"Our dance needs to be recognized, to be
developed to a professional level. So I see now that my purpose is
to help make that happen. I’m not the message, but I’m the
messenger".
I met with Eddie Torres the official "King of Mambo Dance" at
Jimmy’s Bronx Cafe where the following interview was conducted. Mr. Torres
is considered a pioneer and it is through his teaching and natural dance
abilities that many dancers can proudly say, "I’ve learned from Eddie
Torres". I should know. I’m one of them. For the past nine years, I have
been involved in the New York mambo scene. For six of those years, I was a
principle dancer with the Eddie Torres Dance Company. Since departing his
company, I’ve traveled around the world imparting and sharing with others
the "Eddie Torres Technique" mixed with my own style. It has been a
winning combination. The Eddie Torres technique is recognized around the
world.
So it is with great pride that I share with you this
exclusive interview. Exclusive in that it was the first time
Mr. Torres was interviewed for the Internet. In addition, you will read
facts about his life not revealed in other interviews.
For Eddie Torres, it started when he was 16 years of age
and attracted to a particular young lady. She knew how to dance and he did
not. Compelled to prove to himself and probably to her that he could learn
and dance well, Eddie Torres embarked on dance mission that has now
spanned over 30 years.
Recognized as "The Mambo King", Mr. Torres
recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1st
Annual Salsaweb Convention held in Washington, D.C. April 28 – May
2nd 1999. From performing at Ford Theatre for the president of
the United States (George Bush) to touring with the legendary Tito Puente,
his credits read like a who’s who list. Mr. Torres has shown his
commitment and love to the dance. His natural talent for choreography and
his perseverance over the years has catapulted him to be acknowledged as
the undisputed " Mambo King". When no one else believed in promoting the
Mambo, when most believed it was just a fad, Mr. Torres planted his
dancing feet and stood his ground. He has positively touched many lives
through the art of dance. For all his achievements, and many more to come,
the Lifetime Achievement Award is well deserved.
Angel: How long
have you been involved in dancing and what was the catalyst?
Eddie: I started dancing at the age of 16. I now have
over 30 years involved in dancing. It all started because I was attracted
to this young lady but I didn’t know how to dance and she did. I was
somewhat heartbroken because she would not pay that much attention to me
but did to this other fellow who happened to know how to dance. So one day
I made up my mind to learn how to dance so that this wouldn’t happen to me
ever again. I was actually 15 years old but was dancing by the age of 16.
In fact, it was my sister who helped me to learn how to dance because she
was already a dancer. She didn’t have much patience for me but she helped
me get started with the basics. Her nickname was "Shorty" but her real
name was Elia Torres. She was the "dancer" of the family. I remember
always asking her to take me to the clubs. It’s funny because she would
answer me by saying, "You’re crazy!" "I don’t want to be seen in a
nightclub with you looking like that".
(Eddie laughs) Then after about 7 years of dancing and
becoming better at it, she used to beg me to go dancing with her! Then she
would ask me, "Eddie, would you go to clubs with me?" Then I would answer,
"No, not with you looking like that". I turned it around on her and I used
to tell her, "Hey, those are old moves, I’ve got new moves!!!" So we used
to joke with each other like that.
Angel: While in
your youth, which types of music did you listen to what were your
favorites at the time?
Eddie: Right at the top, I’d have to say Tito Puente
because you know that’s been the biggest inspiration for me and the work
that I’ve done in choreography has been to Tito’s music. I have
practically dedicated my whole life to working with his music. I almost
feel like my whole life was to come down (from heaven) and work as a
choreographer. I used to tell Tito that his music is a choreographer's
dream.
The top names when I was growing up was Tito Puente,
Eddie Palmieri, Ricardo Ray, Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, Pacheco, Machito,
and Tito Rodriguez (which by the way I managed to see one time and danced
in the same venue). There were others as well. Eddie Palmieri was really
happening at the time.
Angel: Was music
something that called your attention or were there other
hobbies?
Eddie: I started out with the interest in music and I
always, always liked to play the piano, Angel. My mother bought me an
organ. I would sit there for hours just playing and making up melodies.
The piano was something that I thought one day, well, I would grow up to
be a pianist. (THIS IS AN EXCLUSIVE!!)
A lot of people don’t realize the connection I have with
Tito Puente. When you look at it, we’re both born in the same hospital
(Harlem Hospital), both raised in Spanish Harlem (El Barrio). My mother
said the other day that we were probably born in the same hospital room. I
told her that I never really thought about that before.
I believe Tito was destined to be a musician. I believe I
was destined to be dancer. But when I was young, I really wanted to pursue
the music and become a musician – just like Tito wanted to become a
professional dancer!!!! When he was growing up he had an act with his
sister. He was fascinated with dancing and I was fascinated with music!!!
