[Updated] After running all the contestant entries through our algorithm (yes, I actually wrote software for this contest), I’d like to congratulate Peter Elia from New Zealand for winning the Bachata Building Blocks 2 DVD. If you didn’t win this time, not to worry, we will be having contests on a more regular basis!
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.
Here is a video of Carlos at one of his lessons.
If you are interested in Bachata lessons in the San Diego area, you can contact Carlos at elunicobachatero<at>gmail.com . Otherwise, Carlos has a great ‘Thrillogy’ of Bachata dance DVDs of “Building Blocks” over at Dance Savvy Shop, which is a great gift for your favorite dancer during Christmas time.
Here is one of Carlos’ combinations:
One comment per entry. You must be at least 18 years to enter. We will mail the DVD to any address that is reasonable (ex. No private islands). No cost to enter, just follow the instructions above.
Remember, the more people enter our contests, the more stuff we can give away in the future.
Dad used to say “the only difference between crazy and eccentric is money.” I’d like to think that I received a bit of eccentricity from my dad. My Mom used to tell me stories about how she would be embarrased dancing with my Father because he would go off and start dancing by himself. They now call them “shines” in Salsa.
Shortly after getting married to my lovely and talented wife, in April of 1998, we recieved our town’s Community Education class schedule. I immediately thought that ballroom classes were a great idea and after some possitive encouragement, my wife decided she could get over her stage fright and sealed the deal to start learning how to dance.
Since that day, there have been periods of no dancing, (Daughter in 01, Son in 03) disputes over leading properly, and times of dispare (having to move away from our original teacher) but never once have we regretted the decision to learn to dance. Having this wonderful art -that two people have to mutually work at to produce- is really a gift.
Dancing takes a great deal of things (time, patience, practice, sweat equity) but the return is far greater. I just have to remember to keep Dad’s eccentric shines to a minimum.
My wife talked me into taking a salsa class, and I went along because I’ve always liked dancing. As soon as we did the first basic steps with partners, I knew that this was WAY better than any of the ballroom dances I’d tried when younger. I think it’s the pause on counts 4 and 8 that give salsa a unique rhythm, but I’ve been addicted ever since (2 years now).
I started off ballroom dancing as a PE class, but salsa dancing is more practical and fun, in cities all over the world.
I started dancing while in college. What first began as a club activity, merged into a pe class, and then grew to an uncontainable passion for dance has been one of the greatest things to happen. Ballroom, country, jazz, and best of all the latin (salsa, bachata, merenegue)… I can’t get enough! Definately encourage everyone to at least try it; the only catch is that you might get hooked into the obession!!
I always suffered of the fact that I couldn’t dance with a girl (since I was 10 years old and my school ball mate told me that I CAN’T DANCE), just solo club bouncing (and kept on growing complexes). In meantime, a hardcore hiphop friend introduced me into Buena Vista Social Club (I entered the world of latino music). Than in 2006 I went to see Miami Vice the movie. A scene when Sonny dances at Havana to Manzanita’s Arranca – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyhlSF7WDbI . That did it. I knew that I MUST start being like this guy (y’know, chicks, hips, mojitos
. Took me about a year to get myself over, than, last christmas (hi, G. Michael), I started to practice a basic step in home, using Internet videos. I just knew that I MUST and I WILL learn to move within the music. After a month I started to attend salsa class. After 9 months, Sonny Crockett’s moves are completely lame for me 
(Gong Li would forget this guy if I were on this floor) 
).
I got tired of sitting out the salsa songs at parties. I always felt the music, but just never knew how to dance to it. I could hardly do the basic step, much less look like the other girls on the floor. For years I’d told everybody I was going to start taking lessons, and never did. Finally, I signed up for a local gym a few weeks ago, and once a week, they hayve $5 salsa classes. I decided to try it out, and I’ve been hooked since. It’s all I think about. Now I am at three different schools! It hasn’t even been a month yet. I’m supposed to be working on a 20 page paper, due tomorrow, and I am on this website.
It’s an addiction in every sense of the word.
And I’m tired of doing the basic bachata step!
Years ago a friend of mine took me to a social dance evening and made me dance with her (even it was just a few steps she was leading) – it was funny though. A little later she asked me to take lessons, so I said ‘yes’ – as a secret fact, I was practicing those few steps she showed me at home all day.
I’ve been dancing all my life, everything from middle eastern folk dancing when I was young, to disco in the late ’70s and early 80′s. While working on an advanced degree, I was having a terrible day – one of the worst days ever for me, including a huge argument with a very special friend. While walking down one of the main streets on our downtown campus, I saw a poster for lessons with a group called Salsaholics Anonymous. I had been meaning to start taking salsa lessons for over a year, since we visited Montreal and dropped in on their Salsafolies (open salsa practice for $5 every Sunday). The lessons were that night, and I forced myself, miserable mood and all, to go. I was hooked with the first lesson, progressing up to the advanced level in a month. I now dance several times a week, and am teaching with Salsaholics. The best thing is that it gets me out of my mind and into my body – very important during thesis writing.
