Bachata

Salsa dancing could use a John Travolta or at least a Gap ad.

Disco came and stayed alive after "Saturday Night Fever" popularized guys in tight white suits pointing their fingers skyward.

The 1996 movie "Swingers," along with those Gap clothing ads, helped revive Lindy Hop as a hip dance of the 1990s rather than a throwback to the Charles Lindbergh era.

Salsa's best hope might be Jennifer Lopez, who will star with Richard Gere in the fall release of "Shall We Dance?" a remake of the 1996 Japanese film about an unhappy accountant who takes ballroom dancing lessons.

According to pre-release buzz, Lopez, who plays Gere's teacher, might throw in a few sensual salsa moves — and give salsa a boost in places where opportunities to dance it aren't too hot.

Ventura County, for example.

Even without big-screen exposure, interest in salsa is far from mild. Salsa dancing is popular all over the world, especially in cities with a thriving Latin club and band scene such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Miami.

The sixth annual West Coast Salsa Congress in Los Angeles, a four-day mix of contests, concerts, parties and workshops, attracted 25,000 people in 2004, up from 19,000 last year, according to event organizers.

Dance magazine, in its June 2004 issue, ran an article called "Some Like it Hot: Salsa Is Spicy, Sexy, and Making Waves in Dance."

According to Wendy Perron, editor in chief of Dance, "the clubs are crowded, and there are lots of Web sites and products related to (salsa). And here's yet another measure of its popularity: Ballet dancers are going out salsa dancing to let off steam."

Salsa, it would seem, doesn't need J.Lo.

But outside professional or diehard dancing circles, or in areas like Ventura County where the club scene is limited, the general population doesn't seem to know about salsa.

Dance floors here are devoted instead to more mainstream hip-hop, swing, country-western and ballroom dancing, with a few retro disco nights thrown in.

Local clubs and bars aren't clamoring to follow the lead of the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, which is nurturing Ventura County's small but energetic salsa community by offering salsa lessons and dancing. On Tuesday evenings, the venue's signature country-western ceiling ornament — a glittering saddle — is dark as the salsa CDs and margaritas come out for one night.

On one Tuesday this month, by the end of the night more than 175 people were packing the dance floor. Couples dipped, turned and stepped, their feet clad in everything from strappy high heels to loafers, as the infectious salsa rhythm of claves, timbales and syncopated brass played over the loudspeaker.

According to co-owner Jeff Klein, it was a small post-Fourth of July turnout. "We usually have more than 200 people," he said.

Borderline dancer Cheryl Spinney of Simi Valley, 52, a television costume designer decked out festively in a black knit dress and white flower in her hair, said she had been dancing salsa for just a few weeks.

"Everybody is so nice, and the men are really polite," she said. Lowering her voice, Spinney added, "Plus, I think salsa's very sexy."

The 11th annual Oxnard Salsa Festival has joined the Borderline in putting salsa — the dance, not the condiment — in the spotlight.

Over the past five weeks, preliminaries for the festival's dance contest have been held at the Borderline on Tuesday nights. Ten pairs of finalists will compete at the Salsa Festival this weekend.

"Salsa people are not necessarily into the competition; they're more into the socialization," said Isaac Altman, a world salsa champion and founder of the Miami-based World Salsa Federation.

Salsa, he said, "brings a lot of fun and enjoyment to people. "You don't have to be a star or the best dancer to do this."

"It's not like a hip-hop club; not everybody has an attitude," said Roman Castro, 23, a telecommunications engineer from Fillmore who has been salsa dancing for about six months.

Salsa's social nature is rooted in its history. Like disco, swing, hip-hop and other dance styles, the music came before the moves.

Salsa is a hybrid of Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican and Latin Caribbean traditional music mixed with jazz, rock and other styles.

When translated, "salsa" means "sauce." The term was first used in 1933 when Cuban composer Ignacio Pineiro recorded the song "Echale Salsita" ("Pour on the Sauce").

Just as salsa music has absorbed other influences, so has the dance, with twinges of Lindy Hop, swing, hustle, ballroom Latin dance, tango and hip-hop.

Salsa dancing is a direct descendant of mambo, a form of partner dancing from Cuba that became popular in North America in the 1950s.

During the 1960s, Latin dancing went out of favor as everyone said, "Let's do the Twist." Strobe lights and disco dominated the 1970s, reviving an interest in partner dancing, including mambo, which New York Latin dance communities turned into salsa.

During the disco era, salsa mostly stayed underground, but in the 1990s, "anything Latin in general became more popular," Altman said. "The Latin Grammys came about, and salsa finally started to emerge on its own."

It's salsa's simplicity that distinguishes it from mambo and makes it more accessible to even inexperienced dancers.

"It's the easiest of the partner dances," said Zeanie Yoon of Woodland Hills, 37.

All "salsaholics" agree that what gives salsa dancing its special kick and staying power is the music.

"Latin music gets into your bones," said Maureen Hooper, Oxnard Salsa Festival chairwoman and a dance contest judge. "I don't see how anyone can listen to salsa music and not start to move."

