A Twist in the Historical Perspective of Salsa Dancing

WASHINGTON D.C. – The first article on this topic was pretty controversial. And this one will not be any different. It is not the author’s intention to offend or to denigrate the excellent job CONTRA-TIEMPO has been doing in all the years of its existence. The purpose is to challenge Salsa dancers into attending the performances Contra-Tiempo is giving on the stage of Dance Place (in Washington D.C., on April 10 and 11, 2010), and to also engage in a healthy debate with this non-profit activist dance company concerning their politically charged statements and beliefs.

Plastico

Contra-Tiempo describes ‘Plastico’  as “a comic and grotesque commentary on the 'Plastic' facade of Salsa. A dance form that started as a voice for regular people and an expression of history, power and opinions, has been transformed into a de-politicized, hyper-sexual exaggeration of the Latino body.”

The one-sided and single-issued historical perspective in this quote is quite apparent. For example: the Cuban Son is an evolved form of the Danzón. The latter was created by the Cuban bandleader Miguel Falde, a 27 years old cornet player from Matanzas (Cuba). He introduced his song ‘Las Alturas de Simpsón’ at a New Year’s party on January 1, 1879. He slowed the popular Danza down (which was danced as a ‘Line Dance’) and broke it into 3 parts with an important pause in between. This newly created Danzón was meant specifically to entice the younger men and women into dancing in couples and to get close enough during the pauses so to feel each other’s breath away from the glare of the chaperones. This historical moment marked the birth of Latino partnering dance in combination with romance/sexuality. Its evolved form, the Son,  has served as an inspiration for the development of the “hyper-sexual” Latin R(h)umba.  Therefore, one can conclude that Salsa did not start as “a voice for the regular people and the expression of history”, but – not surprisingly - as a way for men to court women. 

This can also be said about many dance elements such as the ‘Vacunao’s’ being executed when men and woman are dancing the (ancient) Cuban Rumba Guaguancó together: the man simulates a (violent) insemination of the very provocative dancing woman while she tries to deflect this spontaneous gesture with her hands, her arms, or with her skirt. So CONTRA-TIEMPO should actually thank the “ballroom dancing and Hollywood films” for ‘toning down’ and ‘stylizing’ the (soft) pornographic dances of some Latino and Afro Caribbean dance traditions. 

Some reasons why Latinos must not complain

Another example: the song ‘Plastico’ (written by Willy Colón and Ruben Blades) was meant as criticism against the materialistic driven Western society, and it was also an ode to the ‘down to earth’ people of Latin America. Ironically, a great deal of those ‘enlightened Latinos and Latinas’ migrated to the West searching for the same ‘plastic’ existence of which Colón and Blades warned against in their music album ‘Siembra’ (1978). Later on the lawyer Ruben Blades evolved into an actor (he played in 38 movies) and a politician (Minister of Tourism in Panama, September 2004). In 2008 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of Latino descendants to be 16.7% of the people living in New York (one of the most ‘plastic’ areas worldwide), and 15.5% of the total number of U.S. citizens. It is therefore evident that lots of Latinos did not heed the warnings of the popular singer/songwriters. Many of them became the (international) Salsa/Mambo dance instructors and performers which are now on the top of the international Salsa dance community and spreading their sexy Latin flavor for all of us to enjoy. They supply what the general public demands.

The 2 persons which are mainly responsible for spreading this ‘Sexualized Salsa Dance’ around the world are both born Puerto Ricans: Eddie Torres and Albert Torres. Eddie successfully combined Puerto Rican Mambo with elements of the New York Hustle, which is a Latin/Ballroom dance form. He then standardized his invention and gave it the commercial title ‘SALSA (!) Nightclub Style’. The ‘Mambo King’ put it on a video tape (in 1995) which sold worldwide and changed the way people dance Salsa into 2 main categories: Western Style Salsa (the so dubbed ‘Dance school Salsa’) and ‘Non-Western’ or Latino Salsa (‘Street Salsa’). His friend and former Salsa dance instructor Albert Torres became the number 1 organizer of  international Salsa dance events (many international Salsa Dance Congresses and the World Salsa Dance Championships) promoting the mix of Afro Cuban religious heritage together with even more Latin dance forms into the Salsa sauce. He also arranged for ESPN (the global television network) to have exclusive rights for airing the World Salsa Championships finals all around the globe. 

As mentioned at the beginning of this article: Contra-Tiempo is doing an excellent job. And they will continue to do so by following the motto of their organization as “being the fundamental key for communication and empowerment between partners and for a people”. One can only hope this small piece of journalistic freedom will contribute to more moral support for their noble cause.