Updates from marco RSS
I’m just recovering from my first salsa congress, what an experiance. Getting in a conga line with Jose Alberto (El Canario) was one of the highlights. Wish I could have taken lots of video footage but the powers that be wanted exclusive rights for filmng. West african dance was a surprising favorite. Never did make it till 3AM, started getting deminished dance returns after 2:00-2:30.
Can’t wait to go to another one. Have to save my pennies first!
Though I am a proud Spanish speaker, it is unfortunately my second language and some of the more unusual words get the best of my Google translator and me.
The corus in El Cantante “Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones” the word pregones could use some refining in my vocabulary.
I have seen “cries” as the direct translation. I take the”s” off and the translation gets a bit more reasonable with “preaches.”
My guess, from understanding the rest of the lyrics is that the meaning is closer to “sermon” or “lamentations.”
Someone set me straight =]
I was doiong some shine practice and decided to follow Ray Barretto around on utube a bit.
In the past there have been requests for a fast salsa, well here’s another one to add to your “fast salsa” playlist;
For Julie…(It was tough choosing one, you almost had a beatles birthday song)
Yay! Happy Birthday Julie! 
Ok, here’s my happy birthday.
File this under the category of what not to do to anger the dance gods.
Individual theories may vary, but I am convinced that making fun of other dance styles is bad luck (or bad mojo, jobu et all.) People like Michael Flatley, while ultra talented, deserve a good dose of ridicule. Perhaps it’s the flashy pirate shirts unbuttoned down to the navel that get me -or- the pencil thin headband that looks more at home on a 70′s TV show bad guy (see shows like CHiPs.) Either way when my wife said she was taking Irish Step dance classes I laughed and went into my best “Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flame, Pants on Fire,” impersonation.
Apparently the dance gods needed to confer on how severe my punishment was going to be, because it was after her second class that my judgment day arrived. She came back home and I asked her how it went and proceeded to ask her how to do the moves. After assuring her that it wasn’t to make fun of what she was doing (which is part true but mostly not- I wanted some authentic moves to make fun of it with)I started with a basic leaping step. Atonement was now at hand because after I started to get the step of leaping onto my right foot, my right ACL went ‘POP!.’ After pushing ligaments back to their proper side of my knee it didn’t feel so bad. Of course the next morning was a different story, it felt like someone was constantly digging a knife into my knee every time I took a step.
That was two Thursdays ago. I suffered a setback about a week back when I thoughtlessly attempted to move a laundry basket over with the injured leg (big mistake.) Now it just pinches when I walk.
In retrospect, I should have known that I was playing with fire; Mexicans shouldn’t mess (or make fun of) Irish Step dancing. Hopefully my penence within this post will set me back into the dancing god’s good graces.
I will leave you with an Irish blessing that I first chucked at when I saw it on my Mother-In-Law’s refrigerator. This was back when my wife and I were just ‘sparking.’
May those who love us, love us.
And for those who don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if he can not turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we may know them by their limping.
(I thought it was appropriate!) Hope you are all having a good day!
Looking pretty polished in here..I was too afraid to ask for a nav bar like on the homepage. The blogroll, recent comments, and tag RSS’ are all nice “additions to addicted.”
Working on it. I had to finish editing Julie’s spinning advice for ladies video that is due out this Wednesday.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but also any post that is posted on social.addicted2salsa.com will show up on our Facebook fan page automagically. Hopefully this will get our Facebook fans to interact here as well.
While looking up dance belts I saw the term pas de deux. That led me to this amazing clip. I know it’s non salsa but my goodness what a show (who knows maybe my wife could manage a pirouette on my back.)
Oh and apparently women wear dance belts as well.
Good lord…that was insane…
Wow…. I’m speechless. Not what I expected and very impressive. A bit of “cirque du soleil” kind of style.
I was dinking around youtube (again.) And saw something new for me;
At about 2:15 they start in with a no touch “lead.”
