Controversial Burning of the Quran & Salsa in Gainesville, U.S.A.

Today, Friday September 10, 2010, several international news agencies reported on Reverend Terry Jones of Gainesville, U.S.A. postponing his plans to burn copies of the Quran as a protest against the proposed building of the New York Islamic Center near Ground Zero. OnlineSalsa.com sent a letter containing some delicate questions to Salsa Caliente Studios in Gainesville to poll their sentiments on this controversial issue.

Brittany "Star" Yi Jacobs - one of the members of Salsa Caliente Dance Studios in Gainesville, Florida - was kind enough to answer all of these daring questions.

She starts by giving her general opinion on this matter, “I think it's incredibly tasteless.” Star continues, “We should never stoop so far below our country's ideals... it's really sad that it's happening, and it feels even worse that it's going on in my town.” One would think that all of this worldwide commotion and negative attention would affect the Salsa dance scene in Gainesville, but Brittany denies this notion, “I don't really think it's affecting the dancing... I mean, a lot of people are upset about it, but I feel like the dance scene has always been pretty accepting and don't expect to see many of the ripples running through the outside community disturbing the dancing, in general.”

“A Tasteless, Spiteful Thing to do”

Jacobs also said that the dance studio is not planning an extra Salsa party on September 11 and will just stick to their regular monthly Salsa social planned for September 25 in Gainesville. Star also reassured that “everybody is pretty accepting as far as I've seen, and you meet a lot of neat people out dancing... especially in a cultural hot spot like the UF area.” The Salsera gave her reasons for not supporting the planned burning of the Quran by Gainesville's pastor. She said, “I certainly do not support it. I guess, technically, it falls within our Freedom of Speech, but it's a tasteless, spiteful thing to do.” “In times that really call for fostering strong, understanding relationships with our local Muslim community, this is a huge set back. Beyond that, it's an unsavory message to portray, particularly coming out of a city like Gainesville where the majority of our population is college age and getting ready to take the reins of our nation's leadership,” she added.

This is TYT's reaction on the postponement of pastor Terry Jones' planned burning of copies of the Quran.

Brittany has a final message for the international Salsa community regarding this issue, “We can't force people to think the way we do, so we can't force people not to take part in the burning... but we can stand together as a beautiful, diverse community of dancers and make our own statement: we can set aside religious conflict, etc. and simply enjoy the company of others, learning from their rich experiences, and sharing in one of the purist forms of communication left, which is dancing.”

Brittany "Star" Yi Jacobs does Mechanical Engineering and is also a member of www.salsacalientestudios.com