Victoria Santa Cruz (1922-2014)

Abstract

Victoria Eugenia Santa Cruz Gamarra was born on August 30, 1922, in the home of Nicomedes Santa Cruz Aparicio, a writer and playwright, and Victoria Gamarra, a marinera and zamacueca dancer who used to hum décimas to the rhythm of the socabón. She was the sister of Nicomedes (a decimist, singer, and poet), Rafael (a bullfighter, singer, and marinera dancer), Fernando (a virtuoso cajón player and singer), and other equally gifted siblings. A century later, we commemorate that birth as the starting point of one of the most fruitful lives of Peruvian culture, deployed in a variety of activities: composer, choreographer, singer, dancer, designer, scholar of Afro-Peruvian culture, director, and teacher.