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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 30, 2005 Salsa as a lifestyle Dance craze just keeps growing around Ashland By Cindy Blankenship Tidings Correspondent Asked to compare the extremely popular salsa to dance crazes of the past, local salsa dancer Shawma Stuart replies, “Salsa’s not a fad! It’s a passion.” Christie Kleiman, front, dances with Antonio Panerosa at the Ashland Community Center during a salsa event. Photos by O Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Unlike dance fads that come and go, salsa (Spanish for sauce) has a rich and long history that continues to evolve. Emerging in the 1940s in Cuba, it simmered there with a blend of African rhythms, Cuban dances like the mambo and cha cha, the big band music of the conjuntos and other influences. The term “salsa” later sprang from the barrios of New York where in the 1950s Puerto Rican and jazz rhythms spiced up the sauce. Exciting artists such as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz influenced the styles. More recently, some of salsa’s pioneers have been re-discovered, notably through the efforts of American producer Ry Cooder and Cuban band leader Juan de Marcos. The resulting documentary movie, “The Buena Vista Social Club,” shared the music with the world. Movies such as “Dance with Me” and “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights” also helped moved salsa onto the front burner. Documented in travel and salsa guides, salsa clubs can be found in several European cities, from Sweden to Germany, as well as Australia and Japan. Helping to stir the pot in Ashland, the 11-piece band Mambo Rico was formed in 2001 by Ashlander John Gronberg and fellow Cuban music aficionados. “Every place we’ve played we’ve outgrown. We went from 20 to 100 dancers. I have played in bands for many years and never saw a response like this,” says Gronberg. Maya Lyn Gronberg, John’s wife and a salsa dance teacher notes, “What’s really nice is we have a social group. ... It’s become like a family.” Asked what she loves most about salsa, Maya Lyn replies, “When I think about that my heart just flutters. The music puts you in such present time and everything just comes alive. Hearing the music, the body just wants to move!” Maya Lyn’s class size grew from eight to 40-plus students over the last three years. Local dancers range from young teens to people in their 70s. Not everyone is doing the flashy styling and low dips highlighted in the media, she adds. Salsa shares many moves with mambo, including the pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music, but the overall look and feel is quite different, with lots of circling and a side to side feel. The rhythm is based on the syncopated rhythms produced by the clave, two short cylindrical sticks struck together. “Salsa is really happy music,” says Antonio Panerosa, a local salsa dancer. “It’s very creative. There are hundreds of moves to perform with various foot and upper body movements. It’s also super energizing, fun — and it’s really addicting!” Panerosa attributes this addictive nature to the excitement of the dance and to the concentration required that keeps one in the present. “There’s a core group of us that dance four or five times as week,” says Panerosa. Their schedule goes something like this: Tuesday at the community center for Casino Rueda (a Cuban round dance that’s called like a square dance and doesn’t require partners), Wednesday in Medford, Thursday and Saturday at Tabu, and weekend private dance parties. Then there is the monthly dance concert provided by Mambo Rico. The Mambo Rico dance concerts had moved from a smaller venue to the Mobius but have recently outgrown this venue as well. The next dance concert is set for the Britt Ballroom, capacity 600, on Cinco de Mayo. This dance will be a fundraiser for SOU’s Latino Student Union. “We needed a larger space, and this will help the Latino Student Union,” says John Gronberg. A Mamba Rico concert is always preceded by a dance lesson. This also serves as a warm up, so when the band begins to play they dance from the start. “You have all this energy and excitement right from the beginning, and the band feeds off of that and returns more energy,” explains Gronberg. “It’s hard to tell where the band starts and dancers end. “Sometimes band members are on the dance floor and dancers are on the band stage. It’s a Cuban tradition to have more communication and have the barriers much less visible. We try to emulate that.” “Salsa teaches me a lot about life,” adds Stuart. “For example, in order to be a good follower you can’t be anticipating your partner’s moves. And the man needs to look for her cues. He can’t just take the woman and crank her. There’s a trust thing going on.” Stuart took classes from Christina Cansino at the Dance Space and subbed for Maya Lyn at her salsa aerobics class. She taught at Tabu before she took a full-time teaching position at Rogue River Middle School. A long time dancer, Stuart’s danced hula, tap, jazz, contra and more, but for her, salsa is numero uno. “Salsa is a celebration of being a sensual human being on the planet in the energetic flows of the creative force,” Stuart philosophizes. “It’s exploding worldwide,” adds Stuart, who attends salsa congresses (huge gatherings with workshops, performances and lots of dancing) as often as she can. “Thousands attend these congresses. They’re all over the West Coast too: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco. … Everybody’s bringing different backgrounds and their own creativity. For example, a couple from Mexico City who won a contest incorporated a native dance into their salsa. “What I like about the salsa group in Ashland,” concludes Stuart, “is that we’re all very good friends and we welcome people who are beginning.” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Tatoos website design & marketing student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams