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For a few months now, the FANIA Records salsa music website had been down with a ‘Coming Soon in Fall of 2009′ text. Today, a brand new website has flourished to show salsa music in all of its glory! Given everything we have learn from the history of FANIA Records from the PBS Special: Latin Music USA, it is great to see they are back showcasing all the great salsa music from the era plus more! Now you can purchase individual salsa songs, categorized by era, read salsa artist bios, and subscribe to a salsa music podcast on their website. In addition, they let also have a 24-hour FANIA salsa music radio station![more via FANIA]
lonbluster
Great news, thanks a LoT!!
Don Vaillancourt
Anthony, the link under the image doesn’t work. For whatever reason fania.com isn’t configured to go to http://www.fania.com.
Eddie-london
haha! i listen to this radio even at work :p
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Here is an awesome video from the special that aired a few days ago. It is amazing to see him young singing with Willie. Ruben Blades has such clear vocals and eloquent lyrics.
Marco
Hell Willie looks like a kid too. It was neat to hear a bit of background stories on the All Stars. Ruben being a lawyer explained a lot regarding eloquent lyrics.
The one drawback to using poeticism for songs is that my gradeschool equivalant spanish can’t keep up with the cantantes :2s Ah well time to brush up anyways.
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you know I just had to…..
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Just wanted to inform all of you that Michael Jackson, one of the greatest dancers, entertainers and performers of all time, had died today of cardiac arrest. He was one of the greatest dancers, entertainers and performers of all time. Inspiration to many salseros to pickup dancing.
“Entertainer Michael Jackson has died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. CNN has not confirmed his death. Jackson, 50, had been in a coma at the hospital, sources told CNN” (full story)
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Videos by Dance Skill Level
This has probably been one of the most requested features for Addicted2Salsa: The ability to group our dance video lessons by dance skill level. We understand that everyone has a different learning curve, so we did our best to categorize each video into the skill level that was appropriate. You can select between ‘Beginner‘, ‘Intermediate‘ and ‘Advanced‘ by using the main site buttons. Hope everyone else finds it useful!
For those also interested in non-salsa discussions, I reorganized the OLD forums and placed them here.
marcus
I definitely want to dance salsa and i am a great fan of you guys doing salsa lessons on you tube but i want to know tips for picking up a salsa dance partner because I live in Georgia and there is hardly anybody who wants to dance salsa over here I AM ADDICTED TO SALSA AND I NEED A PARTNER
Octavio
Hey marcus,
I’ve been learning a lot from the following website: http://mastersalsa.com/videos.php
You might want to check it out.
Have fun learning bro.
SalseroWannaBe
@Anthony – always great ideas. You’ll be rich before 40 yo!
@Marcus – depends on which Georgia you live at: Caucasian Georgia, or Georgia in US? Maybe try to find some social sites, or just start teaching small group of friends, then set up parties, use social sites, and maybe you’ll start salsa at your place?
susieqsalsa
Funny you just wrote this note recently as I was going to ask you about it. But I was just on your youtube channel and was trying to save your videos to my playlists and making separate playlists by categories of Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced and I am wondering if your youtube channel can do that, too? I share your videos with a lot of people and this would make it so much easier to share. Thank you!
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This weekend will mark the shooting of our 50th Addicted2Salsa Dance Videos episode. After more than 13 million video views on YouTube alone, I don’t know how best to celebrate. Anyone has any suggestions on what you might want to learn? Should we redo the basics? More on2?
This was our most popular video with over 3 million views.
rg
Naked salsa. Will be unforgotten.
DEVILOFDARKNESS
I want to learn the styling (again) and the paterns that have the “lock” word (ex: hammerlock, double lock, loop over lock, etcetera).
How to celebrate? In the past 49 videos, you have been dancing with Stephanie, Melanie and Julie. Therefore, I also want a great performance between you and that three women. And as RG’s idea, you should wear some more colourful clothes, sexier clothes and even wackier clothes (but don’t be naked!).
Julie
That would be very interesting indeed.
Marisa
A pattern where by the end Julie has done 50 spins.
