Dance: West Coast Swing community saying farewell to Angel Figueroa

Angel Figueroa was a major contributor to West Coast Swing dance community, as a dancer, teacher, coach, event coordinator, judge, etc. He was coming to some events in Tulsa as head judge. Although in recent years many professionals choose to retire early in the late night dances, Angel was one of the few who showed up and enjoying the dancing.


On 7/28/2020, he posted this on Facebook with his wife/dance partner Debbie.

"Well, it looks like 2020 is the year of disease. In June, I was diagnosed with stage 4 bile duct cancer/cholangiocarcinoma. Say that 10 times fast. I've tried! I am in the process of receiving chemo and so far so good. The doctors and I are on the same page of staying positive. My family and close friends have been amazing with their love and support.
I will still be teaching, coaching, and head judging.
Positive thoughts people!!
I will keep everyone in the loop with my progress. Thank you for all your support!
Remember: It's still walk, walk, triple, triple!
#cancersucks
#fuckcancer
#thinkpositive"


Stage 4 of any cancer is bad news. It means the cancer has metastasized to distant place(s), and that makes surgical removal of the cancers much trickier, or often impossible. Also in general, cancers advanced enough to metastasize are difficult to kill, more resistant to chemo- or radio-therapies.

Cholangiocarcinoma (rare cancer occurring in bile duct) is another bad news. Certain cancers are more difficult to deal with, and cholangiocarcinoma is one of those difficult cancers as of 2020. Of course I did not know specifics of his cancer, but it was sobering to read the post.


Afterwards, people in West Cast Swing (and Hustle and other) dance communities started posting his photos and dance videos with their comments as their tributes, encouragements, and well-wishes. Several (likely more) GoFundMe sites popped up to help him and his family.



On 8/15, there was a video of Angel and Debbie, thanking all the support.

It was somewhat shocking to see him thinning so much.



Then only 5 days later on 8/20 Thursday, Debbie posted,

"Angel Figueroa passed peacefully at 4:28pm on 8/20/2020 in the arms of his wife and son. We are heartbroken but ever so grateful."


This post triggered flooding of my FB feed with personal comments, photos, videos, etc from the dance communities, manly from WCS, and friends everywhere.


Today is 8/23 Sunday, but the flood of posts still continue.


Whole dance community is saying farewell and sending tributes. It is a rare sight.

[His "famous" quote as the head judge of WCS contests]