I’ve always imagined ballroom dancing to be a stuffy, high class routine. However, a year of ballroom dancing for my high school gym class, including some Latin dances such as rumba, cha-cha-cha, and merengue, changed my mind. Unfortunately, we never got the opportunity to learn about salsa.
But fortunately, I did learn about salsa at the Museum of the City of New York’s Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York exhibition. There was an entire space dedicated to salsa with walls of its history and evolution as well as a hardwood floor spanning the entire room that was covered with webs documenting its relations to other Latin American and African dances.
I thought it was particularly interesting how the gallery texts were available in both English and Spanish. I felt this was extremely important in that the museum tried to show salsa was a social movement, as opposed to just a dance, and how it developed into the present day.
The exhibition also incorporated the other components of a dance, such as music and the people behind that. When we think of a genre of dance, we oftentimes think about the dancers and music, but not necessarily the people who make that music and make it hot. In order to remedy that, the curator chose to include prominent contributors to Latin music, such as Cuban singer Celia Cruz, who was the Queen of Salsa in her own right. Some of her shimmery, flamboyant sequined outfits and golden shoes were on display. In addition to Cruz, there was also Willie Colón. On display was a copy of his record album.
On the other side of the room was a long display case topped with Latin music achievements, such as a Grammy award belonging to Eddie Palmieri, a major salsa singer. At the end of the wall was a mike stand that belonged to Marc Anthony, another important salsa music figure. There were also headphones in which we were able to listen to some salsa music.
In the outside gallery, a video clip played in a loop. Professional salsa dancers demonstrated some basic moves. I enjoyed the impromptu performance featuring Professor Eversley and Mak; it really was quite a performance. It made for quite grande finale and end to our museum trip.
Overall, this museum trip to learn more about salsa and the peoples who helped make it what it is today was exceptional. I was able to learn more about a genre of dance that I was curious about. Not only did I check out some moves, but I also learned about its rich history that is still relevant today. The exhibition itself proves that salsa is becoming increasingly popular.