I actually heard the genre of music first before dancing and I loved it and loved that fact that it was different, and that you can go somewhere and dance something different than Salsa and Merengue, well more Merengue, Salsa is my first love and I dont think that will change!
hahaha.
I’ve never known how to dance up until 2 years ago when a random guy started trying to teach salsa at my school for free. I never knew how to dance so a free salsa lesson seemed like so much fun. After the first lesson I was hooked and determined to learn how to dance salsa. Now I say my teacher tried because when i went to go visit my family in Long Island for the summer I found a salsa club called The Winners Circle and realized that 90% of what I had learned was wrong. But I did see some amazing dancing(both social and choreographed) and I was determined to get to that level. My teacher decided to give up teaching and since I didn’t want the group to die I decided to start a Latin dance club at my university. Which is hard since I’m at a Church of Christ affiliated university which doesn’t smile too much on dancing(they kinda think dancing leads to pregnancy…haha). After a lot of red tape cutting I got us recognized as a “performance group”. Since then for the last year and a half I’ve gotten the school to give us thousands of dollars for us to attend salsa congresses and bring instructors here. We’ve also grown from about 20 members to over 100 and we now are asked to perform at ACU’s biggest functions. But one of the coolest and saddest parts is that we still get kicked out of places for dancing and many places wont allow us to practice there because we are a dance group. It’s like we are an underground organization with us having to scavenge for lobbies and classrooms or any place that has a smooth floor for us to practice on. Anyways, I love this site and I read it regularly and if any of you ever end up in West-Texas in little ol’ Abilene come dance dance with us!
Music has always been in my soul, it is inextricably intertwined. Any related performing arts that allows me to express myself through music is great
An appreciation for salsa was the result of cruising along to my University’s dance club to try learning something else related to music.
Dancing has never been a strong quality of mine. In fact, until recently, I refused to dance in front of my friends, let alone in public! My partner studied latin american cultures in college. His passion for the spanish language and hispanic cultures influenced me as well. He casually mention wanting to learn salsa dancing one year before the holidays. That, combined with my secret desire to learn to dance, led me to purchase a gift certificate as a gift for 4 private salsa lessons (at a franchised Fred Astaire). Two years later, we finally used the certificate. Although the instructor was running out of salsa moves to teach us at week 3, we both became hooked and dedicated to learning more. That is how we discovered Addicted to Salsa! Now we have been dancing for 9 months, have made it to a Salsa Festival, and continue to love it (despite the frustrations of the learning stages). And now, I love to dance, even in public!
Everything started from my brother’s wedding ceremony. As it was getting closer to his ‘great day’ i was feeling that I needed to learn how to dance. Though I had only 4 lessons before his wedding and I couldn’t dance well at that time I had already felt the sparkle of satisfaction. Later I went on the course and finished 8 levels of it.
So my story is this. I wanted to learn to dance as I would be glued to the PBS station when ballroom dancing would come on. It was so weird and didn’t tell any of my buddies that I loved to watch people dance and that it was so fascinating.
I took a 2 left feet class and on the way to the very last room of the dance studio, I would pass the salsa room classes.
I hate it Salsa music as I didn’t understand all the beats that it would have and combine.
Anyways, one of the times that I was walking to my class, I’ve seen a couple working on intermediate footwork and moves before their class started. The move did not seem overly complicated and they looked very choppy performing their move. However, that particular day Salsa music was playing in the background to their move, and that is when it all clicked in me.
The music with the patterns, with their footwork, with their movements, everything came together and I was paralyzed just watching the entire room practice before their class started.
If this was cheesy movie, this would of been the time to blackout everything, place a spotlight on me and have an old opera song come on!
The next class that I took was Salsa and it was the most satisfying frustrating experience I have ever had ever since. I’ve been hooked on it for over many years.
So I just started my love affair with Salsa then Bachata music was starting to get extremely popular with the likes of Monchy and Alexandra, Extreme, and Aventura. I had no idea Bachata would look as good as it does when people dance it..
Guess, what I learn the basic step from a girl who taught it to me in 5 minutes. However, I was nowhere satisfy with that. I needed to perfect my motion, fine tune my rhythm, even it was just a basic step that I learned. So I practice what little i know a lot. I know that I am in my infancy with Bachata and that there is so much more to learn. But just like Salsa, I am going to be awesome at it, sooner or later
Wow! I really enjoy reading all of your stories. Somehow I get a warm and happy feeling knowing where most of our visitors come from (their life-to-dancing perspective). Makes it easier for all of us to relate to one another.
A few years back, single, feeling a bit alone in the Big Smoke, and coming up to my birthday, I made a resolution to learn how to dance. Kept at it, even though going by yourself can be a little daunting initially. Saw salsa as one of the most warm, welcome and accessible dances I could get into, and had that happily confirmed. Like learning a common language – but one that you can share and converse with in minutes, with people who haven’t even danced before. A great talent to have and share.
Started dancing in april with a friend of mine. She actually had to stop after one course. I continued taking lessons almost non stop every week from then on. Discovered all the nice parties here in Amsterdam to dance salsa too!
