Rebecca Rivas
Plain Dealer Reporter

Salsa. It's all in the hips.

It's when the rumbling drumbeat, like waves off the Cuban beaches, sends
your hips twisting and turning like a hurricane.

Want to learn? Let Celia Cruz teach you. The Cuban-born "Queen of
Salsa" has been shaking the dance floors for more than 50 years.

"If you want to learn to salsa, you first have to love the music," Cruz says.
"It begins with the feet. If you don't have the rhythm, you can't dance
merengue and salsa. Then if you can move your hips, move them."

Tomorrow, Cruz, a 10-time Grammy nominee, will show Ohioans how it's
done.

"When I come on the stage, everyone rises to their feet," says Cruz,
known for her crazy, flamboyant wigs, stage-shattering heels and dresses
that wow the audience.

"There are barely any that can stay sitting down."

Mastering the art of moving people to dance is only one of her
achievements. Cruz has recorded more than 100 albums and has a wall
full of plaques, including a Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award, a
National Medal of the Arts and honorary doctorates from Yale University
and the University of Miami.

San Francisco even declared Oct. 25 "Celia Cruz Day" in 1997.

She's also been deemed a "supreme diva" and honored for her
achievements as a female musician.

"Diva," she says. "I love that word." But, she's not sure that she has led
any women's musical movement.

"I have been doing this for a long time. If people want to say that, that's
beautiful," she says.

Cruz did single-handedly add a little sugar to the music business,
however. At every concert, she screams "Azzzuucarrr!" Her trademark
slogan traces back to a simple cup of coffee.

"One day I was in a restaurant having breakfast. Then the waiter asked if I
drink my coffee black and I said 'No, chico! Con azucar, con azucar!'

"I was shocked by this guy who was Cuban and knows our coffee is so
strong. Everyone would ask me to tell the story, until finally I left the stage
yelling 'Azucar!' Then it stuck with me and every time I go on stage,
people say, 'Azucar, azucar, Celia.' "

Cruz hopes to preserve the tradition she carries.

"I hope that my music stays where it is. This genre is beautiful, happy and
it's the culture.

There's rock, pop stars, but not many salsa stars, so I want to carry on
this genre for the rest of my life."

She means that literally. Her manager, Omer Pardillo, once told fans that
Celia wants to die on stage. "That is the truth," she confirms.

She pauses a minute and then puts on her singing voice, " 'Quiero morir
cantando como muere una cigarra.' You know that song? I want to die just
like a cicada [a bug known for its mating call] - singing."

Cruz, who lives in New Jersey, left her hometown of Havana in 1960, after
Fidel Castro came to power. Her former band, La Sonora Matancera, went
on tour in the United States and wasn't allowed to return, under orders
from Castro.

"I want to return to Cuba, but not now," she says. "I'm never going to ask
for a visa in the country where I was born. My mother died, and I couldn't
bury her because I couldn't enter the country."

Cruz's performance is the last act of Playhouse Square's "Caliente" music
series, dedicated to spreading cultural awareness of the Hispanic
community.

"The unity is the power. People unite in music. If people are not united,
they can't fight for a better future for themselves in this country," she
says.

"I want the people to feel happy and let all their problems leave them.
Everybody has problems, but when they hear the music, they start to
dance and forget about everything in this moment."