Abraham
with diamond tipped stiletto heels so she scrathes “addicted2salsa”in the dancefloor. this may seems hard but as Anthony always says: very simple
Julie
lol – now even I laugh when Anthony says the phrase while we are filming
it ought to be trademarked! I’ll work on the stilettos, however, i don’t think our studio would appreciate us “leaving our mark”…haha
Bharath
I’m an ardent fan of addicted to Salsa and would love to have a very special video as the 50th episode! Surely not the basics (even if its on 2) as most of us would like to remember the 50th episode in a very special way and an Salsa sequence with lots of fun involved would be the best
I would love to learn how to lead 2 women for a sequence of Salsa with lots of styling and cheeky steps (like hand juggles, body rolls, etc…); this is mainly because in many clubs I find lesser Men than Women and it makes it difficult to let the ladies wait for long… It should be fun to lead more than a single partner!
All the very best and eagerly awaiting 100th episode celebration!
DEVILOFDARKNESS
My another idea is that Anthony and his partner(s) should sing the salsa (or mambo) song while dancing. (Ex: El négro bembon, mambo Italiano, manias, etcetera) Anthony, your vocé while talking is so sweet, and I wonder how it would be while singing.
dahvee
First off…Congratulations! This is a great milestone. I know I am not alone in saying, how much all the hard work you guys put in is greatly appreciated.
To make episode 50 extra special you should…
…wait for it…
Make it a TWO PARTER.
The first part, the instructional part, could be on body movements. Show how adding body movements can enhance the basic or simple shines. Maybe even do a simple pattern, then add body flourishes to make it look good.
The second part should be Julie and you dancing to a whole song.
Thanks again for all the hardwork.
BTW – for episode 100 I am insisting you do a team routine with you and all your past A2S partners.
Marcus
hey i’m a addicted to salsa addict and i would like for you to do casts to improve solo salsa for people (like me) who don’t have a partner as of yet
jovi
congratulations
it is time for a huge party. movie everything, friends, fun, salsa dance. i think this would be great for 50th episode.
Dave
I like the idea of leading two partners and also the “two parter” of showing you two dance to a full song afterwards.
Also, in future episodes, I would like to see some exploration of other latin dances. Addicted2salsa.com has helped my salsa immensely, but my bachata is deplorable. Help!Abraham
Hmm a podcast like ep.25 and .26 expaining how to dance on 2? I would like very much yes
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This summer I’m planning on having several ‘fun’ contests for our visitors. What would you guys think would be good prizes? Music? Tickets? Clothing? Shoes?… give me your suggestions here (http://social.addicted2salsa.com)
Loneken79
Hey Anthony,
I’m french so please forgive my mistake.
I found your website your itunes podcast a few months ago, for prizes I think the best is clothing or music cause tickets can be hard to use if it’s too far (US are a big place ^^) and shoes are generally brought with feelings.
Great works !! Please keep doing this way
CU NextDon Vaillancourt
Where are the freaking t-shirts. How ’bout those. Waiting……. :-p
Marco
In all seriosity (i know not a real word, but it should be) I have to agree with my fellow French poster Loneken- With the caveat that I would take shoes along with clothing, music, or any of your used but well treated on1 DVD’s.
or if Loneken can donate any quality cheeses or perhaps a one month stay at his Chateau on the Riviera-I would take that…
Oh and I’ll take your old Journey/Foriegner CD’s too.
Marco
I forgot to mention that I will not, under any circumstances, take any more used, mushroom colored, extra SMALL, dance thong thingies….well maybe if you have some in pink.
Eddie-london
id have to say .. Cool Hats for clubbin, and shoes. i dont really mind how they look as long as they good for salsa
Tikka
Maybe a dance with Julie? (a)
Mark
Although the logistics would be difficult for anyone not in So Cal, a great prize would be a dinner & dance date with Julie or Anthony (depending on which way the winner swings).
But seriously, clothes, shoes… but not the thongie thingies…
Anthony Persaud
“dance date with Julie ”
I don’t know if Julie’s boyfriend would like that too much
Gerrit Lemmens
I was going to suggest 1st prize a dance with Julie and 2nd prize a dance with Anthony but that is just sexist and unoriginal. (See above) As you have truly international appeal and sharing a dance floor with either of you might be difficult I suggest that an addicted 2 salsa T shirt will be most suitable, advertising your website and adding some advice about consulting a doctor first.
