I wanted to make a quick re-announcement on how great this year’s San Diego Salsa Festival will be in September. This year we are extremely lucky to have Magna Gopal coming to teach and perform at the event. We have written numerous times about Magna before and her ability to spin, but I found a neat video showing her spinning over 45 times with Super Mario (not related to Nintendo).
Here is a great video of Shaka and Magna dancing at the Atlanta Salsa Congress. The best showcase of this dance couple is in their musicality. If you are ever get a chance, you must check out their workshops.
Given our newest salsa dance video (Salsa at the Disco), I thought I’d share some fun soundtracks of the 1970’s related to Salsa. Now, while Salsa was growing in high popularity in Latin countries (and NYC), the main music genre of the time was Disco. However, there have been groups that have tried to fuse the two genres together. The Gibson Brothers are a France based musical group, who had their greatest success during the disco boom of the late 1970s, and are best known for their hit single, “Cuba”. It is not modern salsa music (or dancing), but it is still catchy.
Joshua Allen, the 19-year-old, untrained hip-hop dancer was crowned So You Think You Can Dancewinner on Fox’s Thursday evening two-hour finale. He was my favorite dancer as well, and I extremely happy he won. But to tell you the truth, it does not matter because this year had some of the best dancers ever to grace that stage. And each one of the top 4 finalists were just incredible, regardless of the order.
Joshua Allen SYTYCD 2008 (Courtesy of FOX)
This has probably been the most intense season on the show. Not only for the competitors themselves, but for us, the viewer. I have watched this series since the start, but not until this summer, have I ever been so emotionally invested into the outcome of the results. I connected with the dancers and their lives.
ANNOUNCEMENT! We have just been informed by Juan Carlos Hernandez, one of the best NY on2 style dancers in San Diego and co-director of Majesty in Motion, that he will be providing a FOUR HOUR Salsa Dance Workshop on1 for beginner and intermediate dancers. This event will take place in San Diego, CA- so if you live close to the area, don’t miss this event!
Juan and Erica’s salsa dance workshop is a 4-hour course for all levels of dance experience. This workshop will introduce some of their tips and techniques for how to dance the basics, how to incorporate men and ladies styling on the dance floor, how to add variety to a cross-body lead, and how to smoothly execute more advanced patterns. Juan and Erica became dance partners in 2006. Since then, they have taught and/or performed at various venues, in cities such as: Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Diego, Santa Fe, and San Francisco.
This year, Juan and Erica have plans to perform their latest routine and teach workshops at salsa congresses in El Paso, Greece, and San Diego.
Since we have started a new routine based on Tito Puete’s Cuban Nightmare song, I decided to post a few videos of the late Tito Puente showcasing some of his live performances with his orchestra. It goes without saying he makes Puerto Rico extremely proud.
This is from a tribute show to Hernandez that El Banco Popular sponsored in 1965. Tito Puente (in the back) is playing the famous “El Cumbanchero” song.
Here is the famous Sheila with Tito.
A personal favorite (for loving cha-cha). Here he is with his band at a Club in New York City with a very chill cha-cha song (guajira).
And a fun favorite, Tito Puente on Sesame Street. Who thought Muppets couldn’t dance?
I wanted to make a quick re-announcement on how great this year’s San Diego Salsa Festival will be in September. This year we are extremely lucky to have Magna Gopal coming to teach and perform at the event. We have written numerous times about Magna before and her ability to spin, but I found a neat video showing her spinning over 45 times with Super Mario (not related to Nintendo).