Why do they call it “Salsa Racing”? never heard of that before.
Salsa Racing is one of the top rueda/casino schools in miami.
Henry Herrera (the guy in the video) is the owner of Salsa Racing and has done tons of work for the Miami community. He has performed on this TV show tons of times. Apparently the show is quite popular.
OHHH… hahaha. I was like… NASCAR + SALSA?
It’s probably called Salsa Racing because they are moving as fast as possible, much like racing cars. Holy Smokes @ the gal @ 1:00! I thought something was pulling her back or she was on some kind of sliding platform.
After seeing that A2S viewers are being offered a $10.00 discount, I revisited the Gabellini website and was very pleased to see that they are having a 3 week “Spring sale.” Most shoes are now $79.99 (2 new pre order models are actually $59.99 (***No additional discount allowed for this promotional pre order pricing***)
So with the spring sale and the ten bucks off, the total was $69.99. I went with the classic black with white stripe. The suede brush with a shoe purchase is only $5.00 -normally $10.00-(I doubt I can find a suede brush with cover for under $5.00 at Wal-Mart.) Shipping insured with Fed-Ex was $10.00 so I guess the shipping was free.
Total $84.99 regular retail $118.00 (A lot easier to stomach!)
So if you were sitting on the fence waiting for the right time, this might be it.
I’m trying to translate lyrics to “Llego la banda” for my cool gringo friends.
I’m hung up on two words “saoco” I thought it was saco as in take out but I was wrong.
“eh traigo *saoco* mamita y no bailo bamba”
and:
“ay pa que goze la *mazucamba*” No idea what *mazucamba* is (maybe “party people”???)
Little help?
Got this in my inbox from the only Salsa club within 30 minutes of my house…
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Bamboo Salsa-Club sent a message to the members of I NEED MORE BAMBOO!
Subject: Bamboo has CLOSED! CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED!
Due to circumstances beyond our power, we regret to inform you that Bamboo Salsa Club has CLOSED its doors.
It’s been a pleasure serving and meeting all of you; and we look forward to new venues in the near future.
Your friends,
The Bamboo Crew
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Why does this crap always happen…I am so bummed right now.
That just sucks. Luckily where I live, we have about a dozen salsa clubs. But if my usual and/or favorites were to shut down, I would be peeved too.
It’s a sad day when a salsa club closes, but you can consider yourself lucky if you have more than one ore two salsa clubs in your city.
In my city there is no real salsa club, we have our parties in different locations and sometimes in our dance studio… because club owners don’t think that salsa is a profitable business…
i wonder if they were trying to make a point by repeating the word closed like 8 times…
do i do i do i do i do i do i do i…
Found a replacement spot yet? Maybe you can start a Sunday Social in your area.
Closest one of any quality (e.g. Not at the bowling alley where ‘shady dealings’ are happening in the bathroom) is about an hour and a half away.
Starting a social would be a challenge for sure. But anything has got to be better then this Salsa purgatory I’m in right now.
Salsa dancers are always walking a fine line of etiquette. We have to look good and smell right, but our chosen activity seems to fight these very qualities. Temporary halitosis is a nemisis on the dance floor. We seen it’s many forms and use unique ways to identify it’s presence among us.
Submitted for your amusement is a smattering of identifiers;
There is the time honored “His breath is kickin’ like” series. Just insert the latest karate name at the end e.g. Bruce Lee, Jet Lee, Jackie Chan, Kung Fu Panda are but a few. Also in the kicking vein are the animal set (e.g. mule, and rodeo horse).
Some get right to the point; “I think something died and crawled in her mouth.” or “Someone must have slipped some pooh in her drink.”
My favorites include the use of local props to drive home the point; “His toungue must hold it’s breath when he sneezes,” or “I think I saw his teath ducking when he exhaled.”