Don Vaillancourt
I don’t want to dance with Anthony.
IncaPie
How about a cameo in an addicted2salsa video podcast? Of course, this is limited to locals and those willing to fly out to SD.
Don Vaillancourt
Where are the freaking t-shirts. How ’bout those. Waiting……. :-p
Or your videos on CD.
Or a date with Julie. Oh, wait. That would be a no-no.
alex
I vote for some A2S branded teacups.
But if that’s not possible: t-shirts, signed DVDs/CDs or shoes would be great.
gnss
So Anthony doesn’t know what her boyfriend would say about the date… but maybe we should also think about what she might say about it – maybe she don’t wants to have a dance date with the winner either.
And what about a woman wins? I think women would rather take Anthony for a dance date – so many questions and no answers Julie
But what would Anthony’s girlfriend say about that?
gnss
This my dear Julie was the question I was intended to ask with my post
Maybe the prize has to be a dance date with Julie and Anthony – but please don’t ask me how this works in a good way, I just had a solution for this
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Awesome Popping/Hip-Hop/Salsa performance by “Lucky Spin” at the Hawaii Salsa Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfBs41fHydk
Saw this video, and while it doesn’t have a lot of salsa, it is just fun to see salsa beats and rhythms being used in hip-hop fashion. The song name for those interested is ‘Merecumbe’.
Drew
Bit of a crazy idea, but in your videos, it might be helpful, particularly for the full-speed sequences, if you and your partner were wearing something that more easily distinguished your right leg/foot from your left. With mirrors and spins always changing the perspective, it’s sometimes hard for an amateur to keep track of which feet are moving when on top of all of the other stuff going on.
I’m thinking like side-coded colored leggings or at least two different colored shoes (like white for left, black for right). Might look a little less dignified, but I think it would really help for instructional purposes.
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Any thoughts on a this as a cool salsa shirt for girls?Anthony Persaud
It was suggested by a friend when shopping in LA (some fashion district). I think it would look cool in a2s red.
Of course, I’m sure the fashion police would disagree with me.Tikka
I’m too sexy for my love too sexy for my love
Love’s going to leave me
I’m too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts!Marco
That’s a smokin shirt. I haven’t showed it to my wife yet but she is likely to sigh and mutter something about having two kids and “battle scars on her midriff.” I keep telling her that these kind of things would look way worse on me!
This isn’t a precurser question to A2S/A2CC wearables is it?
Don Vaillancourt
I love it.
Anthony Persaud
Just showed it to Julie, and she laughed… not a good sign…
Kit
I think the issue is that this sort of top works really well on mannequins and not so well on real women. Something having to do with not having plastic boobs…
jovi
add this thread to your explanation
http://social.addicted2salsa.com/2009/03/02/watch-this-from-000-till-105http/#comments
jovi
i’m curious if someone in near future will think about us like @2.20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKDtHwf9_kI&feature=related
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If you have been following our Addicted2Salsa Facebook Fan page, you know that we are giving away TWO free event tickets to two lucky winners for the San Diego Salsa Jam that is happening on April 10th, 2009 hosted by A Time to Dance and the San Diego Salsa Festival.Winning is as simple as answering three easy salsa questions. The first two people to post the answers our Facebook Fan page will win a ticket to the special event!
Questions:
- What is the name of the salsa musician who founded “El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico”?
- What is the actual birth name of the salsa artist known as “El Rey Del Timbal”?
- What was original release date of the album “Fuego En El 23″ by Sonora Ponceña?
Remember, post your answers on our Facebook fan page in the comments thread! Good luck!
For more information on the San Diego Salsa Jam, please visit http://sandiegosalsajam.com
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New style for the salsa social!
What do you think of the new style? You can do everything from the main page (no need to go click on comments to see them). You can show/hide all the comments for the posts by clicking “Hide Threads”.
LBSources
A much better format IMO
Marco
Much easier to get into the newer threads.
