I had the opportunity to talk to Victor Burgos and Gaby Bernal, from Salsa con Clave, the week after the Los Angeles (L.A.) Congress. Victor and Gaby came from Mexico, Distrito Federal (D.F.) to perform at Congress. Their performance was very well received, and much talked about, due to the mix of the traditional Mexican dance ‘quebradita’ with Salsa steps.

Here’s my conversation with them:

Dena: Where exactly in Mexico are you guys from?

Victor and Gaby: We live in the most centric place in Mexico, D.F., in a place called Lepante, and only about 500 meters from one another.

D: You have different last names… are you related to each other in any way?

V&G: Yes, we are sweethearts, lovers, partners, everything, just no papers signed yet. [both of them laughing]

D: What is Salsa con Clave?

V&G: Is our dance company, made out of seven couples including the two of us. The entire group performed at the Hilton Hotel Thursday night at the pre-Congress party, but only the two of us danced the Sunday evening of Congress.

D: How did you guys get into Salsa?

V&G: We were ‘quebradita’ dancers for many years. ‘Quebradita’ for us had started as a hobby, but soon we received many work offers to open for bands at different events, like Banda El Recodo, Pancho Barraza, and others. We finally got more recognition after we opened for the award celebrations of the ‘Furia Musical’ magazine, in November of 1997. From then on, our life has been dedicated to dancing. Eventually with ‘quebradita’ we got to the point where there was nowhere else for us to go, and we got bored.

Since we had always liked Salsa, we went to a place that advertised for Salsa lessons. That’s where we learned to dance ‘en linea’, or to step back and forth, and not to the side as we had always danced. We found a Cuban teacher, Luis Martinez, who taught us first to dance ‘cuban style’ and ‘Casino rueda’, and he was also who prepared us to compete in the Bacardi event that went on in Mexico, just about six months after we had taken our first Salsa class. We had no idea of what competing was going to be like. We were just told that the prize was a trip to Puerto Rico and it sounded good to us. Amazingly, we won first place at that event, where Johnny and Olivia were two of the judges by the way, and because we won we ended up at the Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico! That was in July of 2000, and at that point, as we arrived in Puerto Rico, we still had no idea of what ‘on one’, and ‘on two’ dancing was. When we saw the Vasquez brothers dance, Rogelio Moreno, and well, basically everyone else, we could not believe our eyes. We did our little show realizing for the first time that it certainly was just that, a little show. It was very good to see that all the Mexican salseros, whether actually from Mexico, or from Los Angeles, or anywhere else in the U.S., supported us immediately, even though, in comparison, we could hardly dance at all back then. It was in Puerto Rico that we learned what the ‘L.A. style’ was all about, and we spent our nights watching everyone’s feet carefully so as to memorize the steps to hopefully remember them back home.

D: If you have to label your style now, what would you call it?

V&G: We dance ‘on one’ but to Victor and Gaby’ style. Although we have learned from everyone, and about projection, corporal expression, a bit of every dance style, and watch videos back home to get ideas, we hope we look different than other dancers, because we are constantly trying to come up with different moves. We practice a lot, and sometimes we make ‘mistakes’ that turn out to be nice new steps that get eventually added to our routine.

D: How would you compare the Salsa clubs in Mexico D.F. to the ones here in Los Angeles?

V&G: There’s a huge difference. Los Angeles has a Salsa culture that does not exist in D.F. There are some clubs trying to get Salsa going, but they have trouble even choosing the best music, and most often play only really commercial stuff. The only place that I would recommend is the club where we teach, Salon Baraimas, where we make an effort to play the best music. As a matter of fact many of our CDs are purchased here in Los Angeles and taken to D.F. with us. The best dancers of D. F. go to Salon Baraimas, and they dance on many different styles, ‘on one’, ‘on two’, ‘cuban style’, ‘casino’, etc.

Also, everything in L.A. is pretty much professional, and Salsa is managed as a business. In D.F. Salsa is just a hobby. People practice day in and day out without any particular goal. We are now trying to get people interested in competing and performing, hopefully to help the Salsa scene grow.

D: What would you say the predominant dancing style is in D.F. for the regular ‘street’ dancer?

V&G: The style most Mexican people dance is called ‘Tibiri’ or ‘Salsa callejera’. It has nothing to do with ‘on one’, ‘on two’, or any other style known here in L.A. It is a very fast way of dancing with a constant little hop. The style we teach is completely new to them.

D: How do you guys support yourselves?

V&G: Dancing. We give Salsa lessons, organize workshop events, I (Gabby) sew dance costumes and dresses, we get paid to do shows, sell dance shoes, etc. We do lots of little bits here and there to stay afloat. Our dance classes on Friday and Saturday nights are full. Still, things are hard because of the economy in Mexico. We charge about $4.50 for a class an hour and a half long, which we understand is less than half than what an instructor gets here in L.A., but people simply would not be able to pay any more.

D: Do you see progress in your students? Are you starting to see your steps executed by others on the dance floor?

V&G: We see them understanding timing, and able to listen to the beat of the music. They are still not doing fancy moves on the floor, because everything is too new to them. We wish they could all come to L.A. and see everyone at these clubs. In D.F., they are always telling us how wonderful we dance, what great dancers and what great Salsa we show, and we keep on telling them that they haven’t seen anything! Now that our entire dance company came with us to attend Congress, plus several students and others who came just to support us (a group of about 30), they can finally understand what we meant. We are happy they came, because if there was any question as to whether we were teaching them properly, now they know. We can see them all excited. They have told us to count with their continued support to get Salsa to grow in D.F. until we can have a Congress down there of our own.

