One of my favorite things about salsa dancing is the diversity of all the various kinds of dance that can be incorporated into the basic framework provided by salsa. In this series, I am going to share several videos that showcase the fusion of salsa with other styles of dance.
The first video in this series comes from Masacote Dance Company from Boston, MA. For those of you who have not heard of Masacote, their leader, Joel Massicot, is both a musician and a dancer. He has a latin/salsa band called Ritmo Masacote. The goal of Masacote Dance Company is to bridge the gap between music and dance; Joel teaches his famous musicality workshop throughout the world.
This performance is entitled “Afterlife”, and was performed at Flava Invasion 3 on Feb 23rd, 2008. The routine is a mix of salsa with modern and contemporary dance elements. Enjoy!
I was there, and it was definitely my favorite performance of the weekend. The audience went bananas afterwards. =) Very eclectic in styles, but woven together to make a powerful dance story. They are all amazing dancers, and you can tell the musical interpretation is top-notch.
This is probably the most innovative Salsa performance that I have seen in the last few years because it combines geometric formations/movements of modern dance and Salsa, of course. This performance will spearhead a new genre of Salsa performances.
Genre Performances? There are many Salsa dancers internationally and intrinsically there many styles of Salsa performances.
In the mid 90’s, the Salsa scene was still young, therefore many of the performances then were merely a formalization of social dancing. In the last few years, we have seen another branch/variation of Salsa performances: Competition performances. Competition performances are very flashy and eye-catching in nature because they must impress the judges and woe the crowd.
This “Afterlife” performance breaks so many rules and threatens the status-quo of what is accepted as a Salsa performance, that it deserves its own new category.
The music track is so unique! Who would have thought that a music track with flamenco guitar riffs, jazz harmony and solos, and just barely a hint of a tumbao percussion layer (not to mention 7-munites long!!!) would be captivating?!?!?
The message and theme of “Afterlife” is remarkably diaphanous, emotive and serious. When has a Salsa performance dealt with emotions of love, passion, death and suicide? Most performances rely on lyrics to communicate the theme of the performances. Not this one! The dance says it all.
This performance has awoken a need for introspection deep inside my soul. It has inspired me to challenge my own emotions in and outside of Salsa life. For this reason, “Afterlife” has set itself apart from the rest of performances.