How time demanding is a change like this?
Anthony Persaud
It only took me about 3 days worth of actual work. The only problem was (on a personal note), I’ve been working 13 hour days at work and have only been able to dedicate 1 hour a night to a2s. I have some new video episodes in the pipeline which I hope to release next week if time permits.
Clarification: 1 day of actual work = 8 hours.
Marco
Dood, you are a frickin’ machine.
To bust tail at work for 13 hours then do the same type of work at home for the benefit of schmucks like me can’t be commended enough. I’m pretty certain I have no idea of how much work you put into this site. (Much less a dollar amount out of pocket…I wonder what the dollar value would be if you had someone else create all this???)
I know lots of people say it all the time but thanks for the great site, the quality of the content, and the opportunity to bond with other people with a common interest.
As soon as I get back from work tonight, a donation will be on the way.
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Ok, a new salsa dance video episode coming next week, but, it is time for me to ask again for your feedback and learn what would be cool for Addicted2Salsa to do next. Here are a few ideas we have been thinking about:
- A Facebook applicaiton to grow the @ddicted community.
- A better video application on the front page so people can submit cool salsa videos to share.
- Subtitles for our dance podcasts episodes. So other dancers that do not speak English can follow along our videos in their native language.
- A world wide salsa night club / events page.
What ideas can you come up with?
jovi
where is salsa?
I got this idea from topological maps. High areas of a region are colored white(e.g. top of the mountains) and low regions are dark green. You can see an example in the link below.
http://www.weltkarte.com/europa/spanien/topographie-mallorca.pngSo i was thinking it would be nice if there would be a map but instead the hight of the area the color would be based on number of salser@s.
Would be fun to see, how salsa is spread all around the world and where the most salser@s are more concrete:
1. people can enter their location
2. a simple visualization of the data is presented(don’t need to be as complex as in the example, bars or icons wold be satisfyeable)(google maps api?)
3. integration with Anthony’s point 4 ?Marco
This may already be done and I’m just unaware-If so hit me with the bad idea ray gun.
The vids are quite progressive now and the phrase “refer to our earlier videos” is mentioned often.
How about a more robust organization of the previous vids. (The youtube stuff especially). Could be just a simple Vid 1-25?
To take it one step further, separate the dance vids from the non dance tutorials.
There is already something like this on the A2S dance vids site but it is a little inconsistent.
Sorry if this one is rough/harsh..I have serious man love for this site, and I was late getting out the door *before* I decided to post.
Maybe more ideas later.
jovi
how are you guys thinking about a roadmap from beginner to pro? I mean to define milestones and say if someone reaches this milestone, (s)he should understand/able to do following things:… . To have a “lead” video(for each milestone) which describes best way how to reach the goal(milestone), this video may change over time. And to have further videos for people who didn’t got the idea after watching the lead-video.
tommrod
how about adding the actual beat number so you don’t have to be counting while you dance?
or pointing out graphically to the beat in some way…Anthony Persaud
haha. I just had a picture of a Sesame Street like Count Dracula saying “1….2….3… AH..AH..AH..”
Marco
Does final cut have a mod for lightning flashes? (Sorry off topic)
tommrod
lqtm (laughing quietly to myself)
martinho
Hi
I’ve discovered your website a few months ago and found it amazing!
I’ve read your idea concerning the subtitles for online lessons.
If you like, I’m able to translate it into french, that’s quite difficult to find a good french website teaching salsa with good video quality…
Cheers
MartinHi-meh
1, 2, and 4 sound good, but I especially like 4.
Seena
Hi Anthony,
I emailed you about a similar issue, then found this page, so a bit of a repeat:
(A) I agree 100% with Marco’s comment and jovi’s followup above. Related to this:
(B) I want to download every single video that you have, preferably in HD quality. However, there are discrepancies between the videos on youtube, iTunes, and addicted2salsa. Some sites have different videos or more/less videos.
For example:
youtube playlist: Has 76 videos
youtube videos: Has 42 videos
addicted2salsa: Has 42 videos (I think these 42 videos are different than the youtube ones though)
iTunes: Has 20 videosAs you can see, for example, iTunes only has 20 videos. Can we have it so that at least one location has every video, preferably downloadable and in HD?
