ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Arnaudi José Llanes Torres teaches Cuban rumba, salsa and mambo in Istanbul.
Before being invited to teach Latin dance in Antalya, Arnaudi José Llanes Torres, affectionately known as “Pepe,” was only familiar with Turkey through two notable Cuban sayings, “Oye estás fumando como Turco” (Hey you’re smoking like a Turk) and “Por qué pones esa cara de Turco?” (Why are you frowning like a Turk?). After arriving in Antalya in 2003 and giving dance classes to tourists at various hotels, Torres made the decision to come to Istanbul in 2005. Now he is happily settled in the city and married to a Turk, with a 3-year-old son. He continues to give Latin dance classes.
Pepe Torres, born in Cuba’s fourth largest city, Camaguey, trained as a dancer and was working for a tourist company in Camaguey when one day a friend suggested that he give classes in Turkey.
“I was working for an Italian tourist firm giving dance classes when a friend suggested that I try my luck in Turkey. So I got a letter of invitation from Turkey and I arrived in Antalya in 2003.”
Although Torres enjoyed working in Antalya, the lack of a Cuban community in the region led him to expand his horizons and look further afield. After receiving an email from the Cuban Embassy in Ankara with the contact details of all the Cubans living in Istanbul, Torres wrote to a person under the name of “Azúcar de Cuba” (Cuban Sugar), as he suspected that she might also be giving dance classes.
“I saw that there was a Cuban girl with a name that sounded the most dance-related [Azúcar de Cuba], so I contacted her and it turned out that I was right. She told me to come to Istanbul.”
Torres teaches the Cuban rumba, salsa and mambo as well as the Dominican conga and merengue. He comments that dance is a corporal language and in this sense he experiences no communication problems with his Turkish students. Nonetheless, Torres notes the difficulty of the Turkish language.
“You have to pronounce Turkish as it is written, it’s not like that in Spanish. Sometimes it’s hard speaking because you have to pronounce words well in order to be understood.”
Torres notes that the first thing that struck him between Cuba and Turkey was the different modes of thinking between the two countries.
“Cubans have a slightly more open mentality when it comes to ‘living life’. There seem to be more rules here, there are things that one shouldn’t or can’t do because of religion or custom. In this sense, in Cuba I feel we have more freedom.”