Lastly, you still manage to hear the educated set using the venerable Latin terms to identify potential hazards; “Hmm…looks like a classic case of ‘Inkiestae Outhmus.’” “I have to agree doctor, with an outside chance of deteriorating into full blown ‘Ittyshae Reathbus’”
Please feel free to add to the list!
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All kidding aside for a moment, I am shopping for a new brand of breath mint. I consider gum to be a bit tacky (don’t ask me why.) After a tiny bit of research I have discovered that any breath corrector that contains sugar is a huge faux pas. Apparently this is akin to throwing a cow into shark infested waters. Namely the sugar feed on the sugars and throw out by undesireable by products that smell like rotten eggs or used gym socks. So stay away from the old school peppermint candies that you see at the checkout in restaurants.
I usually roll with rolled mints. The fancy containers tend to make noise while dancing. My old brand was tic tacs, and my current brand is “Breath Savers.” According to the packaging, it’s supposed to last for 3 hours. I’m not sure about that. I read about these “Zox breath mints” (http://www.therabreath.com/art_breathmint.asp)
Has anyone ever used these? They contain Xylitol which my dentist has mentioned before as a tooth and oral beneficial.
What works for you?
“What works for you?”
toothbrush and toothpaste
lol funny post. I use breath savers as well! Breathmints are a must! I have not experimented though..
Last night while dancing I was chewing gun just so that my breath would be fresh, but It’s definitely not the best approach. I would have to say mints are the best!
Funny lines! I think hydration is key – let’s go for prevention instead of covering it up :-O You could also bring a mini bottle of Scope mouthwash to refresh halfway through the night.
@valvare6: a note on gum for ladies…it can be a big mistake! I’ve had a few mishaps having to do with gum and wearing my hair down. My hair ends up in my mouth and my gum ends up in my hair! I’ve been sticking with breath mints too
Drink hot mint, lot of it. Most of the bad breath comes out of your stomache 
As Juile said, lots of water really helps.
For at the club I like the breath strips:
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=listerine+pocketpaks&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=2688124435&ref=pd_sl_3hexxq8ros_b
I also own a tongue scraper that I use every time after I brush my teeth. It’s a breath saver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_scraper
I’m sending out an all points bulletin;
My wife and I are in charge of an April dance theme for our ballroom club. We have chosen a ‘Latin Explosion’ theme.
We have decided on Black tableclothes with 12″ square mirrors for centerpieces.
The next part is where I need help. I think that I will get some cheap shiny red beads and spread them over the mirrors. Maybe some of those cheap hand pull firecrackers to tie in with the ‘explosion’ theme (maybe not, I hate cleaning up afterwards…maybe just fake TNT sticks.) Doing this on the CHEAP is a must (Coming out of my pocket.)
Any other ideas for decorations cause I will probably hurt someone if I hear ‘sombreros and mini maracas’ for the umpteenth time.
Make sure you put an addicted2salsa.com banner somewhere. j/k
Sure…of course…it would only be fair to put up one of our banners for one of your videos right…
So uh, what font is that for your logo again? And you might have to send me a .jpg of that slick A2S decal.
j/k of course
(That was smooth right?)
buahahaha sombreros and mini maracas…
Well? Latin explosion? TNT is too literally, could go as far as Medelin cartel blowing up military post. Still a latin explosion. Just do it latin, I think. Maybe some South American-style painting to walls? Don’t be cheesy, be creative
Lolz, Now that you say that, I am tempted to fake kidnap the club president.
I have gotten some additional ideas and have refined the choices to “Latin Flavor,” and go with a simple food themed decoration ensemble. Or maybe “Latin Passion.” I just liked the way that last one rolls off the toungue.
The ‘Flavor’ is probably going to be the one.
I bought some leftover Hershey kisses with the cherry cordial middles…they have a nice dark red and dark brown wrapper…that’s my start…all downhill from here.
I would go for colors of Mexican or Cuban houses in the villages (well, dominating Cuban color is color of rotting and devastation but you know what I mean). Google for some pics and color set tips.
wait if you wanna make it a latin fiesta of sorts you have to have the following items.
