A Global Warming to Southland's Hot Salsa Dancers

By AGUSTIN GURZA

Aug. 24, 1999 12 AM PT

Salsa music is to California what soccer is to the United States. The art, like the sport, has its roots and its pedigree in other places.

So it’s no small cause for rejoicing that salsa dancers from Los Angeles and Orange counties have been creating a sensation beyond our borders. Street-bred teams of hoofers from our own backyards have turned the world spotlight on L.A. by the sheer energy, attitude and showmanship of their thrilling performances.

Our local dancers took a Caribbean genre and put an unmistakable California stamp on it, part Hollywood flash and part Mexican bravado. First, they swept through the local club scene, setting an irresistible, sexy style that caught fire from the San Fernando Valley to Newport Beach. Then they wowed the experts at Puerto Rico’s World Salsa Congress, an annual event that draws dancers, instructors and salsa junkies from Russia to Argentina.

This year, the L.A. contingent was 200 strong, counting performers and spectators, almost a fourth of all visiting congress participants. (Cuba, the cradle of salsa, did not attend, but watch out when they do.) The L.A. dancers sparked standing ovations and demonstrated why today there are three recognized styles of salsa dance: New York, Puerto Rico and L.A.

The international adulation even made celebrities of local dance lovers who went to watch, like my Times colleague, Rich Marosi, assiduous student of the L.A. style. People from cosmopolitan places like London were gushing, says Marosi, when they discovered he was lucky enough to live in Los Angeles (actually Long Beach) and learn from the trend-setters.

“L.A. has really reinvigorated the whole genre,” reports the dancing court reporter. “The L.A. dancers were the most exciting, the most energetic. . . . I’m tellin’ ya, they were a huge hit. Definitely the crowd favorites.”

And what a crowd it was. Fifty-seven acts and scores of spectators represented three dozen nations. No competing. No winners and losers. Just salsa for the sake of it. The Angelenos stole the show with their trademark theatrics and testosterone-powered acrobatics. The couples do flips, slides and death-defying drops, all choreographed with polyrhythmic precision.

“You almost expect them to come flying out of a cannon,” joked Laura Canellias, a veteran L.A. dance instructor who performed a rare romantic number at the congress with her partner, Jesus Moreno. “They’re always full of surprises.”

The big surprise is how suddenly L.A. made its mark on a dance that’s about as old as the century. The local style, especially its look-at-me machismo, was primarily developed by a trio of brothers from Guadalajara: Luis, Francisco and Johnny Vazquez.

Luis and his wife and partner Joby, evenly matched at 5-foot-5, head the 21 members of Salsa Brava, a multicultural melange of nationalities. Francisco brings a zoot-suited aggression to his company, Los Rumberos. And the rail-thin little brother, Johnny, dances solo, probably because nobody can keep up with his limber, lightning moves, except his charming partner, Olivia.

Five years ago, they were virtual unknowns here, just another family of immigrants seeking to reinvent themselves in this land of possibilities. They are all self-taught street dancers, instinctual inheritors of the Mexican mambo tradition and carefree borrowers of modern moves from hip-hop and other styles.

Critics at first dismissed L.A. dancers for starting on the “wrong” beat, the first count of a measure instead of the trickier second that purists favor. This year, Salsa Brava danced on both one and two, proving a point that’s quintessentially Californian: “It doesn’t matter which beat you dance on,” says Joby, a New York-born Dominican trained in jazz, ballet and tap.

But here’s the biggest surprise in a field known for its backbiting and catty competitiveness: The L.A. dancers have a reputation for getting along. Many of the local performers--including congress participants Josie Neglia, Tomas Montero and L.A. Salsa Kids and Albert Torres, the event’s emcee--are also instructors who compete for students locally. Yet, they share their passion for the dance and often promote each other’s events.

“There’s a great professional ethic in Los Angeles,” said Eli Irizarry, a former San Juan sportswriter who started the salsa congress three years ago as the genre’s only international showcase. “In general terms, they work with a lot of harmony.”

Canellias, for one, felt a personal triumph when she witnessed the acclaim for the Vazquez brothers at least year’s congress. “I was teary-eyed,” said Canellias, a transplanted Texan. “I was very proud that I knew these kids when they started and I had seen how far they’d come. I was all choked up.”

Her reaction reminded me of the excitement of watching the U.S. women’s soccer team charge out of nowhere recently to capture victory in a sport this country’s not known for winning.

So how do you say in Spanish: “Hooray for the home team?”

Agustin Gurza’s column is published on Tuesdays. Readers can reach him at (714) 966-7712 or by e-mail at [email protected]