D: Have you had any negative reactions to your dancing style in Mexico D.F.?

V&G: Yes, from lots of people! Like we said ‘Salsa callejera’ has always been the ‘style’. Now we came in and are showing a whole new way to dance Salsa. Many look at us and say ‘yeah, that’s cool’, and then turn around and go back to dancing the same way they always have. Yet others plainly say ‘that’s not Salsa at all’. It is difficult to convince the ‘barrio’ people to adopt a new dance, and to learn a new way to listen to the music other than what they have been doing their whole life. Many have labeled our dance style as ‘Salsa de Salon’ (Ballroom Salsa), and its considered separate from their ‘Salsa callejera’ which is the way they dance outdoors, when they close entire streets to have a ‘Fiesta Sonidera’ (Sound Party), or at home.

D: I think you guys are great. Are you proud of what you have accomplished so far?

V&G: Being that we are pretty much alone in Mexico D.F., yes, we are happy of where we stand. We have wonderful people supporting us. Lately, many great dancers have been visiting us down there, for example, Rafael Munoz from Germany, Horacio from Switzerland, wonderful dancers from Sweden and Canada, and just about two months ago, Rogelio Moreno from Los Angeles. They have gone to support our dance company ‘Salsa con Clave’ by teaching workshops, organizing performances, etc., which helps encourage growth for the Salsa scene over there. We are also happy that we have gotten to represent Mexico at the Puerto Rico Salsa congress twice already, and now for the first time here in Los Angeles. It has been a hard road because to this day we have no sponsoring. But it is encouraging to keep on receiving invitations to future events. For example this week we were invited to dance in Utah, Holland, Mazatlan, etc. Some of these promoters will pay for our hotel stay, food and the entrance to the events, and even though we still need to come up with transportation, their help is enormously appreciated.

D: What would you like to see accomplished in the Salsa scene in Mexico D.F.?

V&G: We’d like to see more unity in the Salsa scene down there between the younger groups like ours ‘Salsa con Clave’ and the older, better established groups, like the World Salsa Federation representatives. We feel we could find better and faster ways to help Salsa grow in Mexico D.F. if we could all work towards a common goal and if the newer people could get stronger support.

D: Your performance Sunday at Congress was very well received, lots of people cheered for you… what did you guys think of that?

V&G: Well, that was really great. For a moment I (Gaby) wondered whether they were cheering because we were good or simply because we were from Mexico though [laugh].

D: Well, I think many cheered because we had never seen ‘quebradita’ mixed with Salsa before… who came up with the idea?

V&G: Well, it’s a long story that started the first time we went to Puerto Rico. Johnny Vasquez knew that we were ‘quebradita’ dancers, and he asked us to do a show of ‘quebradita’ mixed with Salsa. We didn’t that year because we already had a routine in place, but the second time in Puerto Rico, we created a ‘quebradita con Salsa’ routine. Turned out that Albert Torres saw that performance on video and he told us that he wanted it in Los Angeles this year. We really did not want to dance the same number, so we came up with this new routine, which seems to have pleased people well.

D: How did you like the Los Angeles Congress when compared to the other ones you have gone to already?

V&G: We’re still very fond of our first Congress experience in Puerto Rico. We think that one was the most ‘international’ Congress we have gone to so far. But the L.A. Congress will definitely be the best Congress of 2002. Also, we are very happy to see that people know who we are here, even more so that in Mexico D.F.

D: What is next for the two of you, and for Salsa con Clave?

V&G: We want to work on the dance company. It is very different dancing just as a couple than working with a whole group. You find yourself being a friend, a father, a spiritual counselor, a doctor, a psychologist, a director, a choreographer, besides a dancer partner. We have a lot of respect for all the dance teams’ directors because we know how hard it is. This Congress has been incredibly enlightening to us. We want to get back home soon so that we can start implementing all the things we have learned this week. Our advantage now is that our dance team members were all here. They now know what we are talking about, it’s beyond watching videos and just plain talk, because they have now actually lived it. We are so grateful to Albert Torres for helping us get their paperwork ready so that they could attend.

As for the two of us, we were invited to attend the Dominican Republic Congress in July; we are planning to be back in Los Angeles on August 17th for the first anniversary of latinosonline.com, then we may make it to the New York Congress in September, and then the Salsa weekend in Mazatlan that Vince Ortiz is organizing for the month of October. We are excited about this last event because we feel it will attract people from Los Angeles to come to Salsa in Mexico for the first time.

D: Where is this Salsa weekend in Mazatlan going to be?

V&G: There is a hotel called ‘El Cid Resort’ where the evening events will be. Vince Ortiz, a.k.a. Salsero Picoso is the one organizing it. It is mostly geared for the people from Los Angeles, but we will be working very hard to get dancers from D.F. to attend as well.

D: Any final words?

V&G: Yes, we would like to thank some people. First of all, Ruben Malpica, from salserosonline.com. He created and maintains our website www.salsaconclave.com, and he has been an incredible big help and support. He has acted as a father to us here in Los Angeles and we love him.

A big huge thanks to Rogelio Moreno and Tony and Emma Corella, from Salsabor y Cache; to Albert and Maya Torres; and to Luis and Joby Vasquez of Salsa Brava, all of them for supporting us so much and making us feel part of the group.

A special thanks to Jennifer Vargas, from solosabor.com for allowing us to stay a week longer after Congress and perform some more here in L.A. And we also have people to thank back home: Samuel, and the management of Baraimas Club, for their help and the fact that they have always believed in us. It is partially thanks to their support that we are here. And of course, our families. Hi mom!!! [Gaby laughs].

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Victor and Gaby are lovely people, very approachable and humble. I wish them the best of luck!