Never got around to learn bachata beyond the basic step, so I usually remove myself from the dance floor when a bachata song is played
The girl who’s apartment I took when I moved to Montreal got me to take Salsa lessons with her. We’re great friends now. And I haven’t stopped dancing. Looking to register to another school and take many private lessons once my lessons at this school are finished. Aiming for competitions, even if I don’t plan to enter them — keeps the drive going.
I’ve been salsa dancing for a little over 2 months now, and addicted2salsa has been an excellent resource! I’m excited to learn the “in-between” dances such as bachata, marengo, cha cha, etc!
I started to dance after going to one of my friend’s birthday, and i got kind of drunk, and start “dancing” (it was more like just moving), but i really enjoy doing it so i start looking for videos actual salsa lessons, know i am addicted to salsa
I was rock climbing with one of my friends who had brought some of the girls from his salsa class to climb with us, the girls convinced me to try salsa and since then i have been a Salsaholic
I now have been doing salsa for 9 months and go salsa clubbing atleast twice a week. And i never leave until the club kicks us out.
What part of “The comment doesn’t matter” means “tell the story of your life”???
Seriously, Tony said the winner will be selected randomly. Got it?
I was really into amateur muay thai fighting when I got into a really bad car accident (so bye bye amateur career), leaving me completely despondent….a friend of mine dragged me to a salsa class and instantly my mood lifted, then I realized another great fact…..the salsa club is always open!
I’ve always been a dancer… started with ballet, then got into social dance in college. I fell in love with salsa, thanks to CP Salsa in slo, and of course who isn’t a fan of bachata…
I’ve since moved to a place where i can’t dance as often as i’d like but I will always treasure the friendships i’ve made thru dance.
Like many stories, it starts with a girl… A female friend of mine, upon whom I had a humongous crush, recommended that I take salsa lessons, because “50% of the girls think it’s sexy,” and that would help me meet girls. Once I finally asked my friend out and was rejected, I had the time to pursue salsa. I thought ‘Hey, why not, get out, meet people, and learn to dance. Maybe it will be fun.’ So I did. And haven’t stopped dancing…
I had to learn something outside of my personal culture and then teach it to my classmates for a Teaching & Learning class. My friends were always off dancing but I was terrified of making a fool out of myself. So I made my friend give me private swing dance lessons for my class assignment. I ended up loving swing and the night after I gave my swing presentation my friend started teaching my salsa. I love it!
It was a New Year’s Resolution for me. I decided I would go out dancing. I initially went to a Ballroom dance club, having a little knowledge of the foxtrot, waltz and swing. A friend there told me there were salsa lessons every Sunday night in a town 30 miles away. I didn’t really even know what salsa was but I thought what the heck. I was hooked with the first step. I have now been dancing for 7 years and love all of the people I have met whether in Iowa, Puerto Rico, Guatemala or Tokyo. It’s the only New Years Resolution I’ve ever kept.
I’ve always enjoyed the art of dance, especially in musical theater. But what actually got this white boy dancing was, of course, a girl. I had been interested in her for awhile, and when she asked me to come to salsa lessons with her I jumped at the chance. Been loving salsa ever since!
I don’t remember starting to dance. My mum says I moved to music as soon as I walked, but as I was growing up I really didn’t take any dance lessons until I was 15, and that was just a high school dance class. At home, my favourite time to dance was after a movie, to the music that goes along with the credits. I can’t say it was a girl or a boy that brought the love of dance to me, nor one night at a club nor a class nor party… but every time I dance a part of me falls in love, with the music, the movement… the feeling. I’ve now studied Ballroom, Argentine Tango, Salsa, Bachata, Banda (hahaha), Cumbia, Merengue… and the feeling of dancing is still growing, and seems a necessity in my life. There is so much to explore! So I don’t remember starting, and I hope I will never remember an end to dancing. The video was very nice!
I got into dancing when I went to a company christmas party. Nobody knew what they were doing, and when some salsa music came on people just improvised as best they could. I had a blast and thought how much cooler this would be if I actually knew what I was doing. I found a dance studio nearby and my addiction began!
I have loved dance since I watched my parents dancing in the living room when I was a little girl. I met my husband dancing and fell in love with him dancing. I love dancing!!!
What got me started salsa dancing was the salsa club held at my college back in 05. The club had enough funding to pay for the instructor and it ended up being Walter Emanuel Jones…the original black power ranger! I remember reading a post a while back that Anthony had ran into him a year or so ago at a congress and was impressed to learn that he makes a living doing salsa now. He happens to be an awesome instructor – extremely funny, very talented, and a good teacher. I didn’t learn too much back then, but it was enough to get me addicted.