1 a whole bunch of strangers, party crashers, long distance mostly unknown relatives, grandpa and grandma, kids of all ages and shapes, and of course that cousin who looks like a victoria’s secret model and you always wondered how did she came to be taking on acount a not so pretty rest of the family…
2 lots of beer, lots of rum, lots of …see the thing here is not what but how much, the more the merrier yes but the more liquid the more merrier they’ll get also
3 food, of course a whole variety, but i would say i cannot picture a latinoan party if i don’t get my little plate of some’ng, rice is big and so is pork …and gimme that hot sauce man!!, woohh cousin’s looking fine… oh god this sauce’s hot…
4 a whole lot of troublesome, and funny “remember that” moments happening on real time like … uncle paco is a little tipsy trying to dance salsa on3 not on the beat but on two hands and a leg…and auntie rosa just could’t get enough of the old “secret” cuba libre special recipe and has been trying to hire a stripper using a banana for about half an hour now.
5 how to forget that uncle who’s always the heart of the party, usually thick and jolly. that aunt who’s always cooking and making sure everybody’s having fun (usually the party is at her house), or that uncle who’s always making sure that you get your ration of spirits! go ahead boy just drink some…
…
boy i just got nostalgic …how’s that for a latin explosion!? 
lol, the frickin’ on 3 line got me.
I would have to substitute gabrita in place of the puerca…Man I’m getting hungry.
Me and a couple of my good freinds got together and thought it would be nice to put this on for you…
Thanks! You guys are awesome!
Most people who live life with passion, e.g. Salsa dancers, are equally passionate about a great many things. I am sometimes chided about taking things to the n’th degree with all my hobbies -practicing variations on my basic steps while driving with cruise on is not uncommon.
My question is, what other ‘niche hobbies’ do you make time for?
One of my hobbies is fly fishing. I took it up in 1997, over the years I learned to tie flies, cast fairly well, and am now to the point where I hand craft my own split cane bamboo fly rods.
What else do you do?
I think this is a very excellent topic to talk about, especially when everyone is quick to typecast ‘salsa dancers’ as just being focused on salsa. We just had my birthday party last weekend where we strictly did non-salsa stuff (BBQ, play pool, jacuzzi..etc) which was a good time to get to know everyone else on a deep, non-salsa dancing level.
It is a little too late for me here, so I’ll answer this fully tomorrow (or on my birthday) G’Nite
Unfortunately for me, I can’t have more than one hobby. My brain refuses to make room for it. I’m more into sports: cycling, roller blading, snowboarding.
I used to do a lot of black and white film photography, would love to get back into it, but refer to paragraph one for explanation.
play (like to think that i actually can play) guitar.
draw (when the urge asks and the brain allows to)
not really passionate about salsa… more like obsessed…
I used to be a pretty good freestyle BMX bike rider. I went to camps every year (just like going to congresses now!) where I first grew my appreciation for tricks and spins. Around the same time, I got into playing the guitar, which I did almost everyday for about 5 years. I stopped playing around the beginning of college, though I still pick it up sometimes. Also, ever since I was a young kid, I have enjoyed fishing (I hear you Marco!). Fishing has become an obsession and is what I spend most of my time and money on. Some people think it is a simple, relaxing act, but for me fishing is a year-round challenge to master a bunch of different species in a bunch of awesome locales. I took up the sub-sport of fly-fishing (again, @Marco), which has proven to be a real game of posture and poise (like salsa). On the more physical side of things, I enjoy both snow- and water-skiing. Despite my past and current hobbies, I am growing as a dancer and enjoy salsa more as I progress. Like fishing, I think salsa will become a lifelong source of enjoyment and learning.
My hobbies other than salsa have been mostly athletic – running, triathons, playing tennis, etc.
