Rhythm and Power: Salsa in New York

I think it’s an incredible thing to be able to go to museums and view galleries and exhibits during our class time. I think this class gives us a great opportunity to be able to experience all the culture surrounding us. Last week our class visited the Museum of the City of New York to view the Rhythm and Power: Salsa in New York exhibit featuring Latin American dance such as Salsa and how these dances and music styles embodied the culture of many people.

It was interesting to see how dance and music showcased power of each individual singer like Celia Cruz, and Marc Anthony. Going into this exhibit, I wasn’t very familiar with Latin American singers, and to be honest I still am not familiar with any of the songs and music. But, as I read the biographies of the singers online I get to know who they were and what they struggled with. For example, Celia Cruz – who is also known as the Queen of Salsa – grew up in Havana, Cuba. She was able to relocate to the United States during the rise of Fidel Castro and here in the United States was she able to record 23 gold albums. It was interesting to find out that Celia Cruz had actually dropped out of college to pursue music, which I’m sure at that time period was very hard to do. The exhibit in the museum showcased Celia Cruz’s outfits that she wore on stage, all of which were very colorful and flashy. This really symbolized her power on stage – to captivate an audience and have all eyes on her. The flashy costumes are what make Celia Cruz so iconic, and walking into the exhibit they were the first things I wanted to take a picture of. I admire all the color added, and it is very prominently red. Red is a very powerful color, it stimulates the eyes. It is a color of passion and passion is something that Celia Cruz clearly possess. I look up to her for being able to overcome sexism in her days, which is something that is still sadly prominent in today’s society.

The next most notable thing about the exhibit were the floors itself. On the floors were charts of different Latin American countries like Puerto Rico and Cuba and all the dances associated with the countries. There were dances that connected some countries to others, and it was interesting to see how dance connects people of different cultures and backgrounds. In the exhibit was also a Grammy award, awarded to Eddie Palmieri for Best Latin Recording for his album The Sun in Latin Music in 1975. It’s great to see how much of an impact Latin music has made it into the industry.

My favorite part of the exhibit, though, had to be the video of the salsa dancers in the hallway which were meant to teach people how to dance. The dance itself looked very complicated, with many steps and movements. I thought it was very fun and interactive and Professor Eversley and Mak even got a chance to dance!