10:41 PM
Salsa Circuit
Once Linda Camacho discovered her Latin side, there was no turning back.
“I grew up very much an all-American girl, but once my Mexican gymnastic coaches ignited the Latina in me, I kind of caught the bug,” Camacho, 40, said of her more than 20-year love affair with salsa dancing.
The Mexican-Irish South Sider, born and raised in Worth, took lessons at Beverly Gymnastics as a teenager in the 1980s and taught by coaches who were “straight from Mexico.”
During their downtime, Camacho said, they taught her the cumbia, her first experience with Latin-style dancing.
Eager students of all ages, shapes and sizes — about 40 to a dance floor — have been mimicking her moves at Zante Lounge & Eatery in Orland Hills on the first Sunday of every month.
“I start with the absolute basics for the first half-hour,” Camacho said. “I really believe in building a strong foundation.”
Camacho said she doesn’t just teach salsa, although that’s her signature dance.
She throws in a little Bachata and merengue for good measure.
“There are usually more beginners, but that’s good. I want them to come out and give it a try,” Camacho said. She said no one is intimidated or embarrassed on her dance floor because she has patience with her students.
“Some teachers try to build too fast and confuse dancers. Then they’re a danger to their partner. I break it down so people feel they can really learn this,” she said, dismissing any suggestion that size, age or ethnicity has anything to do with learning to dance Latin style.
“My mom dances salsa all the time, and she’s an Irish girl, 100 percent Irish,” Camacho said.
In fact, Camacho credits her mother, Susan Villalovos, with encouraging her to dance salsa as a teen because Villalovos was already into the salsa scene.
Another family member who helped further Camacho’s dream to perform and teach salsa is her former brother-in-law, Oswaldo Camacho, her “total official partner.” Camacho said Oswaldo’s passion for salsa equaled hers.
“There was, like, dance chemistry between us,” she said. “Around 1997, we began getting attention at clubs in Chicago. We knew we had something special.”
Camacho and Oswaldo have been performing at clubs, salsa conventions, and other events in the Chicago area for more than 10 years. In 2011, the pair performed at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago and at several clubs in New York City.
Camacho’s current success was not so clear to her as a young, single mom in the 1990s when she had to make a living while fitting her passion for salsa and caring for her two boys into the demands of a full-time career. She worked at various spas on the South Side as a makeup artist and, in 2005, became a licensed esthetician.
Camacho said although she worked hard at her career and has built a good reputation as a bridal makeup artist, she never lost sight of her dream.
“In the back of my mind, I always had the phrase in my head, ‘Salsa on the South Side,’ ” Camacho said. “In 2008, I decided to make my teaching more official, especially after so many years of hearing my clients say, ‘I’ve always wanted to learn salsa’ when they found out I performed.”
Camacho made it happen, and is teaching salsa at Palos Hills Park District and Dance Duo Studio in Willowbrook, in addition to her classes at Zante Lounge. When she launched her website, www.salsaonthesouthside.com, she fulfilled her entrepreneurial vision and said she is now looking for teachers to help her fill requests.
Camacho said she can’t foresee a time when she won’t be dancing because of the physical and mental benefits of salsa.
“Salsa dancing is an excellent low-impact exercise and utilizes all the body’s muscles,” Camacho said. “It will give you a natural high. Salsa and God got me through some of the most difficult times in my life. When you’re doing salsa … you can’t think about anything else.”
Source GINGER BRASHINGER
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