LAST DANCE: Dayton dance group disbanding after 34 years


WANT TO GO? 

What: 16th Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival

Where: RiverScape MetroPark, 237 E. Monument Ave., downtown Dayton

When: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20

Cost: Free

Info: Visit pacodayton.org

Jorge Rodriguez saw "the one" when he laid eyes on a classmate’s younger sister all those years ago in New York.

"She was the hottest girl on the block," Jorge said, causing his wife Sulma to giggle like the school girl she was back then.

The Riverside couple of more than 40 years can't wait to start the next chapter of their life. That is part of the reason they are leaving Grupo Caribe, the dance group they founded in 1982.

LAST DANCE
The Puerto Rican Folkloric dance troupe -- choreographed by Jorge and directed by Sulma -- will dance its last seis, bomba balles de salon and plena during the 16th Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival 1 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20 at RiverScape MetroPark, 237 E. Monument Ave., downtown Dayton.

Grupo Caribe is scheduled to perform at 3 p.m.

The Rodriguezes said one of the group's members may restart it with mostly new dancers. 


THE NEXT STEPS

Sulma and Jorge Rodriguez ins their Riverside home. (Photo by Amelia Robinson)

Grupo Caribe has performed at festivals around the state, and has even represented Dayton in New York's Puerto Rican Parade. That was a blast, but Sulma said it's time to relax and end the weekly dance practices and other prep work.

"I just want to enjoy my life with my husband," she said. I want to be able to go (travel)."

Jorge is a retired Air Force staff sergeant. Sulma will retire soon after 33 years working in the commissary at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. She is even even giving up half marathons for adventure with Jorge and her family.


THE DANCE

Jorge Rodriguez helps his wife Sulma get dressed in a performance outfit inside of their Riverside home. (Photo by Amelia Robinson)

Founded as the Caribbean Dancers, the dance troupe has seen many changes over the year.

Its members once included mostly Puerto Ricans, most of whom worked at the base.

"We wanted our children to grasp our heritage," Jorge said. "This is not around them until we bring it to them."  

Now 64, Jorge was born in Puerto Rico, but raised in New York.

A New York native, Sulma learned Puerto Rican folk dances during trips to the island as a child. She danced in festivals. Sulma said Latin dancing is far from one note.

"It is not only the Merengue and reggaetón," the 62-year-old said.

The dances in in Grupo Caribe arsenal tell the story of Puerto Rico and display influences from African slaves, Europeans, mountain workers and the excitement of Carnival.

The Rodriguezes have been mainstays in the group, leaving only when Jorge was stationed in Spain and elsewhere between 1984 and 1991. They came back to Dayton to raise their daughter, and because so many of their friends were here.

Today, Grupo is truly a multi-ethnic group. Members find their roots in Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines and The United States.

"We teach them the dance and they promote the dances," Sulma said. "They proudly get up and dance."

Some members of Grupo Caribe. From left to right: Gary Chavez, Jennie Valdez, Carmen Viera, Ivelise Davila Jerdon, Sulma Rodriguez, Esther Muela-Jackson, Tamara Coley Jubilee-Young, Elliana Miller-Young. Photo by Otis Gowens

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