Timba Girl

Los Angeles, California

Joel learned to dance cumbia when he was young. The oldest son and nephew in a large family, he was drafted into the party by his mother and aunts, and learned to dance and lead at a young age. He once told me a story about being with his younger cousins, playing in the street, when his mother called him back up to the adults' party to dance. Too many aunts.

He tells me that when he was older and out at nights, DJs in Mexico City would bring huge amplifiers out into the downtown streets and that was where the dancing happened. He learned to dance disco. And then, one night, someone came to the event and demonstrated salsa. And the DJ played salsa music. And the rest is history.

Joel's father worked in the US. And Joel, the middle of five children, was the only one who was born in the US, at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles. But at the age of five they returned to Mexico City where all of their family lived. At twenty-one, Joel boarded a bus to the US, with his papers showing his US citizenship. He spoke only two words of English: Coffee and doughnuts. By the time I met him, about twenty-five years later, he was a stellar salsa dancer.

My friend, Todd, once remarked that he thought salsa dance was an opportunity for ugly men to dance with beautiful women. Much later, when I told Joel about this, he said: He's right. Joel is by no means an ugly man. He has the most soulful dark brown eyes. And he is a really, really good dancer. But he didn't have me at hello. We hung out together in a large group at the club, The Borderline, where many years later a shooting and many deaths would occur. But before that tragedy, Joel danced around the floor with multiple partners, as did I. But once, when neither of us were dancing, and we were standing in the same vicinity, the DJ played a timba, and I excitedly turned to him and exclaimed: I have to dance to this! He took me out on the dance floor, and I rather sheepishly said that I didn't usually make demands like that. It's good to know what you want, was his reply.

Timba. A music from Cuba that has a distinctive sound and rhythm. Joel can always identify the song styles the DJs play. He will tell me It's rumba. It's bachata, cumbia... salsa. I recognize timba. Perhaps the origins of this is when I learned to dance rueda which is salsa danced in a pattern and called, like square dancing. I loved dancing rueda. It was danced similarly to salsa, but Cuban style is rather pushed out instead of in. I know that won't make any sense to anyone who doesn't do latin dancing, so let me just say that there is a nuance that differs from salsa dancing.

Depending on the DJs when we go to dance, we hear salsa, rumba, bachata, cumbia, occasionally a cha cha with a small dose of timba in the mix. Again, depending on the DJ, we may sit out some songs, the songs we don't like. And then comes a timba. I have to dance to this.

I don't know a lot about Cuba, but I know that timba is joyful, energetic and infinitely danceable. Simply put, I am a timba girl. It is as simple as that. I love timba. Here is a late summer gift. Be happy and joyful. But most importantly. Just dance...  Click here: Timbamania