It so happened that somewhere in his youth, he suffered a fractured ankle.
I heard it was pretty bad. That was the turning point for him. Then he
committed himself totally to the music. I did the same thing. You see this
finger here (Eddie shows me his right hand pinky), I broke this finger
playing dodge ball. So I remember trying to play the piano with the
damaged pinky and every time I’d had to play with the pinky, it would
collapse. My teacher used to tell me that if I wanted to pursue piano
playing, I would have to correct the broken finger. So I started to think
that maybe piano playing was not something meant for me. These kinds of
things happen in life and kind of put you on a track to where you really
might belong. I did not want to go through the operation so I got into
dancing at a very young age. So when Tito told me about his bicycle
accident and how his ankle got stuck in the spokes and broke his ankle,
well, the rest is history. Someone once told me that somehow because of
the circumstances, Tito and I were destined to work together.
I remember going to the Corso (a club formerly located on
E. 86 St. in Manhattan) in the 1970’s and listening to Tito play and then
complimenting him on his music. Tito then told me that I really should be
doing more with my dancing. He said, "instead of hanging out here at the
Corso every Sunday and dancing for fun, you’re talented and should be
doing something on a professional level". That’s how the working
relationship with Tito started.
Angel: As a youth,
did you have an opportunity to take any dance classes? Maybe at the local
boys club or any facilities such as that? Was that available to you back
then?
Eddie: I was actually more into sports like competitive
swimming. I swam for about 11 years for the Boys Club of America. I liked
baseball, skating. But dancing didn’t happen for me until the accident
with my finger. So I didn’t take any dance classes. However, when I did
become interested, something upset me. One day I was looking through the
yellow pages to see if there was a school where I could go to learn this
dance. Back in the 1960’s there were no schools listed.
The only place that I think offered any Latin dancing was
Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire. I remembering one time going to see what
these classes were about and I was so upset. I said, "What is that?" "Who
wants to dance like that?" It was different. I remember telling my mother
that there was nothing in the yellow pages for this kind of dancing.
Everything was there i.e. ballet, tap, modern, African, everything but
Latin dance? Where’s the Mambo? She told me that it’s not popular, it’s
not mainstream and that it’s not going to happen. I said that it wasn’t
fair. I wanted to study but had nowhere to go. So I did what everyone did
at that time. I went out dancing and I learned as I went along. I watched,
and watched, and kept on watching. I picked up visually and if you knew
someone who danced well, you would ask for tips.
There was a guy named George Vascones. He was
probably the first teacher that I know of that was doing on-site,
on-location teaching. A lot of credit goes to George for being one of the
first to do this. We were at the Hunts Point Palace (Bronx, NY) and every
Sunday, while the dance was going on, George had a group of people in the
corner and would give instruction right there on the spot. I would say,
"George, start me off:" He was very helpful to everyone. I think that was
the only instruction at that time. Back then since I was too young to go
to the clubs, I would go to house parties and I remember seeing many the
youth dancing whatever was in fashion at the time. Their parents who at
the time used to go to The Palladium influenced the teenagers. Dancing
Mambo was a hip thing to do because of The Palladium era.
Angel: What were
some of your thoughts about dance in the early years and did you have a
visualization of what and where you wanted to be?
Eddie: This is the strange thing. Once I got into this
and I realized I found something that I felt I could be good at, well, for
some reason I knew it. After I got the hang of it, I started picking up
really quickly. I also saw that I had an instinct to put stuff together
(choreography). I remember the guys used to call me and invite me to the
center (Robert Wagner Junior High School) and asked me to put stuff
together so that I could show them. The High School had a center for
adults to visit in the evenings from 7pm to about 11pm. They had the
swimming pool, ping pong room, and the gym. I would go in there and ask
them to borrow the record player and grab a little corner. The guys would
meet me there and we’d start jamming (dancing). One guy would show one
step, another would show a step and I’d come along and share whatever I
was working on. We were teaching each other. I remember the guys asking me
what did I pick up (learn) because I was always inventing something new. I
would try and invent something new to bring to the center.
There were good dancers at the time. There was
competition then, but not so much malice. We liked each other. We knew how
to have a good time together. Today it is questionable what motive people
have for dancing. However, I think Angel, I had a vision. I started to
think about the incident with the young lady that I mentioned earlier,
that I did not just want to be good, I wanted to be the best. That was the
spark that drove me. Everyone else was doing normal hours of rehearsal--
maybe two hours. But I was doing five or more. They would call it quits at
the center but I would go home and practice some more. It became an
obsession, a driven obsession, like something was taking me there.
