When foreigners arrive in Guadalajara, they want to experience or at least see what is currently the dance that has become the world-wide representative of Latin dance — salsa. However, though salsa has evolved from Latin-American rhythms, it was actually “born” in New York City! It’s “parents” are actually the Cuban danzon and mambo (which also has its roots in danzon, a dance that is now more alive in Mexico than in Cuba). While salsa is primarily a dance for the younger and physically fit — especially here in Mexico where a single, fast paced dance can last 15-20 minutes — danzon can be danced by people of all ages and physical abilities. In fact, the danzon group that I attend in Zapopan includes a woman of 84 and a man in his 60’s who dances with the aid of a cane!
The start of danzon, and its country of origin, actually can be traced to a single date, January 1, 1879 when Cuban musician Miguel Failde presented the first danzon piece, Las Alturas de Simpson. Strangely enough, the rhythm has roots in English country dance which then became popular in France in the 17th Century and was called “contradanza.” It was imported to the French colony of Haiti and then to Cuba where it picked up some local rhythms (including a Cuban dance still in existence called son) and thus became danzon.
Danzon has three sections, two shorter, fairly slow sections, and a third, lively coda in which musicians tended to improvise. These improvisations led to mambo and chachacha rhythms. However, these rhythms remained a part danzon until 1938, when two musicians incorporated a more Afro-Cuban beat into their music and recorded a danzon single which they called “Mambo.” Then, Perez Prado, a Cuban pianist who immigrated to Mexico in 1948, produced the two pieces that put mambo on the world dance map: “Que Rico Mambo” and “Mambo No. 5.” Other musicians continued to experiment with mambo rhythms and the “triple mambo” –which evolved into the chachacha was created. Tito Puente, a latin and jazz musician born in Spanish Harlem in New York City of Puerto Rican parents took Latin music to its world-wide popularity while Arthur Murray simplified and slowed down the chachacha so a wider audience could master it. Danzon has continued to incorporate these newer rhythms and steps into its rapid third section and there are now mambo danzons, chachacha danzons as well as more traditional ones.
“OK, enough already”, you say. Where is salsa, the dance that is the current craze through-out the world? Where does it come from? What’s its connection to the history related above? There are several accounts of the birth of salsa, but all confirm that it was born, not in Latin America, but in New York City of the Latin parentage of mambo. One story links it to efforts of the latin record label Fania to reestablish latin music after it declined in North America and Europe because of the growing popularity of the musical rhythms inspired by the Beatles. They reinvented the mambo and presented it as a new product — salsa. The story that I like best, however, is the one that attributes the birth of the salsa to mambo dancers in Latin dance clubs in New York City who began shouting “salsa, salsa, salsa” when they felt that the music they were dancing to was spicy and hot! The foot movements are the pretty much same as for mambo, but with more improvisations, especially with the arms. Also, where in mambo, one waits for the second beat to start dancing so the strong beats are on 2 and 4, impatient salsa dancers start on the first beat making the strong beats 1 and 3.
If this little history of the most popular latin dances has wet your appetite enough to want to learn or even only observe them in an informal environment, there are lots of opportunities in Guadalajara as well as throughout Mexico. In addition to the many salsa clubs that exist in every city of Mexico, many cities offer free danzon and salsa lessons in public plazas. They always make the public welcome as both participants and observers. Some of the popular outdoor venues in Guadalajara are:
Downtown Guadalajara:
Plaza in front of Expiatoria Church off Avenida Enrique Diaz de Leon: Lessons at 6 – 7 p.m . or 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. depending upon the season, dancing following until around 10pm. Danzon: Sundays, salsa: Mondays and Thursdays.
Plaza Morelos off Calzada Independencia: Danzon: Saturdays and Sundays.
Plaza next to the Santuario Church on Avenida Acalde: Saturdays.
Zapopan:
Plaza Americas: Danzon: Sundays 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.; salsa: Thursdays 6 – 8 p.m.
Ajijic:
Kiosk: Danzon: Sundays 6 – 8 p.m., followed by other kinds of dance music, including salsa.