CECI CHEREVE: MAMBO QUEEN

During the late 80’s and early 90’s Caribbe Dance Club was the hub of the Salsa community in Oakland, California every Thursday night featuring live bands and dancing. Caribbe, owned by Jackie and Margaret Haine, stands in the middle of the block near the corner of Webster St and 14th Avenue, in downtown Oakland. Caribbe is an old ---built in 1924,is perched on the second floor of. This area of the city borders on Oakland’s embattled, struggling to survive downtown business district. The second store club melts into the background amid a long block of nondescript Korean Barbeque shops, seedy dress stores and stores. After dark, the Webster St is is deserted. Most people would have little reason to wander down these deserted streets. But in its heyday, many devoted dancers climbed the narrow rickety flight of stairs to enter the world of Salsa. Here is where Ceci Chevere, taught many Bay Area dancers, guiding them in their first shaky steps in basic salsa.

WHEN DID YOU START DANCING?

I been dancing all my life. I remember as child dancinig between people’s legs. Going to sleep to Latin music. Slo we always had parties at my house and I loved going to sleep to Latin music.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING PUERTO RICAN IN CALFORNIA?

I am a CaloRica, I was born in California. A California born Puerto Rican. I think that being Puerto Rican is a state of mind. Nuyorica, Floridarican, CaloRican.In New York they are eating pastilles and here we are eating tamales. We are more Mexorican in terms of food. In NY they keep the second language Spanish very prominent but on the West Coast, Spanish was lost. WE had a family reunion in PR for my aunt’s 80th birthday in 1983. The Puerto Ricans were only speaking Spanish, the Nuyoricans spoke English and Spanish and the CaloRicans were only speaking English.

WHEN DID YOU TAKE FORMAL DANCE LESSONS

Mom had us involved with ethnic dancing when we were little. In Santa Barbara every year they have Spanish fiestas—a parade, weekend of celebrations. They had movie stars in the parade, with horse and they would have the young groups dancing. She always go us involved with costuming, getting dressed up as Spaniards and doing different ethinc folk dancing—Mexican, Spanish and Puerto Rican folk dancing. At home we danced bomba and plena were the dances I grew up with. IN Carpenteria, very ethnic and community oriented.

IN 1948 after we moved to west Oakland, my sister started taking me along to dances. So we started going to Sweets Ballroom when I was only 14. They had a tardeada which went from 1-5 pm on Sunday and that's where I saw Perez Prado, Lucho Gartico, a great balladeer,Tito Puentes, Tito Rodriguezand Machito. The house band was Merced Gallegos. A lot of Mambo and latin Jazz-- hot latin music, the mambo. When I was older, my girlfriends and I traveled l to LA to a club called Virginia’s to see Pete Escovedo and Carlos Federico. When I was 18 and engaged to my first husband, we'd get dressed up and go to the Sailor Union Pacific Club or El Patio Club in San Francisco. We saw stars like Maria Victoria, Manny Lopez and Joe Cuba from New York.

DID YOU GO TO CESAR’S LATIN PALACE

, I started going to Cesar’s when it was on Green street downstairs. They had dance contests on Thursday nights. It was mainly a Latin crowd with a lot of hard core mambo dancers and people from the dance studios like Arthur Murray. . We loved listening to Benny Velarde--he played there a lot.

DID YOU GET STARTED TEACHING AT CLUB CARIBEE

So in 1989 I have met Sababu (producer and DJ) andhe asked me to be the dance director. I had no training, I had no idea of what that would undertake. But I accepted the challenge. It was the most wonderful experience I ever had. Sababu is from the East Coast and he Latin culture and music, history.--He is Mr. Sal. sa. He helped a lot of the bands get their acts together, like Julio Bravo's group, who played there regularly. Caribee was a very important part of Salsa history. We opened in 1990 and 1991 and we were there 7 years. Before that we were at a club called Ivy’s in Jack London Square. We did different dances in California Hotel, Lake Merrit Hotel, ?Whittington Hotel.

When I started teaching dance there, we hardly had anybody for the first few months. But we just hung int. I always tell people, just hang in there for awhile and be patient so that people will kknow that it it happening. Eventually people started coming around. We ended up with really a hot place. IT was like the place to be. It was like a house party. Because the setup of the room was totally open. When you walked in you could see everybody. Big stage. We had a wonderful time, food, a. mirror with a ballet bar and my little dance corner for teaching

I am really great for beginners. I really don’t like to proceed until a person really has it. In a nightclub they don’t have the time to work on the basics. They just teach you patterns. I teach how to dance that’s the difference. I teach how to. Also that it is all for fun. It is the inner child.connection.

HOW DID PEOPLE FIND OUT ABOUT YOU?

I was at Caribe every Thursday. Alex Da Silva came by. I never said that I taught Alex Da Silva. Alex came with his own talent. He took a few lessons. But he had all of his talent before he met me and then he went on. But he did start with my classes. I was there a long time and taught a lot of people. I still run into people when I do go out who say “Ceci I took my first lessons from you”. That is very sweet. I love that.

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE SALSA COMMUNITY HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?

I think that Alex Da Silva brought a change. IT became performance oriented, very show bizzy. He created a dance routine for the man that almost outshown the woman. Then it became that the guy did a lot of turns, splits and drops for himself and often times you see the girl just doing the basic step. I think he was the forerunner of that. The girls in our time you were both challengeing each other, You’re both dancing your thing. It was less partner dancing, less structured, like being lead to do everything, a lot patterns. He would give you a few turns and let you go and you would do your own thing. For myself, I can’t stand being constantly twirled, twirled where he is constantly leading a new pattern. It drives me crazy. Give me some space. I would like to wiggle myself.

I have couple who come to me on Mondays and who go to other dance classes and they bring the routine to me and we work it out. Then they could really learn it. I don’t have a great repetoire of patterns and I have my old favorites and from that I teach them to create their own stuff. Once you learn how to dance you let the rhythm take you and pretty soon you start pattern and you get into it and you don’t know where it will go.

WHERE ARE YOU TEACHING NOW?

I teach at Rising Hope Church in Alameda. I have a very small group but they are very solid but they come every Monday. In my intermediate class they are in their 50’s, and beginning class in their 40’s and there's a young couple in their early 20’s. But I still enjoy it. I love being able to verbalize and articulate how to dance and the students get excited that after one lesson when they can do a couple of patterns.

WHAT HAS SALSA GIVEN TO YOUR LIFE?

It what has given me excitement and connected me with my roots. It is a very spiritual thing. I know I came into this world to dance. I am especially proud that Mission Cultural for Latino arts awarded me Miss Mambo Bay Area Legend at the San Francisco Carnival on May 28, 2000. It was a great honor.

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