And then, along the same lines, I had this dream Angel that seemed so
real; it was such a real dream. I remember being in a huge stadium. Tito
Puente’s band was there, a lot of lights, a lot of people and a lot of
excitement and I was there performing. The voice that I heard was telling
me that I was going to be known internationally. My goal was to be a
professional dancer. I had this vision of what could be with this dance.
And so now I understand that everyone whose purpose in life is to be a
pioneer in any form of dance, at some point every dance had a beginning
and had it’s pioneers. Our dance needs to be recognized, to be
developed to a professional level. So I see now that my purpose is
to help make that happen. I’m not the message, but I’m the
messenger.
Angel: Most people
remember their first endeavor whether it’s their first dance class or
performance. Could you tell us when and where your first performance
was?
Eddie: In junior high school there was a dance contest
and I remember rehearsing for this and I shocked everybody because I put
something together and it blew everybody away. Not too many people at that
time knew how to work with music and structure their routine but I felt I
did. I won the contest and after that I went to the Hunts Point Palace and
every Sunday they had a dance contest and afterwards they had a pie eating
contest!! I won the dance contest 11 weeks straight Angel. Every week I
would choreograph a routine and I always had outfits and there was a
theme. Dora and I would work week to week to prepare the routine with an
outfit. The people loved it and we had a fan club. Everytime we would get
on the floor people would scream. At that time, I think the audience was
the one that chose the winners. So junior high school was my first dance
contest. I remember I won a trophy. I was so happy because I beat this guy
named Louie George; I beat this guy named Louie Colon. I caught the Salsa
fever and I wanted to dance more and compete.
Angel: Here’s a
question a lot of people wanted me to ask you: When you first started
dancing, did you start on the "1", "2" or anything else?
Eddie: The first time I heard about this dancing on "2"
was when someone from one of the studios asked me. June LaBerta was
responsible for "educating" me in this dance. June was responsible for
advising me that if I wanted to teach, or choreograph, I would have to
learn how to read music. She said I would only limit myself if I didn’t
know how to read. She compared it to a gifted piano player where the
individual plays the piano but does not know how to read. As a dancer,
June told me, that I have to know clave. You have to know about phrasing,
you have to know terminology. She drove me crazy Angel for two years.
Somewhere along the line, I went to a studio and someone
asked me, "Eddie, do you dance on "2"?". I was about 18 years old. I said,
"Dance on "2"?" You mean my two feet? I said what do you mean by "2"?
Before then, I never knew what that was. June would purposely take me to
all these different ballrooms and parties to dance and show me off.
Everybody would watch and ask who I was. Eddie Dorfer was her previous
partner. June was about 56 years old when I met her. Then people were
coming up to me asking all these technical questions. So after awhile, and
since I didn’t know the answers, I decided to learn it. So June sat me
down and began teaching me how to read music. At first it was a nightmare.
So to answer your question, I was always on "2" but didn’t know
it.
Angel: What is the
controversy today regarding the different methods of counting i.e,
1-2-3-5-6-7 or the 2-3-4-6-7-8? The public has heard about dancing on the
"1" and so forth. Can you describe to us your point of view on this?
Eddie: It’s hard for me to answer that but I think the
2nd generation of Palladium dancers, well, we somehow adapted
and it became our natural way of dancing Mambo, 1-2-3. It was our
generation. There was the Palladium 2-3-4 method and even the Cuban 2. A
lot of the dancers in the Palladium days evolved from the Rumba, which is
2-3-4 timing.
Angel: Then what do
you attribute the popularity of the 1-2-3-5-6-7 if all this time the
studios have been teaching the 2-3-4?
Eddie: The studios which were teaching at the time when
I was growing up. No one from the street world went to a studio. Our
gravitation to the 1-2-3 was already happening without us knowing that it
was the 1-2-3. We are still breaking on 2 but it wasn’t the 2-3-4. So I
would have to say that the reason 1-2-3 became so popular is because I was
one of the first from the street form, to bring it to the public. I
started putting names to the steps and started promoting it that way
because June explained that I was dancing on that timing. So we started to
call the 1-2-3 the street version and the 2-3-4 the studio
version. So I introduced this 1-2-3 before this whole thing with "Salsa’
came out. "Salsa" as we know it today came afterwards. I’ve been teaching
for many years now. I remember way back when I had only three or four
students. Then people began to recognize and acknowledge my timing and
wanted to learn from me. They said that what Eddie teaches fits in the
clubs.
Due to his busy schedule, Mr. Torres was unable to complete this interview,
but stay tuned for part II, coming soon!
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