The Southland’s King of Salsa

On a recent Friday evening, about a thousand people stood in silence in the Empire Ballroom of Studio City’s Sportsmen’s Lodge while salsa promoter Albert Torres outlined his busy schedule of events for the following months.

A few minutes later, Torres moderated a dazzling salsa-dancing contest, and the audience laughed approvingly at all his jokes. Before inviting local band Son Mayor onstage for a set of live Afro-Cuban combustion, Torres took the time to leisurely introduce and thank those of his guests who, he felt, had contributed to the advancement and promotion of tropical music.

The scene looked more like an emotional family gathering than a glitzy night at a salsa club. But then again, Torres’ friends and allies consider themselves to be part of a family of sorts. For the last five years, they have turned the promoter’s weekly salsa shows at the Lodge into a Friday night ritual.

A tall, stocky, tough-looking but soft-spoken Nuyorican in his mid-40s, Torres is arguably the most controversial figure in the Los Angeles salsa scene. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, he spent the better part of the ‘90s investing all of his energy into organizing some of the most spectacular salsa gigs in town.

There are those who look down on the Las Vegas-style touches that Torres infuses into his productions, the salsa cruises he organizes every year, or his occasional gigs at Inglewood’s carnivalesque Hollywood Park Casino. In other words, at Torres events, you won’t find the kind of Latino yuppies who frequent the more upscale clubs. Still, the promoter has, together with the fancier Conga Room, turned Los Angeles into one of the world capitals of tropical music, a city where on any given week you can see some of the genre’s most important names.

A Dancer Himself, He Schedules the Bands That Move His Feet

Torres is the kind of imaginative entrepreneur who somehow manages to make his dreams come true. In 1996, he was the first promoter to bring the celebrated Cuban group Los Van Van to Los Angeles. He also brought the legendary Orquesta Aragon to town after a 30-year absence, and even revived New York’s seminal Fania All Stars for a one-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium.

But the Lodge is still the ideal venue to enjoy the Albert Torres experience at its fullest. The ballroom is luxuriously spacious, with a large dance floor where you can try those fancy acrobatic moves you just learned without injuring the couple next to you. The stage is wide enough to allow hard-core music lovers to stand as close as possible to the performers. (You will always find a small group of people who spend the entire show by the stage, hypnotized by the music’s syncopated polyrhythms.)

Ticket prices fluctuate between $15 and $25, a bargain considering that you get a free dance lesson at the beginning of the evening and performances by two acts.

Torres always manages to surprise with his eclectic taste. One night he’ll bring a group from Cuba, like the traditional ensemble Sierra Maestra or the all-female Anacaona. Then again, he might go New York on you and explore the jazzier side of salsa with artists such as pianist Wayne Gorbea or timbalero Johnny Almendra. An accomplished dancer himself, Torres hires only those groups whose music inspires him to spend most of the night on the dance floor.

Although most dancers at the Lodge are experienced salseros, the event has a friendly vibe about it that encourages the uninitiated to take a chance, try that treacherous basic step (though, by all means, don’t count while you dance--your partner will not appreciate it), or just move their hips to the infectious rhythm of the congas and timbales.

This friendly attitude might explain why there are always older couples--that rarity of rarities in a dance club--and children at Torres’ events.

To people who know little about it, the word “salsa” has an exotic air, one that suggests sizzling eroticism and dark-eyed men who look like Antonio Banderas. But in the world of Albert Torres, salsa is a dance to have fun with, and if you want to bring the entire family along, they’re always welcome.

* Albert Torres’ salsa nights at the Sportsmen’s Lodge, 4234 Coldwater Canyon Drive, Studio City. Most Fridays at 8 p.m. Call to check specific dates. $15-$25. (310) 450-8770.