I started dancing about a year and a half ago and i heard music and such but never knew there was a dance to them. I use to hate dance in general and I was introduced to salsa at La Estancia which closed down unfortunately. Well I was introduced to Salsa and started loving it. I was very shy dude and became familiar with people in the dance environment and make lots more friends then i was introduced to bachata and loved it but I need more practice to enhance my bachata skills. I need to go out and dance more cuse I have being out of the game for a while due to school but dancing is just amazingly fun and the people are just amazing and then hanging out with them even more. I became addicted to salsa during summer but as I said due to school i stopped going. My girlfriend and I watch the videos Anthony “Addicted to Salsa.com” to learn new stuff. She started a Salsa Club at her HighSchool and I Help her teach the kids for 35minutes during lunch for free. Lots of this kids are very interested in Dancing therefore they love salsa when it was introduced to the school and we plan to teach bachata, and chaca too so they feel comfortable when going out. Anthony Thanks for your videos you post for free online combinations…it helps a lot. Your a great dancer and your partner Julie as well. Keep the good work and thanks again
It had never occurred to me that dancing will be my passion one day. I was never into dance in the past as I figured that it’s just not me. However, the whole perspective changed when I was invited to a latin club and was asked to dance. Back then, I knew nothing about salsa and have no idea how to lead. That dance was pretty disastrous! Sitting back and observing the other guys doing cool moves and shines, I told myself, why not me? From then I challenged myself in taking dance up. Little by little, my confidence grew and my love for it accelerated, especially when moves were executed correctly or that I have learnt a new move. Since then, there was no turning back. Been a year from now and I love dancing more and more.. Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Cha cha cha. I will always look forward to the weekends where I can social out!
I first started dancing salsa after watching my friends dance it at parties. I quickly joined a class and have been learning as much as I can ever since.
i have always enjoyed dance movies, more so, hip hop style than anything else, i stumbled across dance with me, and was hooked on salsa too. i started salsa as it was summer and thought why not. i loved it, it was a good sweat and made me tired, a good tired. i have enjoyed it ever since, and only recently gotten the grasp of bachata. Now i am trying to get a grasp of zouk lambada, talk about extremes!!! the social aspects are fun and cool. i do love the way you teach on your videos its very down to earth. thanks for what you have taught me on your videos
Hmmm…lets see…what got me started dancing? Well I would have to say it was my twin uncles. When my mother was pregnant with me my uncles were excited to have a little nepheew and they had soccer cleats made for a new born baby as a joke. They were professional soccer players and were eager to add someone in the family to team. When I was born they say the look on their face of confusion in my being a girl and not konwing what to do with the soccer cleats was priceless. The figured they wanted to do something with me but a girl can’t play soccer (or so they thought in those days).
They decided the only thing they could do with a little girl was dance, so they would spend every day with me in the living room taking turns teaching me steps by putting my feet over theirs and dancing away.
I would love the Bachata CD. Always wanted to learn how to dance it, but it just looks so complicated!
I used to live in asia for 27 years!
when i came to this side of the world wooow the first thing which mesmerize me was latin dance, specifically merengue. I had always heard about it but never had the chance to try it. no i am practicing that every other day, it makes you feel happy and feel free, i think that is why hispanic people are sooo relax
I do love latin dance specially merengue, and i recommend it to every one
I was visiting a friend in Italy and they showed me the Bachata. I have never danced before so I was frightened especially when they were hanging out by the pool in bikinis/speedos. After an hour, I decided to try. It was hard at first, very mechanically. As I relax, however, it got easier. I wish to be better at Bachata afterwards and think this DVD will help.
I’m 16, I live in Seattle, and I just picked up salsa at the Century Ballroom about 6 weeks ago. At first I was really tense trying to get all the footwork down, but then I started really listening to people and the podcast and just relaxed and went with the flow of it. Now I really enjoy it and am trying to get my friends to come get a taste of it.
Hey man, love bachata as well as much as salsa, please if u guys can put more bachata videos will appreciated, also any info on how 2 obtain bachata dvd’s.
I took my first dance class in high school, because I wanted to go to the prom, but was embarrassed because I didn’t know how to dance. I fell in love with dancing, and explored many dance styles (hip hop, ballet, modern).
It wasn’t until college that I took a ballroom class, and discovered salsa. I immediately fell in love with it because it was very active, and yet very sensual, and allowed me to express a part of myself that I hadn’t really explored before.
I started with a class at school, then started going out the clubs, and now am a member of a training team and go out 3-4 nights a week. The music, the movement, the people– I love every aspect of salsa. I’m definitely an addict =)
Hi everyone!
My story is not very interesting, but anyway! My girlfriend at the time really wanted to start dancing salsa, and wanted us to it together. I wasn’t excited by that AT ALL, but I accepted to go with her… Funny thing is that I think I ended up becoming more addicted to dancing than her!
Thank you Anthony for creating this great community. I enjoy your videos from here in Japan
About a year after I moved into Chicago, I was invited to a dinner party at my friend’s friend’s home. One of the guests at this party happened to be a dance teacher. We talked how cool latin music is over the table.
Also, I told her that I love latin music but I don’t know how to dance.
At the end of party, she told me that she can teach me free.
And she asked me to show up at one of Salsa clubs in downtown.
She showed me Salsa basic steps in a noisy dark club for 5 minutes or so and disappear for dancing with cool dancers on the dance floor. I was doing the basic steps in the corner of the dance floor alone. It was very embarrassing and awkward. Everyone watching me with smile. ^^
She comes back and check my steps and gave one or two comments and disappear again. That how I started dancing. There are more stories about how I kept dancing till today … but I will save that for another time.
