Chicago Salsa Festival 2008

Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance Honored by National Endowment for the Arts

Dear Friends,

We would like to share this very exciting news with all our friends who have believed in us and watched us grow over the last 10 years!

PUERTO RICAN FOLKLORIC DANCE is very proud and honored to announce that we have received a 2007 CHAIRMAN'S AWARD from the National Endowment for the Arts!

This award will support a new phase of conservative and steady growth that will take PRFDance to the next evolution, and expand our cultural outreach that is serving the State of Texas and creating a cultural anchor in the Southwest United States for Puerto Rican folk and traditional arts.

In 1997 PRFDance began as a mother's wish to bring her culture alive for her baby son and her community. This award is a wonderful testament to all we have accomplished over the last 10 years!

Come celebrate this big news and our last 10 years of accomplishments with us THIS SUNDAY at our 10th ANNIVERSARY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION & BOMBAZO, Sept. 9th, 2-5pm.

Share this flyer with friends.

Dr. Ana Maria Tekina-eiru' Maynard

Founding Director
Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center
701 Tillery Street

Austin TX 78702
www.prfdance.org
(512)251-8122

Dutch Salsa

It's always interested me why the good folks of the Netherlands (the Dutch) show such interest in American Taino. They visit the weblog at three times the rate of the Germans and the French--and over twice the rate of the Spanish.

Actually, the Dutch have shown more interest in American Taino than have Latin Americans except for those in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Why?

While I honestly don't know, I suspect it has something to do with the openness and curiosity of the Dutch. As a crossroads of Western Europe, the Netherlands has always been a multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. For example, the Dutch never fail to amaze me with their fluency in English and other world languages. It probably also has something to do with the strong presence of the Dutch in the Caribbean.

Latin Americans and people from the Caribbean have found their way to the Netherlands, settling there in growing numbers. According to the Migration Institute, some 25,000 Latin Americans were living in the Netherlands in 2005. And as one can imagine, there are children whose parents are Latino and Dutch.

Actually, recently I completed an online survey on Taino parentage sent to me by a student studying at a Dutch University. The young woman is a Dutch citizen of Puerto Rican and Dutch heritage.

And then there's this bit of information from the Netherlands: The Dutch love Salsa.

While Salsa is popular across a number of European capitols, the Dutch seem to have made it their own, including holding an national Salsa Festival each year. This year's festival takes place October 26-28 in the Dutch historic city of Haarlem. (And yes, NYC's Harlem was named after the Dutch Haarlem. After all, NYC was originally a Dutch City.)

Of course, we can't forget that the Netherland Antilles of Sint Maartens, Bonaire, Saba, Curacao and Sint Eustatius are Caribbean neighbors of Puerto Rico. This may explain actor Jimmy Smits' Puerto Rican and Dutch heritage. And Puerto Rico itself was captured by the Dutch in 1625 and held for a period of time.

Here are just a few Dutch Salsa websites:

SalsaFestival.nl
Salsa.nl
Salsa - Amsterdam.nl
Salsanet.nl - The Dutch Resource for Salsa and Samba
Salsaforum.nl
UnionSalsa.nl

And the Dutch in Puerto Rico website:

The Dutch Club of Puerto Rico

Salsa Spins Beyond Its Roots

Salsa Spins Beyond Its Roots (by Julie Bloom, NYTimes/Dance - 7.29.07)

SOON after Héctor Lavoe, the great salsa singer, arrives in New York in the new biopic, “El Cantante,” he finds himself immersed in a vibrant scene in the Bronx: a nightclub crammed with bodies drenched in sweat moving to the pounding beat of congas. As the film, which is to open nationwide Aug. 3 and stars Marc Anthony as Mr. Lavoe, shows, it could have been any night in New York in the late 1960s, when dancing was a genuine physical manifestation of the energy of the streets.

Besides the studios, salsa dancing is also thriving at salsa congresses, several days of workshops and performances that attract thousands of dancers from around the world. The original Salsa Congresso started in Puerto Rico in 1997; there are now congresses held in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Chicago, Britain, Romania, Dubai, Israel and Japan. New York’s annual congress is set for Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 at the Hilton New York.

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