I have been receiving a few emails about Bachata dancing these past few weeks, so I decided to get in contact with one of our most popular bachata dance instructors in the San Diego area and introduce him to you: Carlos Cinta. Carlos, originally from Chicago, has been dancing for around 5 years with a very unique bachata dance style. While he mentions that he sometimes dances traditional bachata (Dominican Republic), he mainly instructs what we know as modern bachata which combines patterns and shines.
As most dancers, they end up loving what they first start out disliking. He says: “The funny story about bachata is that I absolutely HATED bachata when I first heard it. HATED IT!!! Then I saw a couple in the club dance it the romantic way and I told myself that I had to learn it.” Carlos’ passion for teaching grew when he “constantly saw people only doing the basic step” the entire song. He knew there was more to bachata than those steps and he was committed in promoting it at the clubs. Carlos has then gone on to instruct at numerous events and institutions here in San Diego including San Diego Salsa Festival and Dance After School.
To make more people fall in love with bachata, Carlos has given us a “BACHATA BUILDING BLOCKS VOLUME 2″ Intermediate DVD to raffle off to Addicted2Salsa visitors. If you are interesting in winning this great DVD, leave one comment below on what got you started dancing. The comment doesn’t matter, but they are fun to read and share. We will select a random user comment below on Dec 12th 2008, and the selected user will get the DVD by mail. See the full story and comments for details.
SalseroWannaBe on The Salsa Scene just posted an amazing video I hadn’t seen before of Juan Matos and José Cesar doing a great footwork choreography. This is Matos’ “Fogarate” style.
For those looking to go to a salsa congress with Juan Matos, you may want to check out Flava Invasion 4 which is coming up in April 2009.
Orlando, David Stein (Majesty In Motion), Emily Alabi (Amicitia) and Anya (NYC) were tied for first place in the Jack and Jill Finals in San Francisco. The way to break the tie was to have the girls dance together and the guys dance together. I find the mens video funny since it just makes fun of the girl-on-girl video. Enjoy!
Someone just posted a video of Julie and John dancing at the social in the San Francisco Salsa Congress. Thank you for video taping! We love social dancing videos!
Good morning, afternoon or evening, fellow Salsa dancers. This is Dany Joshua with another mini-editorial.
Salsa dancers are very picky when it comes to attending events. This statement is especially true in New York City. Having said that, Salsa dancers are the most loyal people once they have become in love with an event. Just ask Jimmy Anton.
So the questions is: How do you keep and please Salsa dancers? La Vieja Guardia seems to have found the secret. Bring some good dancers and play good music for them. That’s it. The following video of Joel Dominguez dancing with Kim Torrence while DJ Antonio LaConga plays his best Salsa (from vinyl records) captures the spirit of La Vieja Guardia Social, which has become very quickly one of the most soulful socials in New York City. And THAT is saying something.
Saying that DJ Antonio LaConga plays good music is an understatement. And he plays Salsa from vinyl records!!! La Vieja Guardia Social takes place on a Sunday, usually once a month. The next social will be on Sunday December 28th. FYI, the LVG social and yours truly (moi) were featured in a New York Times article last August).
Actually, it takes more than good music to please Salsa dancers, but great Salsa music is absolutely necessary to host a great Salsa social. If you are looking to promote Salsa dancing in your local area or in your city, stay tuned because soon I will write an article about how to organize a successful and banging Salsa social.
In the meanwhile, I want to invite all the readers to leave a comment with thoughts on what makes a good Salsa social.
To make more people fall in love with bachata, Carlos has given us a “BACHATA BUILDING BLOCKS VOLUME 2″ Intermediate DVD to raffle off to Addicted2Salsa visitors. If you are interesting in winning this great DVD, leave one comment below on what got you started dancing. The comment doesn’t matter, but they are fun to read and share. We will select a random user comment below on Dec 12th 2008, and the selected user will get the DVD by mail. See the full story and comments for details.