I am an avid salsa dancer who first fell in love with the dance 7 years ago, while taking a social dance class in college. Since then, I could never resist to shake my hips to the sound of salsa music. But just a year ago I found a new love at a San Diego night club…bachata. Bachata is slow, sexy and romantic…it just takes your breath away. One of the most beautiful things to see is two people, who have never met before, have the most perfect bachata dance. It’s an awesome sight to see, but it’s an even better feeling when you’re dancing it yourself.
I think I always like dancing just don’t know how and where to start. I discovered that my brothers love dancing as well and have been attending classes to my surprise. And when I visited them last year, I joined their class to get a feel, and totally loved it. When I come back here in Australia, I started looking for dance studio to attend classes. Now I have been dancing for 4 months and still enjoying hit. Love the move, love the music, and it is definitely a good ice-breaker for making friends! Hot!
Hey!
I’m only three months old in salsa, why??!! because it was the first chance to me to learn salsa, in my country there is no classes for Latin dance, but now I’m working outside, and started to learn salsa, i really enjoy it, and your videos are really useful for me …thanks a lot..
Came to a club in Seattle that turned out to be a Salsa place and saw all these people dancing like stars this incredible dance. I promised myself to learn the dance and never stopped practicing ever since! Now I’m in love with Salsa, got crash on my Salsa partner and that is only the beginning!
I think it’s funny but I used to hate salsa music. I thought all salsa music sounded exactly the same and no one ever seemed able to dance it at parties. Well, it all started for me when I walked into the local salsa club one night and was just dazzled by the array of couples dancing so in sync with each other, so in sync with the music. I hadn’t really known that this type dancing existed and more astounding to me was the fact that it was all improvisational. Right then and there I just knew that I had to learn this beautiful dance. I started learning and since then I haven’t been able to stop.
a colleague at work got me to go with her to the dance club. I wasnt gonna go cause i thought it was pointless, but she persuaded me that it would be fun. How right she was! I became an instant recruit who has recruited quite a few friends and I keep spreading the message of dance like a virus!!
it may sound like one of these typical latino stories, but i’ve been dancing since i was a little boy. i am the son of chilean parents who emigrated to germany with the whole family in the seventies.
i have an uncle who used to be (and luckily still is) a local salsa dj in my hometown. at our regularly upcoming familyparties, all the aunts and cousins used to pick the younger members of the family to show their dancing skills in salsa-chielean-style (means moving on one foot to the other without any turns or patterns).
my breakthrough came on christmas when i was eight. my mum got me some sneakers with a metalcap on top of the shoe, and i started dancing starring at my feet. i realized that if i moved my feet fastly, the mtealcap started to blink, and that this made some effect. so i invented some funny dane steps. that was the starting point for me of having fun dancing to salsa music.
after that i got on dancing with grandma, sisters, aunts and later all the girls that weren’t ready to escape. as i got older i went on to the parties where my uncle was playing the music, and later my elder brother hooked up in the partybusiness of my uncle so it was even easier for me to go dancing.
steadily salsa has become more and more a central theme of my life. i love it, and enjoy dancing every time i hear the music, in the subway, the kitchen or on the dancefloor.
it was the day I broke up with my boy friend. and at that time dance was medicine and thnx god still it is:))
it is the only place where I find myself
I started dancing, after refusing years of entreaties by my wife to take it up, following the Strictly Come Dancing series won in the UK by cricketer Darren Gough. He was such an unlikely winner given his poor start, his macho Yorkshire mining background but the improvement he showed and the joy that he got was an inspiration – If he could do it so could I.
I was taken at first by an old boyfriend who I would not let lead me… After a divorce I was going through an “I’m an independent woman” stage! Since then I have done a lot of personal development & spiritual growth and I sometimes get complimented on being such a good follower.
I love the whole latin vibe of salsa and have learned lots. In fact I have a book coming out in the Spring called “Life Lessons from Salsa: How to Stop Dancing to Others’ Tunes & Choreograph Your Meaningful Life!”. It’s half novel and half personal development guide.
I often listen to salsa and love Bachatta too though not many men in the UK can dance it – I’d love the DVD cos my boyfriend has said he’s willing to learn it and it would be so romantic!
Dancing is just good for the soul…
Well first time I danced salsa was in my (BA) graduation party.. I had no idea how to dance.. but my partner was swinging me here and there and I liked the idea sooooo much,,, then i heard that there’s a Salsa course that will take place in somewhere near by so I checked it out and registered my name and brought a partner with me
… now i can’t stop dancing salsa I feel like it releases my soul… I also dance a little bit of merengue but i’m not that good in it
Dancing has given me confidence, grace and body awareness, things I’ve lacked for a long time while growing up. I started with Middle Eastern dance, then Indian classical dance, and trying other dance forms whenever I have the chance.
