“We’ve been doing this dance in the club and in streets for so long. It’s more than just the dance for us. It’s a way of expressing our life through it.” (Eddie Torres). Salsa is more than just entertainment. It is even more than just an art form. Salsa is a movement used to express ideas and beliefs and motivate a change in mindset. We learned on our visit to the Museum of the City of New York that in the late 60’s and 70’s, “salsa became a multifaceted tool for community self-expression, helping to solidify Latino/Caribbean-American identity in general.” Music became one platform used by the Latino community to establish greater self-determination in America.
Salsa is one identifying mark of the Latino community. It created a sense of belonging and helped Latino immigrants create a place and a home for themselves in America. Salsa fused together different rhythms and sounds and movements to create a new one that helped unite people. It helped them create their own personal identity and culture within the United States. Famous salsa singers used their music as a way to speak out about social issues and raise awareness within the community. They made critiques of social injustices and called out to activist groups for social change– all through music, and it was successful in reaching a wide range of people through its captivating sound.
I grew up listening to salsa music everyday of my life. On Saturday mornings I would wake up to the sound of Victor Manuel blaring through my dad’s speakers as my parents cleaned the house. I consider it an integral part of my culture, and I would’ve been disowned by my family had I not learned how to dance it. To see an entire exhibit dedicated to salsa and its power was an amazing experience. It was really nice to see that it was being appreciated by others as not only a form of entertainment, but as a vehicle for social change.
This visit also helped me see salsa in a different light. I had never before seen clothes as a demonstration of power. For example, seeing Celia Cruz’s dress was mesmerizing, but I hadn’t thought about how big of a deal it was in that time for a woman of darker complexion to be on stage singing in such an attention grabbing dress. Now I think about how many young girls that must have seen her performing and then were able to feel like they too were being represented because she was of their skin color and spoke their language. Now I am able to look at her clothes and see how empowering they are for women everywhere, especially women of color.
What I most appreciate about salsa is the power it has to unite people. It is such a unifying force that brings people together in the streets and in the clubs to enjoy life and celebrate a beautiful culture. I love watching my parents dance salsa together. Their movements are so fluid and it seems effortless, yet there is beauty in the intricacy of the footwork and movements involved. Those movements helped bring the Latino community together. Even people from different countries were united under the music.
