Monthly Archive for March, 2007

Ever wonder how they record those awesome salsa tracks? Well, I got just the video for you. I found this neat video on YouTube which is basically Eddie Palmieri (a great salsa musician) recording one of his hits in the studio. I think its amazing to see how every different piece of a song (the drummer, the trumpeter , and the pianist) are all placed in different locations, with separate soundtracks (in headphones) and yet somehow, everything comes together (or maybe the headphones are for another reason - I'm no up and coming artist.. ).

Its an age-old question… what should we wear for salsa? Well, compared to ballroom dancers (where for some reason the trend has been to wear mostly black - as in a funeral), Salsa is more casual. You can pretty much wear anything. With that said, I have been asked this question various times - on what do I wear to go out salsa dancing. We’ve talked about shoes, we’ve talked about body-spray… well, lets talk about some fashion.

Now, back in the day I used to be a little more formal than now. I used to wear short-sleeved shirts with khakis. Times have changed, and I’ve learned lessons about design, comfort and color.

In general, my new style is basically wearing long-sleeved shirts (fitted) and jeans (denim). I usually let the shirt be tucked out, and I roll-up the sleeves. The jeans are usually washed (as in color, not only in the laundry context) - to add a little depth.

Now, lets talk about the shirt. In the picture I’m wearing my favorite types of shirts which come from Express for Men. Now, I know some of you (or most) will probably be like (I can get the same thing from Target or Walmart). Well, not technically - the same reason why most people in the US (sorry, had to be specific) prefer iPods over any other MP3 player - applies to clothing as well - its about design. Unlike most dress shirts on the market today, which have a flaired bottom section that make them look like dresses when untucked, Express’ 1MX shirts are actually tapered below, contouring to your natural figure. Therefore, they fit nicely to your form, which makes them extremely comfortable. Because they fit so well, they are very easy to dance in. You won’t get that effect where if you raise your arm with regular shirts, your entire midsection shows. They are also made with higher quality materials - which makes the feel (and the look) a lot better - which richer colors that will last longer than most shirts and survive multiple washes. It is like thread-count on bed sheets. You might be sleeping on a 200-thread-count cotton sheet. However, if you feel a 600-thread-count sheet (nice Hotel Sheets) - you would prefer it (there is a huge difference). And of course, if you realize you’d want to wear comfortable clothing, and you are willing to pay for comfort (for something you’ll get a lot of use out of) - there is no shame in paying a premium.

With that said, in some special occasions I’d wear a t-shirt and jacket for dancing salsa. However, this depends on the club. If the club is not very well ventilated, or I plan on dancing a lot - wearing a jacket is a little hard due to the amount of sweat it can produce. Additionally, adding a jacket to my attire for the evening will reduce the patterns I would be doing (but most likely I can use the

jacket as part of my styling if you become innovative).

Now, my two favorite colors are white and red (not together though). I’ve been told that the color red and the color white look good on me. I currently have white dance shoes from Ballo, and therefore I end up wearing more white than red. But in the cases where i’m wearing black Aldos shoes for dancing that night - I like my red. (However, its harder to tell how much sweat you have when its a white shirt).

As far as the jeans (I don’t wear khakis anymore for dancing) - I usually buy them from GAP, Express for Men or A|X. I usually go for darker colors (since I have darker clothing as well). I like them either straight or boot fit. For those, fashion un-savvy: straight fit is well, straight (they fit basically like a glove - but are still comfortable - no need to wear a belt) and boot fit is where it kind of opens up (a little more loose) at the bottom. I’m not a big fan of the loose or relaxed fit because it makes me look ‘bigger’ than I actually am. I also liked wash-colored jeans (as seen in the picutre) because it makes the jeans look more interesting (instead of plain old jean color). Also, because of design, having the lighter parts highlighted as shown, it provides a better sense of depth (so it looks better).

Anyways, with that all said (so you know now what I wear to go dancing)… What do you wear to go dancing? It would be good to see what people’s interests are in attire….

We talk about great performances all the time.. but what about when we know we've messed up during part of the performance? Let's face - it happens. At somepoint, the statistics are against us that we are either going to forget/blank out during the performance, or miss a hand that will cause us to be out of sync with the rest of the dancers. Well, that's completely alright. It is not how you start the performance, but how you end it. Sometimes, you can't do much when you screw up during part of the choreography, but you can try and make up for it in other ways.

This video shows exactly that - when something goes wrong, you try to recover it as best as you can.