Now I’ve moved in with my long-time, formerly long-distance boyfriend, I’ve persuaded him to take up Salsa with me, and fortunately he finds it as enjoyable as I do! I’ve also shown him some bachata video clips on youtube, and we’d love to try it someday…
Girls Girls Girls! Thats what got me started dancing when I was younger. I learned at an early age that women like dudes that could dance, so I thought hey why not
A work colleague had a difficult pregnancy and after her baby was born she was so grateful to the hospital’s baby unit that she wanted to do a charity fundraiser for them. She’s married to a guy from Cuba so they threw a Salsa party on New Year’s Eve 2006. I bought a couple of tickets even though I secretly thought anything to do with dancing was a no-hoper.
I assumed the party would be about *watching* some dancers on stage… It didn’t occur to me that I would be expected to dance too! Surprisingly I liked it and I started going to classes. It wasn’t long until I really caught a serious case of the Salsa virus.
My friend (we’ll call her Naomi) is actually the reason I got serious about salsa. I met her at a country dancing bar about about a year ago and she told me she was a salsa instructor, so I asked her to go dancing that weekend (stressing that I knew the basic step and that’s it) and told her to teach me some stuff. Well when we got to the club is when she decided to tell me that she really can’t teach the guy’s part, only the girl’s part. But since we were at the club and she wanted to dance, I tried a few songs with her, but mostly just let her rome free for the night. While I was watching her dance, a college friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in 5+ years walked up next to me, and I was like “Hey, I know you!” (She and I catch up, and turns out that she’s actually a legitimate instructor who can teach dudes, but more on that later.) When Naomi and I left the club she couldn’t stop talking about how amazing this particular guy danced, and it was getting on my nerves, so at that moment I vowed I was going to get good!!! A couple private lessons with my college friend, a lot of practice and dancing, and a year later (a couple months ago) Naomi and I went dancing in San Antonio. As it turns out, she hadn’t had much formal training, and she wasn’t as good as I initially thought she was, so I’m actually had to show HER stuff…What an interesting turn of events!
I started dancing bachata along with salsa and merengue, simply because I love to dance. I started with Argentine tango, but I joined salsa since I needed more upbeat and fun energy in my life. I know it sounds silly, but I love the wood block in bachata. It’s also often slower, and it’s not too hard to fake when you are a beginner. But when I dance with an advanced dancer it’s smothering hot. In bachata, you tend to stay closer to your partner in my experience.I’ve heard that it is danced differently in the Dominican Republic (with a more open embrace, at least, in any case I am open and eager to improve my bachata, and help beginners stop faking it and start dancing it….
It is great that you are doing this giveaway on your website, Anthony. I hope that I will win the disc so that I will have an extra tool to help build the Latin dancing community here in Huntsville. Also when get it to where we have 70-100 consistent salsa dancers. I would like to invite the Descarga group to Huntsville, something like a reunion just not at Iowa State. Also anyonre that is in the Huntsville area (Alabama), check out our scene we have socials on 1st, 2nd, and last Saturday (4th or 5th).
Oops I am sorry I had a random moment there. However this is my entry comment. I had got started dancing from watching Michael Jackson videos and mimicking his moves. My favorite videos are in this order, Remember the Time, Thiller, Beat it, Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, and BAD. Then I was in the band in high school which spark my interest in Hip Hop dancing. What spark my interest in Latin Dancing was a friend of mine that was from Mexico, she taught me how to Merengue(which is still one of favorite dances) while I was doing an internship at Iowa State in 2003.
I’ve discovered my passion for dance through salsa. I love & live my salsa! It carries my soul to a deep emotional realm where sensuality and giggles combine to create a magnificent moment. But lately, I’ve also discovered the sexiness, sensuality and intimacy of Bachata. It’s an awesome rhythm and I love to dance it! The newly revealed dominican blues (bachata) has open a new gate of emotions for all dancers and its created new ways of expressing them between a couple. For me, salsa is the queen in the great world of rhythms but bachata is probably a young princess who is yet to show all its potential.
The rythm of music is in my blood. I have always loved dancing and wanted to be a professional dancers. However, life does not always go as planned, but I go dancing every chance I get. I attend salsa classes whenever I can, and watch & learn techniques of salsa, bachata, and merengue on my own by viewing youtube videos.
Hey everybody !!
I’m from Montréal Canada, I dance Salsa New York style.
in April of 2008 i want to Cuba Varadero for 2 weeks, this is where i discovered salsa for the first time, watching the locals dance in the clubs. but mostly in the streets at night, mixing it up with the tourists. what i noticed and remenber the most is the folowing. When a woman dances, no matter what she looks like, she could weight in at 400 pounds or 100 pounds, she looks beautiful, there just something about a woman when she dances. althought they look beautiful, i felt like i could see and sense that a woman felt all women when she dances, she assumes who she is and all complexes she may have seem to disapeir. i wanted to be the guy who made a woman feel this way !!! not a bad place to be if you ask me !!! lol
that’s what got me started, I’m in level 3 now and practicing hard and loving it !!
sorry for the bad english, it’s a second language for me, i’m a french Canadian guy !!!!
take care everybody, and remenber, life is salsa !!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve danced most of my life….however when I found salsa I KNEW that was the dance style I wanted to pursue. Little did I know then of the extra benefits beyond the dancing – the many friendships I’ve made. It has become a passion for me and I now teach salsa. It is truly rewarding seeing a student become a good dancer.
