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At Miami Salsa Congress, Afro-Cuban Artist Marisol Blanco Embraces African Foundations

Marisol Blanco performs in the traditional Afro-Cuban dress inspired by Yemayá, an African mother deity of the water.
Courtesy of Marisol Blanco
Marisol Blanco performs in the traditional Afro-Cuban dress inspired by Yemayá, an African mother deity of the water.

For the last 12 years, Marisol Blanco has been fighting against numbers. 

Specifically, she has been hard at work dispelling the notion that dancing Salsa is about counting steps and following a mechanical style. "That's just atrophying the brain of dancers," she says.

For this Havanera, who hails from the the culturally rich Guanabacoa neighborhood, it's all about understanding the African history of Cuban music, how it has created its percussion and steps. Then the rest – and the body – just follows. 

“If you know where you come from,” Blanco says. “You know why you manifest yourself this way.”

Blanco is one of the dancers and instructors who will be participating in the Miami Salsa Congress and offering a Master Class workshop. The annual event, which will take place from July 26 to 28 at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, features Latin dance workshops with local and international experts, top-of-the-line showcases, and huge dance parties late into the night.

Blanco, who leads the Sikan dance company,  is teaching a workshop and performing at the event on Saturday. She has been participating in the Miami Salsa Congress for 10 years now, on top of teaching regular classes in two studios in Miami. 

 

 

Marisol Blanco showing the Afro-Cuban dancing arts for her students.
Credit Courtesy of Marisol Blanco
Marisol Blanco showing the Afro-Cuban dancing arts for her students.

“It’s been ten hard years trying to educate and trying to show them the correct way,” Blanco said. “Ten hard years fighting to show them the importance that they need to learn the foundation.”

Blanco’s Afro-Cuban classes focuses on dances from those various African ethnic groups, such as the Yoruba and Bantú as well as Afro-Haitian groups that have been incorporated into Caribbean rythms. These culturally rich activities includes specific dances inspired by the orishas, the West African deities of Afro-Cuban traditions like Ifá and Regla de Ocha, also known as Santería.

Blanco makes it a point to say that she teaches culture, not religion, however.

“The body, when it’s dancing, is not empty,” Blanco said. “All the artists when we perform, transmit essence, transmit message with your body. But if you don’t know how to interpret it or what that means, you can’t transmit nothing.”

 

 

 

 

Marisol Blanco in the traditional dress that represents Ochún, a female African deity venerated in Cuba and syncretized with the Cuban Virgin Mary.
Credit Courtesy of Marisol Blanco
Marisol Blanco in the traditional dress that represents Ochún, a female African deity venerated in Cuba and syncretized with the Cuban Virgin Mary.

 

 

For Blanco, dancing to Salsa is a work of staying true to the historical foundation of the music. In this case, it's honoring the legacy of West African ethnic groups that lives through the Cuban music and in Salsa. 

 

 

“It’s not only about performing, it’s about knowledge,” Blanco said.

 

If you go

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Miami Salsa Congress

July 24 - 28, 2019

Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel
4525 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, Florida 33140, United States

Tickets available here. http://miamisalsacongress.com/

Copyright 2019 WLRN 91.3 FM

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra is a recent graduate of North Carolina State University with a BA in English and is a bilingual journalist with a background in covering news on the vast Latino population in North Carolina. His coverage ranges from Central Americans seeking asylum to migrant farmworkers recovering from Hurricane Florence. Aaron is eager to work in South Florida for its proximity to Latin American migration and fast-paced environment of unique news. He is a native of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas of Mexican origin, a Southern adoptee, a lover of Brazilian culture and Portuguese, an avid Latin dancer, and a creative writer.