Fiesta La Presidente Maria Cabrera talks about her love of dance and Old Spanish Days
“I believe God meant us to dance,” La Presidente Maria Cabrera said. “It is to share the joy of life.”
Fiesta La Presidente Maria Cabrera still has the castanets she brought with her when she was 11 years old and moved with her family to the U.S. from Colombia.
That was 1965, and the castanets — and her love of dance — have remained with her.
“It’s part of the collection here in our house,” the longtime Santa Barbara resident told the News-Press about the castanets. “My mother loved Spanish music. I remember when I was 7 years old and taking private dance lessons.”
Layla Gocong, a third-grader at Crane Country Day School, was chosen Junior Spirit after dancing a tanguillo during the recent auditions at the Lobero Theatre.
Her lifelong love of dance inspired her to start dancing groups and dedicate no less than 30 years of her life to be a volunteer for Old Spanish Days.
It all boils down to this.
Mrs. Cabrera loves to see people dance.
“I believe God meant us to dance,” Mrs. Cabrera said. “It is to share the joy of life. We dance when we’re happy. We dance when we are sad.
“I feel dancing is a way of communication; it’s something God gave us,” she said.
And Old Spanish Days features a lot of dancing — exuberant, kinetic, passionate dancing.
The new Fiesta La Presidente is excited about this year’s Fiesta, set for Aug. 3-7. It’s an event that draws large crowds to locations such as the Santa Barbara Mission and the Sunken Garden at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.
That’s where audiences will see the new Spirit of Fiesta, Tara Mata; the new Junior Spirit of Fiesta, Layla Gocong, and others perform joyful dances.
“The Spirit and Junior Spirit are great ambassadors,” Mrs. Cabrera said, praising Ms. Mata, a 19-year-old Santa Barbara City College student, and Layla, a third-grader at Crane Country Day School in Santa Barbara.
“They have poise. They have elegance,” Mrs. Cabrera said. “They have joy.
“All the dancers and their commitment to Fiesta and dance is amazing,” Mrs. Cabrera said. “This is something they do around the year. It’s almost like they need to dance, and they do it beautifully.”
Mrs. Cabrera’s family shares her love of dancing and dances at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Barbara. Her husband, Francisco Cabrera, who’s from Mexico, shares Mrs. Cabrera’s passion for dancing.
“Our daughter is Marisol, who was Junior Spirit of Fiesta in 1992, Spirit of Fiesta in 2001 and Saint Barbara in 2004,” the proud mother said. “Our son, Pablo, is an engineer and is married and lives in Redondo Beach. We have three lovely grandchildren.”
Mrs. Cabrera recalled the times she has danced at Fiesta and her favorite memories.
“For me when I dance on those stages, it was the applause,” she said. “That keeps you coming back. It’s seeing the happiness of people being together.
“That’s what we missed during COVID,” she said.
Mrs. Cabrera said she’s proud of Old Spanish Days for the ways Fiesta adapted during the pandemic, but is glad to see the festival’s evolution back toward the Fiesta that Santa Barbara has known for nearly 100 years.
Fiesta La Presidente Maria Cabrera stands outside the Santa Barbara Mission, which is among the locations of the annual Fiesta. She’s excited about this year’s Old Spanish Days.
She said she loved that the Lobero Theatre was packed for the recent Spirit of Fiesta and Junior Spirit auditions and appreciated the happiness she saw in the audience.
“The parents (of the dancers) were happy,” she said, noting the dancers are looking forward to trying out again next year.
“This is what Fiesta is all about: the families who live here, who have participated for many years,” she said.
And Mrs. Cabrera noted the community’s response to a festival that remains incredibly popular.
“We were already booking appearances for the Spirit and Junior Spirit before they were chosen!”
email: dmason@newspress.com