However, at the moment salsa is my only “hobby” because I keep very busy with my other passion, speech/language pathology, which I am currently studying for my masters degree. I love to study about communication (everything from child language development to phonology to neurology) and have studied a few different languages, which is also why I love meeting people on Addicted2Salsa who come from so many different backgrounds.
Im a chemist
HELLLO!!!
This post goes along the lines of ‘everything in life can be related to Salsa.’
As with most folks I used the new year as an opportunity to workout and shape my body up a little more. (I’m all of 5’7″ and 165 pounds of fury!) My wife’s coworker was unfortunately moving to Texas (seems like a mass exodus out of Michigan these days), and we bought her old Bowflex off of her. I was very pleasantly surprised by how with one leg I could leg press the entire ‘power rod’ stack. I attributed this to pack hiking and mostly dancing.
While working out today, I wondered if and how Salsa dancers worked out and what their regimens looked like. Do you work out just to improve how you look (e.g. bicep curls to look buff in that small T-shirt), or do you work out to improve how you dance (e.g. core workouts to prevent injury.)
My guess is that it’s probably a combination of both for truly serious dancers. Unlike my inspiration of true vanity.
I work out specifically for improving my salsa dancing and to fit into my salsa clothes. I tend to lift a few weights to gain strength, but not enough that I may lose flexibility. I tend to do a lot of cardio and abs, since it is essential to have good stamina when dancing and a strong core for footwork and spins.
However, lately, Julie’s cooking has been extra yummy…
I’m already a big guy from going to the gym a lot. Haven’t gone to the gym in a few years, so salsa is now my exercise. Lost 20 pounds in about 6 months and now trying to lose that last 5 pounds of fat.
Add to that a proper diet. I read the nutritional label of all the food I buy.
Any weight lifting I do is free weights at home and I do butterflies on an exercise ball.
How do you like the bowflex? Been wanting to get one of those for years.
I see something ‘cooking’ here
Gyming is very important for me. Lean body and strong core are primary points of focus, though legs are important as well. As Anthony said, stamina needs to be developed.
@donv69:
I always wondered how the “big” dudes compensated for less flexibility. It seems like the thin lankier builds are more suited to the basket weaving patterns.
As to the bowflex, it’s decent. I’ve always held the premise that if you are working out everyday on your own, then go ahead and get the machine. The machine alone isn’t worth it if you don’t already have good habits. Keep in mind that the purchase price of a machine can afford you a *lot* of monthly gym memberships – and with a lot more variety of machines as well.
I don’t know if there’s a Craigslist in the land of Les Habitants. But I’m sure you can pick up an old model for under $200 (US.) I also had the leg extension add on thrown in – I can’t stand hamstring curls!!!
At 35 (proud to say my waist size is 3 digits less then my age!), I’m not trying to break any records, just trying to keep what I have and avoid “moobs” for as long as possible!
I don’t do much hand patterns yet, but so far haven’t had any problems. My only worry, and maybe that’s all guys, is when I do those tight twists, turns and spins, I worry about hitting the girl and sometimes I do. I don’t really know how close or far my body is from hers.
I’m 39 and my waist size is also 3 digits smaller; just on the cusp of hitting 34″ waist, but need to be super fat free for that which is coming close but really hard to achieve.
Here is the first “Ask a girl” thread that I liked.
First posted by bootscootinsalsa on April 11th, 2007
Here’s one for the ladies. How much sexiness do you allow when you’re dancing with a guy? For instance, and I think I may get myself into trouble as I post this, when I do the move where the guy does a 2 handed right turn to the lady, brings her hands up, and slowly runs his hands down the lady’s shoulders and sides. I did a couple moves like that, and the girl smiled and said, “You know all the bad boy moves.” I wasn’t sure if she was encouraging me to do more, or if she’s just making small talk. She did let me do that a couple more times, so I figure she didn’t NOT want it.
