Ten simple words brought together Araceli Villanueva and her dance partner, Dennis Pasamba.
The words opened up a new world of competitive Latin dance to Villanueva, an insurance agent, and Pasamba, a customer service temp. And less than a year after Pasamba approached Villanueva, the two found themselves competing at a North Side club last weekend for $1,500 and a regional salsa title.
The money and the title would be great, they said, but what they really wanted was the rest of the prize: a berth at a national salsa contest in Miami next month. Maybe with that, they could nudge a little closer to their dream of dancing professionally one day.
With stylish spectators crowding a hazy Zafire nightclub, 1529 W. Armitage Ave., Pasamba and Villanueva faced four other couples in the regional qualifier Saturday night. One was from Chicago; the other three from Massachusetts, Virginia and Texas. All were culled from 156 couples in coast-to-coast club championships, sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes.
Before taking to the floor to be judged, Villanueva, 24, and Pasamba, 23, went over rapid-fire salsa dance steps in a dark back hallway. He began to chew his gum a little faster. She fiddled with her slinky black dress, tailored for the competition. Already, they had come further than they dared expect. After all, they confessed, neither one has ever taken a dance lesson.
Before they joined forces, their lessons were self-taught. Both are veterans of local Chicago clubs, dancers who study the other moves on the floor, then invent combinations of their own.
That’s what Villanueva was doing, improvising with joyful abandon one cold night last January at Andromedas, another North Side club. Pasamba admired her moves from afar for a while. Then he walked up to her and made his simple, 10-word prediction over the insistent rhythm of the music.
“Someday,” he told the young woman who did not even know his name, “I’m going to be able to dance with you.”
Villanueva liked his determination.
Less confident dancers might not have thought that, much less said it aloud. After all, Pasamba was new to this. Hip-hop and breakdancing were his thing. He was born in the Philippines, not a place closely associated with salsa (which has roots in New York City’s Cuban and Puerto Rican music scenes). The Spanish lyrics escaped him, for the most part, but the infectious beat took hold.
So Pasamba began practicing in earnest, polishing his spins and footwork and hitting whatever club had good Latin music that night. It felt right. People said he was a natural.
When he approached Villanueva again in August, he was ready to salsa with style and authority.
Villanueva, a native of Mexico City, liked what she saw, especially the acrobatic flair Pasamba brought to the floor. That’s how she likes the salsa too.
“You get the flavor of it and you see it’s very sexy,” Villanueva said. “It’s a very sensual and elegant kind of dancing.”
They entered an informal local club contest in September and surprised themselves by winning.
Then when they came in first at the Andromedas club competition last month, they qualified for Saturday’s Marlboro event.
Both were hooked. “I love the rush,” Pasamba said, “the adrenaline.”
Except for practicing and competing together, Villanueva and Pasamba lead their own lives, both on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
Neither grew up listening to salsa. They warmed to it as more local nightclubs have, with salsa riding a renewed wave of popularity in the U.S. and elsewhere.
On Saturday, they set out to keep as much of their athletic style as they could. They chafed at the rules. No acrobatics. Each partner always must keep at least one foot on the floor. So much for their boldest moves. They didn’t want to risk disqualification.
The evening’s winner would go on to compete against two other regional championship couples in Miami, host to the finals of the Marlboro Noches de Baile (Dance Nights) contest. That winning couple is to get $10,000 and the prestige of a national championship, even if it is one aimed at grassroots amateurs. The couple that won last year has appeared on television and opened a dance studio in Ft. Lauderdale.
With special-effect lights scattering geometric shapes on the ceiling and blue tile floor of Zafire, the first three couples stepped forward to salsa. When they finished, Villanueva and Pasamba, wearing No. 5, took their turn, along with another couple.
The dancers were judged in two categories in addition to salsa: merengue, a fast-paced Dominican dance, and freestyle, a pop Caribbean format.
From the first dance, which was the salsa portion, part of the challenge for Villanueva and Pasamba was to make their physical contrasts work on the floor.
Pasamba is 5 feet, 10 inches, lean and angular at 165 pounds. Villanueva is barely 5 feet and 120 pounds. He is a self-proclaimed perfectionist; she is exuberance embodied.
They went for dramatic moves from the start, some more polished than others.
With the first pah-pah-pah of the recorded drumbeat, Villanueva was all radiant, undulating motion. Her hair whipped around behind her. With a showman’s flourishes, Pasamba led the couple through one fiery combination after another. Sweat began streaking down his shaved head.
It was when they twirled each other like high-speed tops, spinning round and round until even they lost count, that they won the loudest applause of any couple that night.
Between dances, the couples caught their breath and assessed their chances thus far. Both couples from Chicago seemed to be doing well. The couple from Texas had endured an obvious misstep.
After all the preparation leading up to the competition — the late-night practicing at a 24-hour gym, the countless hours at clubs — the competition seemed to fly by.
Less than an hour after it began, it was over. The bigger draw of the evening, vocalist Eddie Santiago, was about to begin his concert.
When the judges’ marks were tabulated, a Chicago couple came out on top.
But it wasn’t Villanueva and Pasamba. Instead, Jose Cuevas, a 25-year-old computer technician, and Sylvia Marin, a 29-year-old optician, both of Puerto Rican descent, will compete in Miami.
Villanueva and Pasamba won second place and $1,000. Both said they were exhilarated to dance well, but disappointed they didn’t win. Already, they are looking for the next competition.
“Next month,” Villanueva said.