Thanks a lot for the videos regardless, thanks,
SeenaAnthony Persaud
(A) Ok.
(B) The main source for all videos is at http://videos.addicted2salsa.com . Currently we don’t allow HD video downloads directly until we find a better mechanism to remove “scrapers” from killing our bandwidth (scrapers are like web robots that show the video on their site while streaming it from our site).
Currently there is ordering on our videos since we only plan what we will shoot ahead of time. It’s not like we have this great organization of what we will shoot for the next two years
, who knows, we might be bankrupt by then.What we will do is organize the videos on videos.addicted2salsa.com to let you know what “we feel” is a beginner, intermediate or advance move – but that is really subjective given the different learning curves for individuals.
Anyways, just wanted to say “I hear you requests, I just haven’t figured out the best option yet given our time and my (very small) budget”.
valvare6
I vote for the following:
==> A world wide salsa night club / events page.Although, I would also suggest sending out a survey for upcoming videos. Perhaps you can tally who wants to learn what and go from there..
susieqsalsa
Oh, I got an idea and if you did this, it’s something I would pay money for this service…..
I take dance classes in a group setting where there isn’t much opportunity for personal growth through constructive criticism, the harsh truth we need to be able to fully embrace improvements needed to grow in our salsa journey.
I would like to be able to film myself dancing with my partner the moves I am learning from your collection of videos and upload them to you so you can critique me and point out areas of strengths and weaknesses. Then you can suggest tips to improve my moves. This is something that I think people may want to pay for, as everyone who joins your group most likely respects your opinion and would want to hear it….
The other idea I got would be to create a gallery where people who are learning and doing the moves learned in your videos can upload videos of themselves where members of the group can vote on the favorites. And maybe the members can even share comments, tips and pointers based upon what they see in the video (like youtube). It would be a virtual community based on videos and not just a worded dialogue. And if you want to make money on this idea, you can charge the user a small fee to upload their video to the community for review, perhaps.
I think that would be a fun way to foster unity within our salsa community! What do you think?
jovi
Good question, bad question.
It is ok to ask “what can I improve?” but it is not ok to say “Tell my partner what he did wrong!”. Don’t forget to ask your partner to movie him AND to be alowed to upload the video. (I would not like somebody movie my mistakes and show them to the rest of the world without my permission!)“people who are learning and doing the moves learned in your videos … members of the group can vote on the favorites.” prety funny, I would also like to see the best Anthony&Julie dancing clone.
other question is if Julie&Anthony want to face this competition?Julie
Agreed- respect for your partner is always important. It sounds like susieqsalsa is looking for advice for herself though, which is great.
As for people dancing our combos, I would love it! “Facing the competition” is absolutely not what this is about, the whole point of the website is to share salsa with the community, and I by no means claim to be among the best dancers. Please do share videos! We all have something to learn.
Julie
Great idea! What some people have done in the past is to upload your video to Youtube, and then paste the link on this website to receive advice from the Addicted2Salsa community. It seems to work out well, since you get a variety of constructive feedback. It is wonderful that you recognize (and seek out) criticism as a method of improvement – so many of us hate that criticism, even though we know we need it! Feel free to post a link, we’d all be happy to give you feedback (you can also ask for any specific feedback you may be looking for)
Susieqsalsa
Thank you, Julie! I finally got to record while I am dancing but didn’t get permission from the partner to upload to the internet. So, in honor of that person’s privacy, I won’t upload it. But I will wait til next time to record when I am dancing with my regular partner where we do many of the addicted2salsa video moves that we learn.
This recording is the first time I’ve seen myself dance since I started taking lessons about 7 months ago. It was fun and exciting to see this and I also spotted things I didn’t like about the way I dance and started making changes to that right away. I also like that I can track my progress as time goes by. I know I will be grateful for that someday!
And I also am making an effort to record the end of my classes so I can review the moves and practice at home.
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Our video feed has changed! If you are not using iTunes for the Addicted2Salsa podcast videos and would like to download them separately, we have moved our RSS feed to http://feeds.addicted2salsa.com/addicted2salsa . There you are able to download the latest dance video episodes for your viewing pleasure.
