Salsa extravaganza showcases young Colombian performers

MIAMI (Billboard) - Cali, a sprawling metropolis nestled amid Colombia's southwestern mountain ranges, has long been known as the country's capital of salsa and the breeding ground for an ultra-rapid, particularly aggressive form of the music.

Now, a homegrown effort is taking the music from the streets and into theaters, via an ambitious stage show that unites first-class entertainment and commercial viability with a social purpose.

"Delirio," whose slogan is "Made in Cali," showcases 120 dancers, musicians and circus performers, all recruited from Cali's fabled salsa schools and Fundacion Circo Para Todos, which trains locals -- mostly poor children -- to become circus performers.

Since its inception in 2006, the show has been seen by more than 50,000 people and is now preparing for its first significant international venture, with fall performances planned for France and Spain.

In its original format, "Delirio" is a five-hour extravaganza held in a circus tent that fits 800 ticketholders, who sit at tables, cabaret-style, and drink and dance between show numbers until the wee hours. In its traveling theatrical setting, it's more compact, featuring some 50 artists, and forgoes the drinks.

Regardless, it's a spectacle with four components: a live band, dancers, circus performers and the audience, which participates by dancing or joining the dancers onstage. The common denominator is Cali's salsa, which acts like a great equalizer, bringing together myriad social classes under one roof.

"Our aim was to put on a show that allowed society to enjoy the talent of these artists who come from very low-income families," "Delirio" co-founder/producer Andrea Buenaventura says. "We wanted a show that would vindicate this form of popular culture."

TAPPING LOCAL TALENT

In 2006, Buenaventura, an entrepreneur involved in the arts, met with three other like-minded women. All were interested in furthering the social and cultural development of Cali and saw an untapped opportunity in the city's 80-plus registered salsa schools. The academies, found mostly in middle- to low-income neighborhoods, train dancers from an early age, with many going on to win international competitions. This is the "Delirio" talent pool. The show holds two yearly auditions to recruit dancers and includes 27 choreographed numbers.

The challenge was transforming those choreographies into one cohesive, economically viably enterprise. Bringing Fundacion Circo Para Todos into the mix added an extra social component and gave the show "more emotion and a greater international vision," Buenaventura says.

"Delirio" derives nearly half of its income from sponsorships, generating the rest from ticket, food and drink sales, and Colombia's ministry of foreign affairs, which has sponsored many of the entourage's performances abroad. Approximately 300 people live off "Delirio," with profits reinvested into the show and Fundacion Circo Para Todos.

The show also has an incipient merchandising component, and organizers are considering partnering with a label for a soundtrack.

But, Buenaventura says, she's taking things one slow step at a time considering the size and cost of moving the show.

Earlier this year, the troupe went to Bogota, Colombia, and played three sold-out shows with tickets selling for $30-$80, compared with Cali's one price of $35.

The group tested the international waters in 2007 with performances in China, Panama and Ecuador. Its fall tour will be its longest yet, and the group plans to hook up with promoters to organize a more extensive international tour in the following months.

After all, Buenaventura says, "salsa is a cosmopolitan genre and, from a marketing standpoint, venues all over the world are interested in buying it."

Regardless of where it goes, however, "Delirio" remains essentially from Cali and from the streets.

"We've had guest artists in all our shows, but nothing ignites the pores of your skin like the dancers," she says. "It's a strength that comes from adversity, from knowing how hard it is to get to that stage. 'Delirio' lives from that adversity, that emotion, that desire to feel like great artists. We can never lose that."

Reuters/Billboard