Celebrating New Years with my Ballroom Dance Club brought up a potentially dangerous situation. My wife and I are good friends with another couple and a Mambo song came on. Both of our significant others were otherwise occupied and so she asked me to dance. The short version was she was stunned with the amount of Salsa moves I had developed. We all took an 8 week group lesson together but she said “Those aren’t the moves *we* learned.
As a result, I was slightly arm twisted into choreographing a Salsa demo slated for our April dance (We are hosting that dance and are going for a “Latin Explosion” theme). We finally agreed on “Llego la Banda” as the song. If I am savy enough with the new vid cam. I might…*MIGHT* post a vid.
My wife has so far had three nightmares where people are laughing at us, or the other couple is outshining us by a long shot. We’ve done a very simple Tango demo in front of non dancers before. This, however, is the first time we are in charge of the choreography.
I hope I’m not in over my head. We have the eight week course moves to fall back on and you better believe that you will recognize a large volume of the moves cataloged here.
If you can relate, let me here about it.
If you know of a good way to start the demo with the song, I’m all ears.
If you know of a good therapist with a dancing slant, let me know.
So in short, just like the disclaimers say in the beginning of the online lessons, A2S can lead to mass hysteria!
I have written a few articles on choreography (I think) before. If not, I think I’ll write a quick one for ‘Choreography 101′ – to hopefully help you out. Regardless, I’m very happy for you – it is a great opportunity. I also haven’t laughed this hard on a post in a long time!
@Anthony Persaud: I’ll take anything I can get. Your words of encouragement were very kind.
Uhhh…no I don’t need any computers set up in 24 hours…and of course I would only pay for what I used.
My only question comrade servis-comp, is how does that help me with my salsa demo???
(thank goodness for google translator… darn Russian spam bots!)
@Marco: Very funny reply! Thanks for the translation
I have a secret santa that wants to gift me Salsa DVD’s. Any suggestions?
What type of salsa are you into?
The videos from Eric Freeman are pretty good. He actually just released a new set of videos that he seems pretty happy with.
http://www.salsaville.com/
If you’re into rueda/casino then the Salsa Lover series is the best to go with. However, it was quite difficult to get my dvd’s from them and I haven’t been the only one that ran into that problem with Salsa Lovers.
http://www.salsalovers.com/default.aspx
Someone else is going to have to chime in with on2 videos…
On 1 is the salsa that my wife and I learned, so I try to keep it there for now.
The circular flow of casino/rueda/cuban style really intrigues me. But I’m operating off the KISS principle for now.
Thanks for chiming in.
I’ve got $5.00 of Amazon downloadable credit burning a hole in my pocket. I have no Gran Combo songs yet. Someone throw out some booty kicking suggestions
Some of my favs are ‘Guaguanco Del Gran Combo’, ‘Goyito Saber’,'Azuquita pal Cafe’,'Acangana’, ‘Que Le Pongan Salsa’, ‘Don Goyo’, ‘La Muerte’, ‘Se Nos Perdio el Amor’, ‘Vagabundo’, ‘El Amor es Ciego’, ‘Dime Que Quieres’,'La Curandera’, ‘Aguacero’ ‘Asi Son (Las Mujeres)’
A great cha-cha-like song is ‘La Loma Del Tamarindo’.
Any song (except number 1) from their ’40 Anniversario En Vivo’ (red cover) album.
Ok.. so that might have been overkill. But with 40 years of songs, its hard to cut it down to 5.
Ok, one more: ‘Amor Brutal’.
I mean, for every Gran Combo lover – these are all MUST haves!
Just a few more suggestions
Con Eso, Hechicera, Oprobio, and Mundy Baja (There are two versions, I prefer the original from the Latin Up album.)
What no “La Fiesta de Pilito”, “Brujerias” or “Me Libere”? Disappointed…
Those are great, but I think I heard them way too many times. 
y no hago mas na, arroz con habichuelas, la chinita…
off the top of my head
Don Vaillancourt 8:58 pm on November 28, 2009Permalink |
Oh yeah. This is a nasty fast song. When these songs go on I grab the first girl I can.