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The ‘Reply’ button should now work properly on the forums.
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I thought this was a joke at first.. but it seems that it is official, Steve Wozniak (one of the “fathers” of the personal computer revolution who co-founded Apple Inc with Steve Jobs), will be on the upcoming season of “Dancing With The Stars“. For those who are not as tech-savvy as the rest of us, this might not mean much to you. However, to an engineer (and salsa geek), I hope he doesn’t make us actually-coordinated-dance-loving engineers look bad and confirm any general stereotypes.Either way, I’ll be rooting for him! I think I’m just getting a ‘kernel panic’. (pun intended)
Don Vaillancourt
Doesn’t say much. I guess Dancing With The Stars is similar to So You Think You Can Dance. Anyway, be interesting how a big guy like that in his 50s if not late 40s can hold up.
Anthony Persaud
No way! So You Think You Can Dance is actually a great dance show – they actually get real professional dancers to perform! (or maybe SYTYCD is different in other countries..)
Don Vaillancourt
I have never seen Dancing With The Stars, so I really have no idea.
But the Canadian version of SYTYCD is the same as the US one and we even have some of the same hosts.
My dad told me that if I had gotten into dance 20 years earlier I could have gone on that show. I would love to do that. Maybe I could, just not nationally.
Wil
Can we do something to try to get Frankie Martinez chosen as one of the choregraphers for one this dance shows!
tommrod
@Wil:
it’d be cool but…
i’m not sure that regular us audience will understand why it is much more appealing to see a smooth,flirty and subtle piece of footwork rather than an acrobatic over pretentious piece of “god knows what”.
or at least i have the sense that tv producers believe that feverishly… make it big and they will come…btw isn’t that the show where all latinoan dancing is done to the sounds of non latino music? i mean of course.. we can make the nutcracker into cha cha cha but wouldn’t it desecrate the soul of it?
or am i thinking of some other show, similar to the mentioned one but made in ye old world??? oh yeah strictly come dancing it is… i watched it on youtube… dancing was ok… but as far as music…just didn’t quite make itMarco
I don’t usually watch this show but I was walking in the door and my wife had it on. Low and behold Steve Wozniak was up for his turn.
I think he represented himself well. He had a couple of knee spins that impressed me. I think he had to be wearing knee pads.
Boy the judges are pretty harsh on the low experiance level contestants aren’t they.
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As requested by our good friend , I have added a new feature to allow you to subscribe to any new posts or comments that are posted on the Addicted2Salsa social dance site. All you have to do is go to your profile page, and at the very bottom, select what items you’d like to be notified.
Don Vaillancourt
Uhm. Were you in the middle of eating birthday cake when you said you’d do this after your birthday.
Anthony Persaud
haha! I decided I had some time to make the website better.
lonbluster
Anthony,
I am afraid this pluging is doing too much!!
)
I am now getting notification even for post I have never seen!!The ideal would be only for posts open or for those where I left a comment.
Otherwise, it would be Spam!Cheers
Anthony Persaud
Yeah, I turned it off right away. The other plugin that was mentioned would do similar functionality, but no way of letting users opt-out. You can turn off these notifications in your profile (or only do it for new posts like I did).
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For those attending the 2009 Los Angeles Salsa Congress, I’m not sure if you have seen the latest posters, but Julie is on the cover! The poster shows Julie and David dancing last year’s Majesty In Motion Pro Team routine. Julie and I are planning on attending the event this year, and hopefully get a chance to perform again.
Julie Merrill on the LA Salsa Congress Poster
Julie
This photo was actually taken during our performance! Pretty cool
Marco
You’re probably way ahead of me, but make sure that you get pleanty of posters for posterity.
One of those “show the grandkids” type things.
Something to be proud of for sure.
