By Rueben Gutierrez, Waipio
The modern Salsa dance from New York was popularized in the 70s by Eddie Torres and his contemporaries who were 1st or 2nd generation Puerto Rican immigrants. This style is not danced to Mambo music, for which it is poorly suited, but instead to Salsa music. Mambo is still danced for fun and the joy of moving to Mambo music. As a fad dance it has been in effect for over half a century. But then came Salsa, but it too may be a fad dance? Bachata?
Another 10 years perhaps. Ten years ago Reggaeton began to attract young Hispanic Americans who might otherwise have gravitated to Latin music. It was destined to replace Salsa but it too seems to have fizzled out in a very short period. And there have been others that did not make it far. At the same time ballroom aficionados began to embrace Salsa as a serious dance form, which further alienated the young club goers. And now we have Kizomba and Zouk coming in.
Today Salsa is kept alive by an ardent band of Professional and Semi-Professional dancers, not only in New York but around the world. It has been said that Salsa has gotten bigger in the sense that more people are taking lessons but the people who came up in the streets and know about the music are not dancing it. Even in the 90s, you could go out every night in New York and have four or five places to choose from, and all of them had live music, and you don't find that anymore, especially in the Bronx, which used to be known as "el barrio de la Salsa."
The modern Salsa dance from New York was popularized in the 70s by Eddie Torres and his contemporaries who were 1st or 2nd generation Puerto Rican immigrants. This style is not danced to Mambo music, for which it is poorly suited, but instead to Salsa music. Mambo is still danced for fun and the joy of moving to Mambo music. As a fad dance it has been in effect for over half a century. But then came Salsa, but it too may be a fad dance? Bachata?
"Poetry and music exist in time. Painting and architecture are a part of space.
But only the dance lives at once in both space and time."
But only the dance lives at once in both space and time."
Another 10 years perhaps. Ten years ago Reggaeton began to attract young Hispanic Americans who might otherwise have gravitated to Latin music. It was destined to replace Salsa but it too seems to have fizzled out in a very short period. And there have been others that did not make it far. At the same time ballroom aficionados began to embrace Salsa as a serious dance form, which further alienated the young club goers. And now we have Kizomba and Zouk coming in.
Today Salsa is kept alive by an ardent band of Professional and Semi-Professional dancers, not only in New York but around the world. It has been said that Salsa has gotten bigger in the sense that more people are taking lessons but the people who came up in the streets and know about the music are not dancing it. Even in the 90s, you could go out every night in New York and have four or five places to choose from, and all of them had live music, and you don't find that anymore, especially in the Bronx, which used to be known as "el barrio de la Salsa."
“For most Social Dancers, there is no likelihood that they would make a living from dance.
They do it because they love it. They realize how full they feel when
they are surrounded by music and dancing and joy.”
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