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Miami Herald: Poor Colombian youth find a step up in salsa

Posted on Wed, Sep. 17, 2008

Poor Colombian youth find a step up in salsa

By JENNY CAROLINA GONZALEZ C.

Alirio Montesuna's humble home in the poor, crime-ridden neighborhood of Agua Blanca fills with music and laughter each afternoon when his second-floor terrace is converted into a salsa dance studio with floor-to-ceiling mirrors.
For the 90 students at Montesuna's Latin Constellation Academy, salsa lessons are a way to reach new heights in Cali, Colombia.

As the city witnesses a resurgence of this most popular of Latin rhythms, becoming a professional salsa dancer is turning into the activity of choice for Cali's impoverished youth.

''Some see it as a springboard to travel abroad and stay there because we are in a country where opportunities are tough,'' said Montesuna, a dancer for the past 16 years. He charges students $8 a month, but builds furniture pieces to make ends meet.

Cali has 45 more registered dance schools like Latin Constellation -- although those in the business say there are more than twice that many -- making Cali the city with the most salsa moves per square foot in the world, some say.

The city has 325 instructors, 195 dance groups and 5,250 dancers.

Salsa is not new to Cali. The dance style has been one of the strongest cultural expressions to take root in the previous century from the largely Afro-Colombian population from the Pacific Coast that migrated to the city.

''The current golden era is an evolution and the development of a dance tradition that has a long history in the city, more than 70 years,'' said Colombian anthropologist Alejandro Ulloa. ``It is about bodies sculpted for dance that have more to do with deeper cultural phenomenon.''

Cali became known as the world capital of salsa during the 1990s, thanks to the financing of hundreds of salsa orchestras by drug cartels and organized crime.

As the city and the rest of Colombia reclaim their right to peaceful coexistence without cartels or guerrillas, dancers are ushering in a new golden era of salsa.

''In the splendor of the Cali orchestras, many were rooted to that emerging economy, but when the economy went into a recession, of 100 orchestras only 20 remained,'' said Colombian writer Umberto Valverde. ``What happened? The dancers kept salsa alive.''

Lately, it has been through the consecutive first-place victories of Cali salsa dancers in the world championship circuit -- organized by Salsa Seven and transmitted around the world on ESPN -- that many youth are realizing just how far their passion can take them.

Twenty-two-year-old Juan Carlos Vuesaquillo and 13-year-old Fernando Hernández dream of becoming world champions. For students and instructor, salsa is not about partying the night away, but about opportunities.

Vuesaquillo already has been invited to dance in Los Angeles and even made an appearance on Univisión's Show de Don Francisco in Miami. In Cali, he works odd jobs to get by.

Like many youth from the poorer neighborhoods of Cali, salsa dancing has meant a way to stay away from problems such as drugs and delinquency.

''When I started, I used to waste a lot of time in the streets and had friendships that weren't very good,'' Vuesaquillo said.

Not far from the Latin Constellation Academy, Fernando Hernández lives with his family. His instructor describes him as the best student of his ninth-grade class.

On the living room walls of his humble home hang several framed newspaper clippings that tell of Fernando's trip to the 2007 World Salsa Congress in Los Angeles.

''Just imagine, he already traveled so far away, and I don't even leave Agua Blanca,'' said the boy's father, Fernando Hernández Sr., who sees a potential livelihood in his son's dedication to dance. ``I hope he advances to see if he can start up his own school and have some income.''

Viviana Vargas, 22, is a clear role model for many Cali youth. In 2005, she and her dance partner, Ricardo Murillo, were crowned Salsa World Champions in Las Vegas.

Salsa is ''an alternative in life for those who don't have the money to pay for college,'' said Vargas, who kept at her dance classes while trying to raise the money to enroll in a bilingual secretarial course.

Salsa has yet to fundamentally change the lives of most of Cali's impoverished youth, Ulloa said. Most successful careers have occurred on an individual level.

''From an optimistic standpoint, it can effectively help to resolve a social problem,'' Ulloa said. ``Being less optimistic, I would say that it disguises poverty and inequality.''

Still, many have found an opportunity through dance.

Gladys Hurtado, assistant director of the Nueva Dimension (New Dimension) Salsa Academy, said close to 100 of her former students have become instructors, after finding they could not afford to go on to college.

The dance has helped many young people get away from drug and gang problems, said Luis Hernández, known as ''El Mulato,'' founder of one of the city's first dance academies and also a salsa world champion.

''Now dancing is becoming business. Young people see the possibility of helping with expenses at home, paying for studies, of helping their families,'' Hernández said. ``This has become a livelihood.''

The resurgence of salsa is not only about winning world championships but also about an emerging market for entertainment and a developing industry nourished by local culture, Ulloa said.

The Delirio Foundation is an example of this growing business. It was created two years ago as a combination salsa dance show and circus extravaganza, both highly technical and artistically expressive.

''The idea is to rescue dancers, generating in them both economic and artistic elements for a foundation that will allow them to maintain themselves,'' said director Andrea Buenaventura.

''Like everything in life, one has to fertilize what the soil produces,'' Buenaventura said. ``In Cali, we produce salsa dancers.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/690228.html">http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/690228.html

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© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
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By Simon on Sep 17, 2008, 17:44 in Friendly Talkzone.

la_calera says on Sep 18, 2008, 10:40:

Cali es cali lo de mas es loma!

Si quiere llegar a viejo, agase el pendejo

0 funny, 0 helpful.