Luis Zegarra Bringing New York to Seattle. By Laureano Ralon Facchina

 

For those in Vancouver who may not know who you are, please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do.

My name is Luis Zegarra. I’m from Peru, but I’ve lived in New York for the past 25 years. I was a dancer first, then became a promoter and a manager as well. Right now I do a little promoting, a little producing, and I manage a few teams here and there.

What attracted you to salsa?

Salsa is in my family. My grandmother, my mother, my father – they all listen to salsa in Peru; so it has been part of my life, and now it’s a business I love.

Tell us more about your business. What are you up to these days?

I’ve got a couple of projects I’ve just finished in Peru. I also work a lot in Italy doing tours with new teams. Today, I’m in Seattle for the first time and will be working with Rico Bravo to bring talents from New York to the Seattle Salsa Congress next year.

I understand you’ve organized congresses before in New York?

Yes, for the past five or six years I’ve been doing congresses in New York City. At first with David Melendez, the East Coast Salsa Congress; then after that the New York Salsa Festival with my partner Nelson Flores – we’ve been doing that for the past five years. As well, I put a congresses together in Rome, I helped in Israel and Peru, and in New York I did the qualification rounds for the ESPN Championships as well.

For those who don’t know or don’t quite appreciate the efforts, what does it take to put a congress together? How much work and how much money does it take?

(Laughs). I tell you, I do this because I love the music, because if it was for the money, believe me, I’d have been gone a long time ago. The money is difficult, you lose a lot money. I lost money the past two or three years with the festivals, but I love it. I enjoy it when people appreciate the workshops from the best talents from around the world. People are happy, they leave my events happy.

How do you see the Seattle Congress this year?

Well it’s my first time. They tell me it’s improved from last year. To me it’s a small congress. I don’t see as many local people from Seattle here. Hopefully, next year we can change that, and encourage more people from the cities around Seattle: Vancouver, Victoria, Portland, even Los Angeles – to make it bigger.

What about the level of dancing compared to other places?

Compared to other places it could be better, there’s always room for improvement. The level seems kind of medium, not as high as places like Europe, New York, LA. I see a lot of talent here, but there’s always room for improvement.

So what does it take for a scene to grow? What would it take for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest in general to grow?

I think the local performers need to go out to the big events in LA, New York, and Europe maybe, and see how other groups perform. When you see this weekend here in Seattle Yamulee, Salsa Mania, Griselle and Yesenia, Martin and Esti, they are in a different league compared to the groups here. People here have to take those examples and try to get to those levels. I know everyone here thinks they’re the best – they think they’re big shots – but in the real world they’re not there yet.

What will it take to bring first class talents to Seattle?

Money! How many people are here at the Seattle Congress – 500? Out of that probably 150-200 are performers. So we’re down to 300-350 out of which 50-100 are guests! So how much money is there when you have 200 people paying for a full pass? It’s a business, you have to add it up. If you want to bring a group like Tropical Jam, Swing Guys, or talents like Leon Rose, it costs money.

So what do you have in mind for next year’s Congress?

The plan is to get involved more with local people. I’m going to try to come to Seattle six months before the Congress to meet with them and explain that I’m going to be in charge of the foreign talents. I want to make it clear to them that if they want their salsa scene to grow, we need to get together, unite, and push for the events like this to grow. Then they won’t have to go out of town to see great talents because the talents will come here.

As a young, up-and-coming promoter, what would you like to achieve with salsa in the next five years?

I want to keep creating opportunities for new talents, to encourage young people to get into salsa to keep it alive. At the same time I want to work more with Djs. The Djs here play songs that are so fast, and not just fast but six to eight minutes long, back to back. I asked people and they all said the same thing: they’re not happy with the music, but they don’t say anything about it. I said something to them, I said to the Djs: ‘hey, come on, you’re killing us!’ And that’s something I want to try and change. I want to tell them what to play and what the right timing is – four or five minute songs are great – to give us a chance to breathe and a chance to change partners.

So related to that, just one more question: A Dj should not then just cater to beginners, they should just play good music right?

Exactly, good music – not fast music. They think the faster they play the better! No, medium tempo. They want to play a six to eight minute song that’s a classic. I don’t wanna dance eight minutes. For instance if I’m dancing with a beginner, what am I going to do with a fast eight minute song, it’s killing me! I’ll be too tired to dance the next song! So, long songs aren’t good; four or five minute songs are better; you can keep changing partners and you’re happy and not tired. So we need to work on that as well.