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originally published on Salsaweb NY 8/99
Performing a Salsa/Mambo number is not an easy thing, even for someone like me who is use to making a living performing in front of a film camera . Its never easy to step out on stage, smile, remember a routine & look confident. Especially when you know that you are performing in front of a group of your peers (fellow dancers). But that is exactly what I did as part of Jimmy Anton’s Latin Jazz Ensemble during the 3rd Annual Congreso Barcardi de la Salsa. By the time we got to Puerto Rico we had performed the routine a total of two times. The first time was at the NY Congreso de la Salsa, the second was at Jimmy Anton’s Latin Sunday Social. Our performance at the Congreso in Puerto Rico was to be our third and had to be our best performance to date. Though we excelled in our two earlier performances, we felt compelled to do even better in PR. We knew that the Congreso was not a competitive event in itself, but rather a showcase or an exhibition of salsa dancing as an art form. But that still doesn’t ease the pressure that performers feel to do well. Especially since the level of showmanship, creativity and professionalism at the Congreso has increased over the last three years. Again there is nothing like performing in front of a group of your peers. In case you didn’t read last month’s article by Winsome Lee, we performed an Asian/martial art theme number to Tito Puente’s classic song "Asia Mood". Our number, nicknamed "Mam-Fu" (Mambo & Kung-Fu) by me during one of our initial brainstorming sessions has been my most favorite routine to date. I’ve always been told that I have a very sharp/martial art-like way of dancing Salsa/Mambo. So you can imagine how nice it felt to actually emphasize my martial arts in a mambo dance performance. Winsome was the one who had originally come up with the concept behind the routine. She asked me if I would be interested in choreographing the martial art moves for the number. She knew that the martial art angle was right up my alley (with almost 30 years of martial art experience). It would be the first time that I could mix all three of my favorite passions (mambo, martial arts and stunt work). The challenge was to incorporate martial arts into our mambo footwork and partner work, not the other way around. During the routine, I managed to incorporate a little Karate, Kung-fu and Tae Kwon-do hand movements; Tae-Kwon do kicks, Hu-bud (Filipino sensitivity hand drill) and the use of Kali (Filipino stick fighting). Everything was done to the timing to the clave even my kicks which were timed to missed Jimmy’s head during our open floor shine segment and at the back of Winsome’s head slightly before I picked her up for partner work (they had a great deal of trust in me). The crowd loved how our team managed incorporate props during our performance. The girls successfully used fans during their solo in a very distinctive Chinese way; I used 2 Kali sticks during my solo and managed to work them into our partner work (the sticks essentially became an extension of Jimmy and my arms); while Jimmy used his fans to pick up Josephine (his partner) from a split on the floor then swung them around like a pair of Nunchucks and finally the girls used ribbons and fans to help close the number while Jimmy and I did a Kali training drill in the background. That night the audience was so great to us. They were really receptive to our number. I could hear them cheering us on and applauding. They fed us positive energy which powered us up even more. It helped keep us in character. Jimmy and I opened strong, squaring off against each other with attitude while simultaneously opening up to present the girls. We also closed very strong by defiantly striking a pose with our Kali sticks as the girls snapped open their fans. In the end, I think that we presented a mambo number that successfully blended Asian culture with mambo dancing. Even our costumes and final bows reflected the theme of the marriage of these two cultures.
Before we went on stage, we had the MC (Albert Torres) inform the audience that we were dedicating our number to Eddie Torres (the Grand Master of NY Mambo). All the members of our team had either performed under Eddie or had been a student of his at one time or another. The man was an inspiration and we wanted him to know it. Eddie later told me that he was just walking in when he heard our dedication and was truly moved by it. As a matter of fact, he was making his way up onto the stage so that he could bow to us at the end of our number, but we left the area before he could make his appearance. Now that would have been a "KODAK" moment. Eddie also shared his thoughts on our routine. He offered words of encouragement by complimenting our creativity and successful blending of dancing with martial art moves. Eddie loved the fact that we mixed something traditional (dancing: something an older dance crowd would appreciate) with a more contemporary element (martial arts: something that a younger crowd would enjoy). As if on cue, Devin (Addie Diaz's 3 year old son), started to play fight with LA Dancer Francisco Vasquez (Director of Los Rumberos) while proclaiming himself to be a Power Ranger. I also heard encouraging words from other dancers like Ricardo Loaiza (Director of the DC Salseros and WEPA Productions). Ricardo, who was a second year veteran at the Congreso, told me that not only was he a Salsero but a martial artist too. He had always wanted to do a martial art number and congratulated us on our performance. He gave me the wonderful insight that we were the first on record to do a mambo/martial art number. That from this point on, if anyone ever performed a similar routine to ours, people would just say that they were copying us. That left a nice warm feeling inside of me; there could be better or worse routines, but at least we were the first. We finished our performance night with what was suppose to be a quick little photo shoot. Our plan was to take a couple of group shots before changing out of our costume. Before we knew it, we ended up feeling like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck at Disneyland. People were just stopping to pose with us. Cameras were being stacked in front of us, flashes were going off and twenty-five minutes had gone by. What a way to top off a great night. I had a great team of friends working with me, which made this one of the most memorable experiences of my lifetime. It never felt like work whenever we got together. Everyone did their part and more. We were all supportive of one another and relied on our strengths. Each of us was open to suggestions and had something to offer to the team. I’m really proud of Winsome & Jimmy for picking up whatever I threw at them (martial art-wise) for the routine. They did an awesome job at pulling it off and making it look good. It was such a rewarding experience that I look forward to doing it again in the future.
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