I dont want to see salsa , or the other latin dances, go too mainstream and become standardized, homogenized. It seems odd that someone who so loves the dance would not work harder to promote it, and I know I am not the only one. What is it that we fear?...

I love to dance. I dont think that really explains the depths of my passion.I LOVE TO DANCE.I will dance to anything, anywhere, anytime with anyone. I dream about dancing, chat about dancing, study dancing and just cant seem to get enough. My dedication and love for all aspects of Afro-Latin dance cannot be denied. BUT!!! I dont want to see salsa , or the other latin dances, go too mainstream and become standardized, homogenized. It seems odd that someone who so loves the dance would not work harder to promote it, and I know I am not the only one. What is it that we fear?

There are some who want salsa or "mambo" to be given the same respect as other dances, ballet and tap , for example. This is not at all a bad thing. We all want what we love and respect to get the credit we feel it is due. I however, dont think that too much standardizing and rulemaking is the way to go. We all share a love for the dance but have different fears. One side feels that if if Salsa is not standardized, given hard and fast rules, made a real dance that it will become lost in the annals of time,unrespected,forgotten and that the true impact of those who have created this dance and music will be lost to the public, to history. I am afraid that if it becomes too standardized, too elite, too intellectual that it will be lost to us, the dancers.

"Oh Nina, thats insane", I can hear you saying. But look back,look back and see the history of things folkloric and then hear me out. Jazz, Blues, Tap, Waltz,Polka etc, these all haved moves from the vernacular into the rarified realm of the Elite. And while they have the respect and admiration of the world, they are DEAD. I dont care what you say, THEY ARE DEAD! Classic,respected, studied,admired? yes ,but dead. They are museum pieces no longer allowed to grow and flourish, destined to always remain the same. Languages preserved but no longer spoken,like Latin and Ancient Greek. That which we respect we preserve and what we preserve we kill. But what we use, what we love we allow to grow and change.

Latin is no longer spoken, I took two years of it and have yet to hold a conversation with anyone. Sure, it makes me feel smart when I go to the doctor or to Mass, but thats about it. But Spanish and Italian and Portuguese, these are ALIVE and WELL. Spanish and Portuguese have conquered the New World, not the same old Latin,not even the same old European Spanish and Portugeuse. But something new and vibrant that can adapt and change.You cant go anywhere on this continent without hearing the language that was not preserved,but maintained by the people.

I look at the Blues, its dead and gone. Jazz? It aint here no more. Its played and created just as people still play Beethoven and Bach, bu its time has passed us by. Like a butterfly, to pin it down and examine it,we must still it, capture it and kill it. But it wasnt always so. The Blues wasnt taught in schools, it was taught on the street corners, in the clubs, on the patios of shacks down south. It was learned by listening and playing and then listening and playing some more. Is here a set form,something that we can immediately identify and say ,"Thats the Blues"? yes. But we have Delta Blues, Chicago Blues,Texas Blues and so forth. Knowing that,I cant be afraid of Columbian Salsa, or Salsa on 1 or Salsa on 3.

Jazz, it wasnt learned in a school. The originators were skilled and educated musicians, no doubt, but they didnt go to Jazz school. They didnt take Jazz lessons. They played together,jammed together, broke the rules, experimented and created something new. This was music FOR the people, music OF the people. It was in the homes and in the clubs. Now, who has the blues? Who plays jazz? Not the people,not the man on the street. It is now on a pedastal far beyond our reach. I dont want to lose salsa,I dont want to lose merengue! I want to teach my kids to cumbia, I want then to learn bachata at home. I dont want to see those of us who speak the language of dance to be squeezed out. There is money to be made, there are stars to be discovered, there is fame out there awaiting our salseros. When that day comes will their version be crystallized and declared The One True Version? Will those of us who speak the language of dance suddenly find that we aren't good enough, that we dont cut it? That it has become a thing of the elite, of the Chosen Ones? That we dont dance like the Puerto Ricans dance, or that we dont dance like they do in the City and we need to recognize!!

I am afraid this day will come and it saddens me. But then I look and I know there is hope. Latin is in the books. Jazz is in the academies. Tap is on the stage. Swing is just a fad now. But me and my peoples, my fellow salseros, are still in the streets, teaching each other learning from each other and passing the traditions on. It STILL belongs to us. Salsa is ALIVE. it is ALIVE and kicking. African dance lives,flamenco lives because the PEOPLE keep it alive, they treasure it, they dance it, the LOVE It and nurture it. I hope we in the salsa community can find that same balance between maintaining tradition and preserving tradition.

Y sigo bailando!

Copyright 2002 Nina