Anyone know when Colombian Independence Day is? Wikipedia gave me two different answers, July 20th and August 7th.
Updates from cold-salsero RSS
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I’m going to be visiting Vancouver, any recommendations for salsa dancing hot spots for a hardcore salsero? On1 or on2 doesn’t matter.
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Edited out, because plugging my site here wasn’t cool.
Marco
What a luxury to have salsa 6-7 times a week.
I don’t know how I’m gonna pull it off but I’m going to find a way to start a scene in my small town.
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Hi guys,
I’m thinking of getting a video camera for recording dances. Needs to be able to record in low light in the clubs. Recommendations? What about this Flip thing I keep seeing?
Marco
Any updates on what you went with? Camera, Editing software etc.
cold.salsero
I was told the Flip is no good for low lighting, so scratch that.
I’d prefer decent video captured from a camera, instead of taking junk video and trying to enhance it later with software on a desktop. One other option I’ve considered is a camera with a night vision mode, but I don’t like how those make everything look green (see [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ3_JQp0kV8[/video]).
If I find a good camera that fits the bill, I’ll let you know
Marco
I was wondering about that flip. I got a HD Vexia HF100 Cannon about two Christmases ago.
It’s a really good HD camera, as usual it’s so/so with really dark “club type” lighting. I really like the flash memory storage. I can’t imagine using anything else.
I also learned really quick that just as important as the camera is the video editing software that you will need/want. Back then there weren’t a lot of reliable software options (in PC.)
Good luck, and I think a vid camera is a priceless tool for salsa improvers.
cold.salsero
Hey Marco, you were right about the video editing software, it does help, even with a mediocre camera! I shot this video at a club but it was too dark, but then I made it brighter with some editing software, [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuDJRKNzbdI[/video].
tao.
s
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Hi everyone, I’m not sure if Anthony did a post on this already, but there’s a really cool FREE program called the Salsa Beat Machine at http://www.salsabeatmachine.org.
It can help you find the beats 1,5 and/or 2,6 in the music and in different instruments. You can set it up to play different combinations of instruments in different patterns.
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Anyone know the song playing in this video? [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0k6gz3tGyo&feature=related[/video]
Don Vaillancourt
Someone posted a comment on the video: Guaguanco Tropical – Brooklyn sounds. Doesn’t sound like the same version, but good place to start your search.
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Hi Anthony, can you do a lesson on how to dance pachanga? I’ve been watching the videos of Eddie Torres giving his lessons on youtube, and I’ve been trying to practice his exercise where he bends his knees back and forth, but I can’t seem to get the feel for how to do it right. Or do you happen to know some good pachanga lessons on some salsa dvds I can buy?
lonbluster
Hi ColdSalsero
I went through this, and can explain something…I’ll think to make a video with my camera…indeed there ain’t many good around. Torres is very short at giving detailed explanations, though he is a very good example.So… on Pachanga you have you’re knees bent on the downbeats(DB), which mean 1-3-5-7, while you are on maximun standing up on the upbeats(UB) 2-4-6-8. This means that when the DB occurs you’re legs muscles thighten for stopping the bent downwards to start going upwards, while when you are on UB you have reached the full lenght of your body extension and start to release the muscles to go downwards.
So actually you can notice (which is something I couldn’t get at the beginning) that the movement for the 1, or 3 or 5 or 7, has to start a bit earlier, so that you can react with your muscles precisely on 1 3 5 7 when you are down.
You can notice that this explanation is very precise, like if you don’t have time to think for all these movements, which at a certain level will occur automatically on your body, but they must be regulated with the careful listening to the music.
So what you have to do is to find cross references in the music being played, otherwise you will lose very easily the timing, which is foundamental in pachanga.
Cross references means you have to listen to different patterns in the music, so the most obvious is listen for the DBs. It is not easy, maybe impossible(for the attention) to listen both for the DB and UB, so just start with the DBs.
Then you start to follow the Clave which spans for 2 measures, from 2 to 8: 2-3-5-6½-8. Here you can see that in 3 and 5 you will match the DBs that you were following at the beginning.
And you can see that if you keep listening to the clave you also have the 2 and 8 UBs.
In turn these UBs correspond to the conga or the cowbell, and this will help your styling. You don’t really have to focus on those UBs, but just use them to refine your style.in summary you have to switch your attention starting with the DBs, then focus on the clave, and lastly on the conga (or the UB instruments).
Eventually on a per song basis, you will find other patterns other than the clave which will make your pachanga really interesting.I hope that was not too long. Anyway Pachanga requires a lot of energy, not much for the muscles(yes, at the beginning be careful!!), but more for the attention you have to apply, which will make you fully inside the music. Cool, ain’t it??
Don’t get stuck on the same basic exercizes, start with simple shines as well, as Torres shows.
Another advice: just do it with high quality portorican-jazz salsa, where all instruments are well marked, like with Ray Barretto’s Salsa, for instance. Also Ismael Rivera is great for Pachanga.cold.salsero
Cool, thanks for the tips Ion, I’ll try them out!
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There’s a song called “Samba Pa Ti” by Santana, and I’m not quite sure what kind of music it is. It starts off like a bolero (syncopated on “and 4 and 5…and 8 and 1…”), but about half way through, the percussion changes and it doesn’t sound like bolero anymore.
Is it salsa at that point (doesn’t really sound like it to me)? The title says samba, so maybe it’s samba, but I don’t really have a good grasp of what samba sounds like, so I don’t know. Does anyone else have a clue?
Marco
ColdS. That’s funny I have the reverse problem. I’m uncertain of the beginning song genre (bolero is a good guess.) I am sure that at the 2:00 (on my version of the song) mark the song style is Samba – the bass line is classic bum-ba-dum samba rythm.
I guess ballroom dancing *can* help in a salsa forum from time to time =P
cold.salsero
Thanks Marco =)
Marco 9:29 pm on July 19, 2010Permalink |
It’s too bad I didn’t get to read this Sunday night before a social dance. The “halftime performers” were Staight Outta Cali. I would have asked them for you.
cold.salsero 9:41 pm on July 19, 2010Permalink |
Woot! Burn the floor Cali dancers!
It’s okay, apparently it’s today