WORLD'S LARGEST RUEDA!

Well, if you missed the Día de la Salsa on June 24, 2001, with SALSA 98, Latin Groove Dance Studios & SalsaPower, you missed a GREAT TIME!  

Not only did both of the SalsaPower co-founders, Jacira Castro and Julian Mejía, dance in the World's Largest Rueda, but so did a few hundred others, including our very own Tampa Correspondent, Erika Occhipinti, our Gainesville Correspondent, Darren Stuart, and our Washington, D.C. Correspondent, Piero González and his wife, Claudia.  I also saw 90% of the directors of local Salsa Schools and their members there, along with groups from Denver, Colorado, Atlanta, Georgia, New York and many other places.  

The Rueda was a bit late in getting started, but necessary to document everyone's participation for submission to the Guinness Book of World Records, and it was kept to a basic level, using calls like "Exhíbela", "Dame dos con dos", "Enchufla doble" and "Adiós con Hermana", to accommodate the different levels of the dancers.  The song that was used for the Rueda was "Llorarás" by Oscar D'León, a perennial favorite with those of us who have been regulars at Club Mystique on Thursday nights for years.  

After the song was over, ending with a "Vacila y Sienta", chaos reigned while everyone tried to sign out of the Rueda, another necessary step for submission to the Guinness folks. After standing in the hot sun and finally finding our names on the list to sign off, we went over to the stage to dance.  

Willy Chirino, Hansel (of Hansel & Raúl), Miami Dan Den, Jay Losada, Manolín, el Médico de la Salsa and many more kept us up on our feet and dancing in the hot sun.  Some took refuge in the shade under the trees, or went off to eat pinchos, arepas, and congrí, or drink frozen lemonade or cold beer.  

Unfortunately, I had to leave early due to a previous commitment, but as I was leaving, the dark rain clouds were coming closer... and as I drove north, we ran into a very heavy downpour.  I am sure that even that didn't dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic crowd I left behind, and hopefully Salsa 98.3 FM will sponsor another event like this next year, so that all the SalsaPower readers around the world can come and join in the World's largest Rueda and make it an even bigger success next year!

--Jacira Castro

Photos by KAYSEE

Last updated / actualizada: 11-Jul-2006