Foto / Photo: Itzel Yarger Zagal

Latino Stars in Alaska
Rosmery Baez: A Poet and Dancer from the Heart
“Poetry is the silent music that moves us and motivates us to continue”​
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BY ITZEL YARGER ZAGAL

From a very young age, Rosmery Jaque-Báez fell in love with the folk dance of her native Ecuador. She grew up enjoying Ecuador’s native art and Andean music. While still a child, her siblings encouraged her to enroll in dance lessons. The education took root, and she became a founding member of the Sin Fronteras dance troupe. While in Sin Fronteras, Rosmery not only learned different rhythms and techniques of traditional dance, but also met her husband, Cristóbal Jaque, who was the group’s musical director. “Dance marked my life forever,” she says. 
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At college, Rosmery studied art, design and crafts; but she had to stop due to Ecuador’s political and economic crisis of the 1990s. Cristóbal moved to the United States where he played in a musical group and worked as a carpenter. Rosmery stayed behind in Ecuador with her daughters. They lived in an attic next door to a colony of doves; earning her the nickname, “The Lady of the Dove House.” 

In 2006, the entire family moved to Alaska, where they have participated in many multicultural events. Rosmery continues to create arts and crafts with wood and other materials, and she also writes poetry. 

Rosmery says: “Poetry is the most subtle way to express those feelings that sometimes one hides out of fear. Poetry has served me as an escape from many overwhelming situations. But mostly it helps me to please the heart. Poetry is silent music that moves us and motivates us to continue with more desire. My inspiration has always been life. Life gives us too much, and it takes away as much, but we must appreciate it for everything.” 

Rosmery is known among her friends as a joking and laughing person, a brave and proud practitioner of her culture.

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