” Reyes said. “I was like, ‘This feels right.’ ”
Security was OK with Reyes’ plan to do a flash mob, so he started to gather his friends in the entertainment industry — dancers, actors and even clowns. He choreographed the routine to Jason Derulo’s “Marry Me” and enlisted a friend Brian Sanchez to help teach the dancers so his soon-to-be fiance, 31-year-old Patricia Bouchebel, wouldn’t get suspicious.
He had first seen Bouchebel at auditions for “Le Reve” in late 2012. He already was a member of the show; she was auditioning.
“I had the great opportunity to dance with her in the audition and that’s how we first had contact,” he said.
He had seen her dancing elsewhere, but never thought he would get up the nerve to talk to her. That opportunity finally came at a nightclub in early 2013.
“I said ‘Hi,’ we kept talking and the rest is history,” Reyes said.
In February, with everything planned and Bouchebel’s parents in town, the time finally came to get down on one knee. On the big day, the dancers led Bouchebel through Container Park to a red carpet where Reyes was waiting to finish the dance.
He said he wasn’t thinking as he watched Bouchebel approach — he was too concerned with watching how she was reacting. It wasn’t until he started to approach her that he realized what he was about to do.
“Everything started shaking. My hands, my legs,” he said. “As soon as I took the microphone, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is happening.’ ”
“I said, ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to be your man, your hero, I want to be there for you forever,” Reyes said, giving her a ring he had crafted himself.
She responded with a kiss.
Realizing that might not be enough of an answer, she wrote a single word on the heart-shaped balloon she was holding: “Si.”
Reyes yelled, “She said yes!” to applause from the crowd.
The couple has yet to set a date for the big day. Reyes said the attention his proposal has garnered caught him completely off guard — especially after a video of the proposal posted to YouTube by Downtown Podcast took off locally. Wanting to tell the full story, he decided to make his own video.
“I thought I would post pictures on Facebook, but I never thought it was going to go viral,” he said. “I appreciate whoever did it, but so much more happened.”
Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @stephgrimes
