Jose Francisco Barroso - master dancer - the Fred Astaire of Rumba

Its crazy how talented the cats are in this tradition.. take Maestro Jose Francisco Barroso.

I call him the Fred Astaire of Rumba, he is so dang graceful. Ive never seen a more relaxed dancer, ripping it up like he invented the style.

Here is a pic of him and Pancho Quinto:



In the mean time, check out his site;

http://www.obakoso.org/

He can be found teaching in SF:

African Cuban Orisha Dance
Tuesday 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Thursday 6:30PM - 8:00PM

ODC Dance Commons
351 Shotwell
(between 17th & 18th)
San Francisco, CA

His DVD, pictured above, is a great way to learn the dances of the Orishas, very clear and well put together..... "TURN!"... (inside joke, if you've seen it)

some history of this amazing dancer and truly gracious master of his tradition. (from afrocubaweb.com)

Jose Francisco Barroso was born in Havana and was principal dancer and soloist with the Compania Folklorica Raices Profundas. Since his arrival in the United States, he has conducted master classes and workshops in the Yoruba, Congo and Haitian traditions at a number of different universities and settings.

He began to dance professionally at the age of 18 when he was invited to join Raices Profundas, where he was a principal dancer and soloist. He has performed as a guest artist and choreographer with several companies including YDADE.(Yoruba Drum and Dance Ensemble) and Siguaralla. In 1999, he formed Ebo Okokan, a group dedicated to maintaining the living legacy of dance. music, song, and cultural traditions brought to Cuba in the minds and hearts of Africans torn from their homelands during theslave trade. In addition to folkloric dance, Mr. Barroso's early years as a hip hop dancer won him many competitions in Havana.

Here is the master in action at La Pena in 2007.