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Quote of the Day: “Casino is for robots on merry go rounds” . I just saw this posted as a comment to one of our videos. What do you think about Casino Rueda in comparison to Salsa?
tommrod
buahahahahahah
yeap me thinks the same.
me no likes casino…
at some point it looks like the ladies should be too uncomfortable with the awkard arm possitions.
and if we talk about rueda, it feels like there’s no real freedom does it?
anyway i don’t really know i’m just talking out of a viewer perspective…
Marco
I took a 3 week intro class for rueda. The impression it gave me was of Latino Square Dancing. Without the frilly smocks and the Do-Sy-Do (Dile que no?)
I remember the first time I saw it at a big dance event in Detroit. I was up on a balcony and had a great vantage point and thought it looked really cool for exhibition purposes.
My final verdict on Rueda was that it’s hard enough to get one person to dance with you…another six would be harder.
Nayan
Nice to dance for performance!
Nothing more 
hooknc
Rueda is a fantastic dance.
Social, fun, playful, and from a sociology stand point its a very rewarding experience.
Robots though? Really? What about performances where you have 3 couples doing the same routine but on2? Still robots? Does every dancer make up all their own moves every dance? Does taking a move that you learned in a lesson a robot?
I think not. Each rueda dance is different and there is plenty of styling that a lead/follow can add to make each move their own if they so chose.
The difficulty with reuda is the amount of time it takes to learn the moves. Not only does a dancer need to know the move called, but they have to be able to remember it and perform it within about 2 seconds.
It takes about a year to learn about 25 moves well and as far as I know there are approximately 500 known/recorded moves.
Due to the amount of time it takes to learn rueda a lot of ruead circles can look “robotic” because either the caller doesn’t know many moves or the people dancing do not know many moves.
Hi-meh
Greetings, I see I got people talking. Robotic? In my opinion it’s much too sequenced and looks far too choreographed. Looks pretty neat, great for exhibition as another said, but I think it looses that wow factor after a few minutes. Different strokes though.
Also, much like Marco said up above of having it difficult to get one person to dance, a team of Casinoeros at the club doesn’t work out too well. No room! Great for ballroom though.
Hi-meh
By the by, keep up the good work with the videos. They are nice.
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And so it begins. I just found out about the first bachata convention in Reno, NV (2009). Looking around, it seems that there are a few more popping up. Is this a trend? What happened to Merengue Congresses and Festivals?
Marco
This dance tears at me.
It’s almost laughable with the way it looks like thinly veiled dry humping. (I’m still not sure why this would bother me in the least- Aside from making me feel like John Lithgow’s dance hating role in Footloose.
As usual, I will probably end up being Bachata fanboy #1. It always takes me time to warm up to new things.
Anthony Persaud
@Marco: Yeah, Julie and I discussed how a bachata congress would be. I think it would be very difficult to socially dance bachata with a multitude of strangers at a bachata congress – especially when a lot of people come as couples or are married. I would feel awkward if I was grinding like that with someone else’s girlfriend.
dorm_moth
now that you lads start talking about bachata
i declare meself a rather purist
i likes not the many turns and the so called close encounter of the bodies (meself ends up sweating bullets!)
i likes the ingenuity of movement the cadence and the foot/body work lots of times the better!will anybody else be on me (dominican style praising) side?
dorm_moth
mind me a little addition would you lads?
Quilb
There was a bachata festival (mini congress) here in Australia last year. It’s going to be on again this year. I definatly intend on going this time. I love bachata and i dont have a problem dancing with strangers as usually you will get a feel for how close the girl wants to dance it.
Juan
actually, Bachata Congresses or Bachata Festivals are becoming a trend. BUT, as many people think, they are not only based on bachata. For the Second year in a row, Australia is celebrating their Sydney International Bachata Festival, in this festival, you have Bachata, Zouk, Kizomba, Tango, Salsa and more! (http://www.bachatafestival.com.au)
I know that they are is a Festival in Sweeden, Finland and Lithuania this year, GO BACHATA!!
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Marco 9:25 pm on November 23, 2009Permalink |
Thank you Captain Tech support !!! =P (In Hero guy voice)
Eddie-london 2:26 am on November 25, 2009Permalink |
ye indeed. thanks Anthony :p
Don Vaillancourt 8:54 pm on November 28, 2009Permalink |
Oh cool. I thought I was going to have to recreate my account. Been such a long time since I’ve been here.