I went to a latin club with some friends of mine two years ago and loved the music and the daning. I went to few classes here and there and went to Tony’s Big Easy’s wednesday latin nights couple of times. I started dancing salsa, meringue, and bachata whenever i could and when i came back to school i started teaching a begineers salsa class. Its going pretty sweet so far and hope to continue till graduation.
I am Puerto Rican and my family always wanted me to learn to dance! I was never interested growing up but when I was in college they started taking lessons for fun. My university offered a ballroom class and I joined it and loved it. Still doing all types of ballroom and even did my first competition a few weeks ago! Its soooo much fun!!!!! I do not know how to do bachata however and would love to learn!!!
It sounds a bit odd, but I started salsa in Heidelberg, Germany.
I was there for a study abroad program, the summer program included a bit of salsa. The teacher, Voytek, hailed from Poland.
On the first day of class there were Georgio, the Italian student that every girl I met there seemed to know, an associate of Georgio, myself, and about thirty girls. I wished I had a camera.
With those odds, it did not matter that I had never danced salsa before.
The practice schedule started at twice a week and increased quickly until the week before the end of the program we practiced every day. For the first week we drilled the basic steps and then we worked into combos. Voytek wanted to put on a good performance for the Abschlüssfest (closing party) so he spent a lot of time creating the choreography and splicing music together.
After I came back to California, my latino friends laughed that I learned it over there.
After sustaining a very serious sporting injury, i was unable to do any kind of physical activity, running, lifting weights and some one suggested that i start dancing and i looked into it and found a great salsa class not to far from my area. Dancing allows me to connect with myself it’s the only thing i do for me, the pleasure i allow my self to have and quite frankly all i need, for me dancing is my zoloft. I love bachata but no none in Trinidad teaches it at the intermediate level
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I’ve always done some form of dancing growing up, wether it was imitation or learning steps in my favorite music videos, or choreographing a dance with my friend Madeline. I started learning salsa/merengue/bachata after a meetup on Valentine’s Day this year. Met many cute guys there, danced with a couple of them, took notice of the different stylings, and learned the differences in music timing.
I’ve also always loved latinos and know that dancing is in their blood. I loved Latino’s so much that I took spanish for 5½ years, but I still cannot translate many of the songs played while dancing, but it doesn’t really matter since the music definitely speaks to one’s feet! There’s an array of people who come out to dance, all different ethnicities, and after every dance, all of the couples hug. How can you not like that?
What got me started dancing was all the smiles on the faces of my friend’s dance school during a demo at a street festival.
I had been listening to salsa music for a few years but didn’t know how to really dance to it. I also needed something to do in order to feel like I had a productive summer, so I started to take lessons. That and the realization that ladies like to dance
I considered myself a great social dancer before the first time I stepped foot in a salsa club. That night for the first time, I felt like I don’t know anything about dancing. Watching everyone dancing and doing those awesome moves, made me interested in learning Latin dances. I am still a beginner, but hey, everyone start as a beginner….
Hey, when learning the basics of salsa I thought I could dance with everyone, but only a stair climb … now I want to climb the ladder of the bachata.
Hello there,
Greets from Germany! I started dancing Salsa this year in April, and our courses comes along with excourses in Bachata. I love this dance but I haven’t figured out, how this gonna work with my hips..
Cheers,
Nicole
I first started dancing ballroom. I got introduced to salsa and got hooked ever since.
I really got addicted to salsa. I started on a ballroom in Boston for my summer vacations and when back to France I tryed to look for all the places that put salsa music and that’s when I started to take classes. And this site is so great I always try to use moves I see in here.
. Also the bachata is great but I don’t dance it this way. I really would love to get the dvd if it’s for sale no problem. The only thing is that I live in France. It’s impossible to find salsa or bachata or whatever dance lessons on dvds. I mean I tryed to but it’s hard to get. Any help?
Thak you very much Antony Persaud for this website ^^
i am from Bangladesh, south-east asia. Back in 2003, had the opportunity to attend a salsa course at the american club – run by two puerto-rican and a mexian lady. Since then, was caught by the ‘salsa fever’. Worked on it since, primarily throgh checking out videos / clips, etc, as materials are simply not avalibale here. Presenlty offering salsa lessons in Dhaka, the capital city. Am trying to promote the whole positive aspects of the Culture – making progress, even though on a small level, bit by bit. Run facebook groups “Leftfoot Salsa Dhaka” and “Salsa Fever Dhaka” Became intersted in Bachata, mainly through Addicted to Salsa. Have to come up with some way to get hold of those videos…
I’m really not an experienced dancer but i love it and I’ve found that I have a natural desire and knack for it. The funny thing is, I’ll only be 17 in a few weeks! I really love it but there are no programs at my high school to really encourage dancing of any sort, let alone ballroom and SALSA. What really got me started and soon addicted to salsa and other latin dance styles was the events that occurred my sophomore year (last year). At our school, we tend to have many foreign exchange students and we were lucky enough to have a hispanic exchange student. I was fortunate enough to have a class with her, phys. ed., and once we became aquainted, we began to gather a group of students to begin a dance group. She taught me many thigns and most importantly, she helped me to come out of my shell some. I attribute most of my confidence to her teaching. We were taught much about hip hop, merengue, and most importantly salsa. There were many days when all she and I would do, and would make a point of doing, was dancing and we wanted nothing more! I was devastated when she returned home, but I was soon in much higher spirits as we reconnected online. I have been working with my teachers in an effort to start some form of dance group that focuses mainly on latin dance, though we would more than likely cover other forms of ballroom dances and hip hop to keep ourselves toned in all areas. I plan on becoming a teacher and, hopefully, returning to my current high school to teach someday. Perhaps by then, I will be more versed in dances such as Salsa and Bachata!
