Afro-Peruvian is Susana Baca’s beat

“Susana Baca can’t stop dancing. When she sings, she sways, her eyes closed, a smile on her lips, her body rocking in slow, loose- limbed movement as effortless as wind whispering through trees. Even when she talks, she moves, punctuating her thoughts with graceful hand gestures, a thoughtful nod of the head, a barely audible chuckle, a shy smile flickering across her lips.

“I have a sister and a brother, and my mother taught us how to dance,” Baca says in Spanish, speaking through translator Peter Holland. “She used to say, ‘My children must know how to dance,’ so we sang and danced every afternoon.” This year, Baca’s lifelong love of singing and dancing has brought her to Chicago, where she’s collaborating with the Luna Negra Dance Theater on a production that will honor the Afro-Peruvian music Baca grew up with.”

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