Deloris Perlmutter
The Trío Watussi dancer who stayed in Estepona
Born in Washington D.C. in 1940, Deloris Perlmutter trained at the New York City Ballet and at Katherine Dunham's school before becoming, while still very young, the only woman in the Wattusi Trio, an Afro-Cuban dance act that toured Mexico, South America and Europe for over a decade. Settled in the Estepona area since the late 1960s, she founded the Jazz Ballet school in 1972 — the town's first dedicated to jazz dance — and ran it, also teaching in Marbella, until 2014. In 2016 the town hall gave her its March 8th prize, and in 2020 Estepona named a plaza after her.
Biographical profile
Full name
Deloris Perlmutter, known in Estepona as 'Dolores'
Born
29 February 1940, Washington D.C. (United States)
Training
New York City Ballet and Katherine Dunham's school, New York
Legacy in Estepona
Founder of the Jazz Ballet school, the town's first dedicated to jazz dance, Calle Lazaga (1972–2014)
Recognition
March 8th Prize (2016) and a plaza named in her honour (2020)
A dancer trained between New York classical ballet and Katherine Dunham's Afro-Cuban dance, who toured half the world with the Wattusi Trio before settling in Estepona and spending four decades teaching dance to generations of the town's women and men.
40
years of teaching dance in Estepona and Marbella were highlighted by the town hall itself when it named a plaza after her in October 2020.
Why it matters
Because Deloris Perlmutter arrived in Spain as a six-week stop on a tour and stayed more than fifty years. And because that school on Calle Lazaga, born when the term "jazz dance" barely had a recognisable translation in Estepona, trained generations of dancers who still remember her today.
Full profile
The complete profile with all sources, biographical sections and timeline is available in Spanish.
Timeline
Born on 29 February in Washington D.C. (United States).
At seventeen, moves to New York on a New York City Ballet scholarship, alongside another, simultaneous one at Katherine Dunham's school.
Cuban dancers Mario García Sánchez and Jorge Pérez Prado form the act "Los Watussi" in New York; Perlmutter joins as its third member, at nineteen or twenty depending on the various accounts she has given over the years.
Tours Mexico with the trio, under Cuban choreographer Roderico "Rodney" Neyra, at the Señorial cabaret.
Rodney dies in Mexico; the trio donates half their pay to cover his debts and repatriate his body, then completes the South American tour already booked, through Argentina and Peru.
Impresario Julio Bermúdez books the Wattusi Trio for six weeks of shows in Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao.
The tour, meant to be temporary, ties her to Spain for the rest of her life.
After a spell in Punta Chullera (Manilva), the family settles in Estepona and opens Beni's Bar, on Calle Caridad.
At thirty-two, leaves professional dance; the Wattusi Trio disbands, and she founds the Jazz Ballet school on Calle Lazaga.
Lives in London for a couple of years, for her husband's import business, and teaches at several studios, including the Elmhurst Ballet School.
Her husband, Beni Perlmutter, dies.
Closes her dance school in Estepona, after an ankle injury.
Receives the Estepona town hall's March 8th Prize, alongside Muriel Bárbara David Jones.
Estepona names a plaza after her, at the meeting point of Calle Manzanares, Calle Dama and Calle Adolfo Suárez de Figueroa.
Moves to San Francisco, to be near her daughter Michele and grandson.
“We were after the fantasy, the fantasy of the danger, aggression, and exoticism of their movements.”
— Judy Goddess, "Wattusi Trio dancers embraced by U.S. jazz greats and European club scene of the '50s-'70s...", San Francisco Senior Beat, 11 February 2024
The place that tells the story
Place named in her honour
Plaza Deloris Perlmutter, at the meeting point of Calle Manzanares, Calle Dama and Calle Adolfo Suárez de Figueroa
On 21 October 2020, Estepona town hall announced the naming of this plaza after dancer, choreographer and model Deloris Perlmutter, known in the town as 'Dolores', in recognition of her four decades teaching dance in the municipality.
Memory of the municipalityAlso in History of Estepona
The flamenco festival with Enrique Morente and the film week with five countries
On 12 April 1975, Estepona hosted the III Gran Festival de Cante Grande with Enrique Morente, Manuel Gerena and Parrilla de Jerez. In 1977, the I International Week of Educational Cinema brought five countries together. Two episodes that reveal a town with a cultural life of its own.
Read Estepona en el siglo XX20th-century transformationFrom a village without running water to an international destination
In fewer than forty years, Estepona built the seafront promenade, the marina, the large hotels and won a National Beautification Award. The chronicle is clear-eyed: the historic Paseo del Carmen was demolished to make way for the new waterfront.
Read El casco históricoUrban memoryThe streets that hold memory
The historic centre of Estepona preserves memory in its squares, streets, houses and churches. Plaza de las Flores had at least six different names depending on the political power of each era. A cistern of Muslim origin survives intact beneath Casa del Aljibe. The Church of Los Remedios stands on the site of a 1400-era forest. Calle Murillo is named after a doctor held captive in Algiers for thirteen years.
ReadEditorial note and sources
Profile based on Ayuntamiento de Estepona, "El alcalde entrega los premios '8 de Marzo' a las bailarinas Deloris Perlmutter y Muriel Bárbara David Jones", 8 de marzo de 2016, Ayuntamiento de Estepona, "El Ayuntamiento dedica una plaza a la bailarina Deloris Perlmutter 'Dolores' por su contribución a la cultura en Estepona", 21 de octubre de 2020, Rosa Marquetti Torres, "Deloris Perlmutter: cuando la rumba nace en Washington, D.C.", Desmemoriados, 10 de abril de 2021, "Wattusi Trio dancers embraced by U.S. jazz greats and European club scene of the '50s-'70s for their fantastical, 'exotic Africa' performances", San Francisco Senior Beat, 11 de febrero de 2024, Verónica Valadez (entrevista) y Rafael Galán (fotografías), "Deloris Perlmutter", Retratos de Sociedad, 25 de marzo de 2018. Biographical data and quotations come from documentary sources and may require further verification. No statements are made about the current status of the persons mentioned.