-Faith
@Arkantos
Yes, the comment does not matter, the winner will be picked randomly. However, I think it is great everyone shares their experience with the rest of us.
Dancing is the arct of doing vertically what you now you love to doing horizontally….
As a freelance photographer, I was hired to take an event pictures for this girl’s bday party. She was a salsa dancer and at the party people were dancing salsa all night. Prior to this, Id never known anything about salsa. The closest thing to partner dancing Id seen was ballroom, which I thought was rigid and kinda boring. But since that night at the party, I had never stopped thinking about salsa. I listen to salsa music every day, I think about combinations all the time, I started to explore other dances that I could bring to salsa, such as rumba guaguanco, pachanga, etc. Heck, now I could even hear (imagine) the tumbao on Hip hop music. Simply said, I’m addicted to salsa!
La Candela, Oaxaca, Mexico
My first time ever seeing salsa, in this club in Southern Mexico, was a very intimidating experience! I know some other guys are going to relate to that! And so, I promised myself I wouldn’t ever feel that out of place in a salsa club again!!! I’ve actually met two other dancers who were also introduced to salsa in this exact same way, in this exact club!
Ironically, the dance I had that night, with a lovely woman who was to become my girlfriend for many years, was and still is the sexiest salsa dance I have ever danced! Even while stepping on each other’s toes! This obviously also inspired the desire to dance…still trying to recapture the magic of that very first dance….
I started attending salsa classes in San Jose, CA the end of July when a high school friend pretty much peer pressured me into it. I never thought I could do structured dancing, you know, with counting and footwork. But it turns out I loved it and am definitely addicted! I have gone religiously every week, save a few weeks when I had some personal/family stuff to take care of. It’s a wonderful workout, I feel sexy moving around on the dance floor, and I’ve met some wonderful people.
I attended a salsa ‘bootcamp’ in Seattle a couple weeks ago. This was my first real exposure to latin dancing lessons. Near the end of the sessions, the instructor had two of the students (they were more advanced) perform the Bachatta for us. It was a beautiful dance and I now, after watching a couple of Carlos’ videos, I am interested in knowing more!
I’m still definitely learnin but started picking up salsa when I was in Madrid, Spain. The way their nightlife is gave me plenty of opportunity to pick up as much as I can. Now that I’m back stateside, I miss the whole atmosphere of the dancing culture. I love meetin people dancing salsa too, it’s much more fun than a hip hop club.
I decided to take course after a trip, 3 years ago, in the Caribbean where I discovered the rich flavour of Latin music and its rhythms. I started with ballroom and specialized in Salsa. Since this, I’m just addicted more and more every day. This days, I’m trying to upgrade other Latin dances, specially bachata/cha cha… A good idea to pick moves on the DVD. I like the preview!
I had some casual ballroom experience in grad school. I liked the latin music but found it challenging to dance to. Years later, I was meeting an ex-girlfriend who had started to dance salsa. Well, it was fun but really intimidating when you don’t know anything. At the time, I was living in Jersey so I hoped across to The City and started with Razz m’Tazz (they teach a different On2 than the New York/Eddie Torres On2). From there I was hooked. I’ve had to take some hiatuses due to moving (I live in Seattle now), finding instructors that I liked, and some non-dance related injuries, but I always want to become better. The nicest compliment a follow can give you is when she tells her friends that they should dance with you. Aspire to be one of those leads.
I too fell in love with Bachatta when I saw the dance done romantically. In fact….dancing is where I get my romance fix. Mmmmmm!
I have a friend that screams when we go out dancing salsa and a bachata song comes on. She gets in a trance-like state and dances away. I’ve even seen her dancing alone to bachata at the club, cause she wants to.
Very nice to see that Carlos is becoming more and more popular. Carlos was featured as an international Bachata instructions at the Bachateros Online Magazine last month!
http://www.bachateros.com.au/instructors/
Well done Carlos! keep up the good bachata!
-Juan
well, im kind of late for the DVD, but i still want to tell my story. 6 months ago i end up my relationship with my girl after 4 years, a week later i discovered that i had plenty of time which i din’t know where or how to spend it. i decided to take dancing classes, and i discovered that i love to dance. i’ve been taking salsa classes and recently i bought a bacahata DVD to start dancing bachata. also, i discovered this site. great help!!!!!!!
I studied Spanish in the Dominican Republic about 4 years ago and that was the first time i saw and heard Bachata..and i few in love with it! now i cant get enough!