Salsa, too, has its Bee Gees: legends like the late Celia Cruz (who just received a Latin Grammy nomination posthumously for best salsa album) along with all the new and established salsa bands that are constantly churning out music.

"More salsa music is being produced than any other kind of dance music all over the world," said Altman, "even in Japan."

Borderline disc jockey Andreas McClurg, 36, of Camarillo said he has a huge — and growing — collection of about 5,000 salsa songs. "It's impossible to pick a favorite," he said. "There's so much great stuff."

Dancers on the salsa scene dispel a few myths about their favorite dance form:

• Myth No. 1: "It's a Latin thing." Yes, salsa is a Latin dance, and the music definitely isn't rock or hip-hop, but that doesn't mean only Latinos are interested in it.
  "Salsa dancers are the most diverse crowd I've ever seen," said Molly Anderson of Newbury Park, 29, a junior-high English and history teacher who shares dance instructor duties with Byam at the Borderline.

"It's really mixed, not just Hispanics," said Castro, who also frequents salsa dance clubs in Los Angeles.

• Myth No. 2: "I'm too old/young for this." Salsa's diversity doesn't apply just to ethnicity, but age and gender as well. The mix of men and women at the Borderline was half and half, and both younger and older dancers were stepping out on the dance floor.
  Camarillo dance teacher Stephanie Lynn, 22, offers salsa lessons through the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District and at Ruby's in Santa Barbara on Thursday nights.

"I get all ages," said Lynn, although she acknowledged that salsa hasn't quite reached the teenage crowd in Ventura County. "At most dance clubs you have to be 21 and older to get in," she said.

Patricia Monico, owner of House of Dance in Ventura, is trying to change that.

She offers a swing and salsa party with lessons the first Saturday of each month for all ages (most of the dancers are 16 and older) to give younger people who aren't club-goers a chance to learn salsa.

"I'm seeing a slow increase in interest in this area," she said. "People hear a salsa song on the radio and ask me, 'How do you dance to this?' "

• Myth No. 3: "It's too spicy." Salsa is "nice spice" — sensual, but not overtly sexual or dirty dancing. Partners hold each other and make eye contact, but don't bump, grind or do anything that would be unprintable in a family newspaper. The man leads and politely asks the woman to dance.
  Doreen Simpson, 39, a college teacher from Oxnard, said she and her husband, Sheldon, go salsa dancing year-round at the Borderline and Ruby's Cafe in Santa Barbara.

"It's an interesting way to create intimacy, because the best couples have to communicate," she said.

Like any partner dance, salsa offers an opportunity to meet other singles, "but it's not a meat market," said Anderson. "And couples who come together dance with different partners."

Salsa festival dance judges Jamie and Gail Arias of Thousand Oaks, both former world and state champions in swing and Latin dance, said salsa can spice up married life, too.

"It's a great way to keep the romance alive," said Gail, who met her husband at a dance competition.

Salsa dancers can probably rest easy that their moves will stay alive, too. After all, disco never really died.

"When salsa started out I thought it was going to be a fad," Altman said. "But salsa has been going strong about 12 years now, although it hasn't reached its potential."

Salsa could still use a "Saturday Night Fever." But with a better fashion designer, please.

Getting There: Oxnard Salsa Festival

• What you need to know: Those with a taste for the meek, mild and bland won't find much to do at this two-day celebration of salsa, food and dance. The 11th annual event takes place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 24-25 at Plaza Park, Fifth and C streets, in downtown Oxnard.
• The cost: Festival admission and parking are free. Entry to the Salsa Tasting Tent (chips included) costs $3.
  More information: Call 247-0197 or visit the Web site: http://www.oxnardsalsafestival.com.
• Overall: After your taste buds have been sufficiently fired up at the Salsa Tasting Tent, check out two international food courts, a marketplace, recipe contests, kids' activities and entertainment on two stages.
• The music: The headline act is the Susie Hansen Latin Band. Hansen's album "The Salsa Never Ends" has been selected as the festival's official CD. It will be available for $15 at the festival's merchandise booth.
  The lineup of salsa and Latin jazz musicians includes Hansen, Louie Cruz Beltran and L.A. Mambo Combo on Saturday; and Nuestro, Leslie Paula and the Latin Soul Band and Orquesta Son Mayor on Sunday.
• The dancing: A dance show by Oxnard's Rumba Salsera Dance Company and Reyes de la Rumba takes place at 4:15 both days.
  The salsa dance contest, featuring the 10 finalists from the preliminaries at the Borderline Bar and Grill, takes place 1 to 1:45 p.m. Sunday. Salsa lessons will be offered hourly beginning at noon both days.

Salsa by the numbers

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8." It's that simple.

Salsa has a pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music.

Some salsa dancers start on the first beat (the panel marked 1), others on the second (the panel marked 2).

The darker soles represent the step you take on that beat (only one person's steps are shown here).

Beat 1: Step forward with the left foot.

Beat 2: Lift right foot and put it back down — step in place.

Beat 3: Step back with the left.

Beat 4: Pause.

Beats 5-8: Repeat steps 1-4 with the opposite foot. Dancers add other flourishes after they get the basic steps down.