Salsa dancing and adaptations of it, such as the Mambo and the Rumba, was the craze in Latin America during the 1960s, and the spirit still lives on today here at Fresno City College.
The Rumba Club is fairly new to FCC. It started roughly two to three weeks into the semester, but grounding for the club started about a month before the fall semester.
The group is fairly small, but it has a lot of support from the Salsa community in Fresno. President and founder, Alex Ortiz has worked diligently to make things possible for something so precious as this.
He made preparations during the summer by first finding not one advisor, but two. Stephen Grover, a mathematics instructor at FCC, and Nereyda Maroot, a Spanish instructor, share the title of advisor for this club.
The purpose of this club is to conserve the art of Latin American dancing by teaching it. They also try to inform their members on the history of Latin American dance and its importance. They cater to both recreational and serious participants.
“Rumba is open to everyone!” Ortiz said.
As opposed to other dance related clubs like Folklorico, Rumba is more contemporary because the rules and guidelines are from the streets and nothing is set in stone.
Rumba Club isn’t focusing on competing as of now, but Ortiz said that eventually he hopes to assemble a team of six to seven dedicated couples who will take extra time to practice dancing.
Practice meetings go as follows: members begin by slowly learning simple steps first. After that, they add a series of simple steps together, while also gradually speeding up the tempo. The group then branches out into pairs of guys and gals, who proceed to put the previously learned steps to good use.
Switching partners from time to time, more complicated steps are slowly added to the number until perfection is reached. When actual practice for the club is over, the practice gym is open for anyone to come and strut their stuff. This also gives club members an opportunity to get some practice time.
For students interested in knowing more, Rumba Club meets every Thursday in the practice gym from 7:00p.m. – 9:30p.m. And in addition to club meetings, on November 19th there will be an information booth out by the fountain for Club Rush.
