GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hundreds of people gathered at Calder Plaza downtown on Friday night to enjoy opening night of the Grand Rapids Hispanic Festival, and at 8 p.m., all eyes were on a group of dancers from Grand Rapids Cuban Salsa.
"We are just a random group of people from here in West Michigan that all fell in love with Cuban dancing in some way, shape, or form," said Kate Mora Woods with a smile and a laugh.
Kate and her husband Rusmel Mora Garcia started the group about seven or eight years ago. They meet once per week and do performances across the area, often inviting people from the audience up to the stage to join them.
"I enjoy the people's faces when they see what we're doing and they're trying to join us. That experience is amazing. That is one of the best part of that process," said Rusmel Mora Garcia, who was born in Cuba.
Grand Rapids Cuban Salsa members are enthusiastic not only about sharing their moves with the community, but also the history of the dance style.
"Salsa as we know it here in the U.S. is actually a term and a style of dance was coined in New York City in the 1970s-ish. But it originally was known as casino dancing from Cuba. It was called a casino because it was what people danced in the social halls, which they called casinos," said Kate,
But what Kate loves the most about salsa is how it brings people together.
"There's something amazing about looking around and seeing everybody just having fun. There's so much stress going on in the world today. There's wars. There's all this political animosity and stuff going on. And when music comes on and people are just having fun, it's about that., You're dancing with your neighbor. You're dancing with your grandmother. You're dancing with your cousin," she said.
"In Cuba and in most Latin cultures, it's really just about community, and I love that. It just it reminds us that we're all human. We're all here together, and we all can share a common experience of joy."
