Cinco to Celebrate: Meet the dancer teaching free cumbia classes in Queens
This is the final entry in Cinco to Celebrate, a series highlighting five Mexican businesses in New York City that are worth your time and money this Cinco de Mayo—and beyond. Here’s more about the importance of the series and where you can read every article.
Cumbia is a genre that incorporates basses, flutes, accordions, maracas, whistles, and typically hovers around 100 BPMs with clear staccatos, ideal for a sexy two step with a partner. But there’s an infinite range of creative individual flair that exists within cumbia, and that’s where many people get lost.
Growing up in Queens, Mark Saldana was surrounded by cumbia music. Although the genre originated as a folkloric dance in the coast of Colombia, it’s beloved by many throughout Latin America, including in the Mexican state of Puebla. In a neighborhood like Jackson Heights, where hundreds of cultures are packed within a few blocks’ radius, the lines are often deliciously blurred: Ecuadorian culture becomes Colombia culture becomes Peruvian culture, and so forth.
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Growing up, Saldana’s mom collected cumbia CDs from the stores along Junction Boulevard, which Mark refers to as the “Mexican and Ecuadorian Times Square.” He mostly danced cumbias at quinceñeras, but he was so good at it that his aunt told him she’d buy him a trip to Mexico if he really focused on learning the dance moves. For months, Saldana watched YouTube videos and practiced in parks and streets with friends he calls his “cumbia sisters.” When he showed his family what he could do, they were very impressed and bought him a flight to Mexico.
When Saldana went to Mexico, his cousins danced cumbia differently than he did, and he picked up moves from their own versions of cumbia sonidero, a branch of cumbia that was developed in Mexico and tends to involve more instruments, faster rhythms, and more synths than its Colombian counterpart.
Violeta, a woman in the neighborhood who taught cumbia classes, saw Saldana dance at parties and approached him to teach a class. At first, he was hesitant. “I’m not a professional dancer or choreographer,” he tells Time Out. But Violeta was certain that he had what it took to teach—and since then, he’s been teaching free classes to New Yorkers every Saturday.
They’re keeping the music alive for us.
One of Saldana’s primary goals is to bring awareness around the genre and its rich history in New York. Many of the places where sneaked in to dance cumbias when he was underage, namely one place called El Tucanazo on Roosevelt Avenue, have closed since the pandemic. There’s really only a handful of places that play cumbias sonideras regularly now, including Queens Place, El Patron Lounge, and El Dorado Lounge. “These last remaining places are really important because they’re keeping the music alive for us,” he tells Time Out.
When you go to one of Saldana’s free classes, you can expect to see a variety of skill levels but mostly beginners. He likes to remind people that he’s still learning, too. “We’re all stumbling at the same time. I’m not a professional, I’m a social dancer,” Mark says. “If I mess up, we mess up together.” Hour-and-a-half long classes start with an introduction to the dance, and he’ll incorporate one or two more advanced dance moves towards the end.
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It’s clear when I talk to him that cumbia has been a connecting thread for Saldana throughout his life—to his parents’ hometown in Mexico, and to a larger community of Latinos in Jackson Heights. Because he owes so much to cumbia, he wants to help younger generations be as passionate about the genre and continue the colorful legacy of the genre in New York, which is the product of so many cultures that came together to create something that feels fluid, dynamic, and like it belongs to no one and everyone at the same time—kind of like New York itself.
We’re all stumbling at the same time. I’m not a professional, I’m a social dancer. If I mess up, we mess up together.
“Cumbia culture has always been big but it’s never been top tier like salsa, merengue, bachata,” Saldana says. But with the help of initiatives like his, people are starting to pay attention. “Cumbia is exploding, it’s getting its recognition, but it’s always been amazing. We’ve always been here.”
Check out the free classes every Saturday from 12pm-1:30pm on 34th Ave in Jackson Heights. You can follow Saldana for more information on classes or check out the Open Streets events calendar.