You just have to admire what PBS does for the community and the public. I was excited to find out, through a Facebook ad (who would’ve thought), that PBS will be having a documentary about history and culture of Latin Music in the USA. Not only will they air the documentary episodes on TV, but they are making them available for viewing online through the PBS.org website starting October 13, 2009. Their first chapter will focus on the birth of what is called ‘Boogaloo’ and how it ties to the “The Salsa Revolution” in chapter 2. They plan to go through some of the history of Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe and the growth of Fania Records during this episode. Fania Records was the record label started by the famous Johnny Pacheco, that helped salsa music acquire a taste in the United States. I recommend everyone to check out their preview and site since they have a lot of content including salsa music, bonus videos and interviews (see sidebar on the website for more sections).
Will salsa dancing finally rise from the underground to hit mainstream television? Shows like Dancing with the stars and So You Think You Can Dance have been on the rise, but even in these popular dance shows, salsa gets a brief cameo at best. So what, or who, would it take for salsa dancing to arrive to our TV screens in mainstream media?
Junior and Emily Alibi, ESPN Salsa champions, might just make this possible. They have made it through preliminary rounds and wowed millions on NBC’s reality show America’s Got Talent. They are not the first dance act in the show’s history, but they certainly are the first salsa dancers, and they have gotten to the wild card position. What does this mean? It means that they are now in competition with 8 other acts for a spot on the final round of the show. Tune in Friday, September 3rd to see if they got the spot!
This is very exciting for all the salseros and salseras out there, to see one of our favorite dance couples on a popular TV show, and Junior and Emily are certainly a deserving couple. Having trained with them personally, I am absolutely amazed at the amount of talent they have. They have a bright future, and thanks to them the community at large will be more aware of the hobby that has become a passion and even lifestyle for many of us. Go Junior and Emily!
At just 20 years old, the “bandboy” for Tito Rodriguez was invited to the stage to sing. With the songs “Changó tá vení” and Barito”, he left the crowd of all of New York’s best dancers in awe. This is how José “Cheo” Feliciano Vega first became known publicly, though his musical development had been long in progress. He began in a school of music in Puerto Rico, and then continued to study music when his family moved to New York in 1952. Inspired by artists like Frank “Machito” Mon Rivera, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez, Cheo took a special interest in the percussion instruments, though he would eventually be most famous for his voice.
Cheo went on to join Joe Cuba’s sextet. With the sextet for a decade, Cheo sung many of the sextet’s now famous songs, such as “Salsa y bembé”, “Callejero”, “Cachondea”, “A las seis”, “El ratón” (see below), and “el pito”, which was used in a Coca Cola ad.
After you get a Mac, a lot of fun things happen. I decided to put my compusic (computer+music) skills to some more good use an make a few interesting Salsa tracks with a program called GarageBand. While I was at it, I made three different versions of this salsa dance soundtrack. Here is the first one: an interesting salsa music trumpet solo with some mixed in jazzy piano, cowbell and congas. Let me know what you think and of course – enjoy!
I welcome your comments and feel free to download, distribute and use the file freely – I provide it as part of a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
One of my favorite things about salsa dancing is the diversity of all the various kinds of dance that can be incorporated into the basic framework provided by salsa. In this series, I am going to share several videos that showcase the fusion of salsa with other styles of dance.
The first video in this series comes from Masacote Dance Company from Boston, MA. For those of you who have not heard of Masacote, their leader, Joel Massicot, is both a musician and a dancer. He has a latin/salsa band called Ritmo Masacote. The goal of Masacote Dance Company is to bridge the gap between music and dance; Joel teaches his famous musicality workshop throughout the world.
This performance is entitled “Afterlife”, and was performed at Flava Invasion 3 on Feb 23rd, 2008. The routine is a mix of salsa with modern and contemporary dance elements. Enjoy!
So I have a question for you: What is the best way to learn to salsa? I have been dancing salsa for several months now, and mostly I’ve just been going to different clubs, and picking up moves from various salsa lessons. I feel like I’ve learned the basics, and I know a few combos now, but I still feel pretty nervous about stepping onto the dance floor.
So what is the best way to take my salsa to the next level? Private lessons seem pretty pricey, but is that the best bet? Should I invest in salsa videos? Or is the best way to just keeping going out to the clubs?
Salsaholic
Thanks for writing Addicted2Salsa! I am Julie, the co-host, and had some ideas to share about the salsa learning process.
I’m a big believer in moderation. Classes will provide your technique, knowledge of footwork and combos, and maybe correct errors you’ve developed (if the instructor gives personalized attention). Social dancing trains your ear to the music, enables you to adapt to different followers/leaders, and expands your social network (so you can improve by dancing with better dancers). If you put in the effort, you can improve quite a bit social dancing…but it cannot be a passive process. You have to really listen to the beats of the music, and carefully observe dancers who are better than you to watch their combinations, footwork, technique, and style. If you do all of this, AND take group classes, you will improve. As with everything, frequency will improve you at a much faster rate, so going out four nights per week is better than two, and classes with different instructors helps to see different methods of teaching……
You just have to admire what PBS does for the community and the public. I was excited to find out, through a Facebook ad (who would’ve thought), that PBS will be having a documentary about history and culture of Latin Music in the USA. Not only will they air the documentary episodes on TV, but they are making them available for viewing online through the PBS.org website starting October 13, 2009. Their first chapter will focus on the birth of what is called ‘Boogaloo’ and how it ties to the “The Salsa Revolution” in chapter 2. They plan to go through some of the history of Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe and the growth of Fania Records during this episode. Fania Records was the record label started by the famous Johnny Pacheco, that helped salsa music acquire a taste in the United States. I recommend everyone to check out their preview and site since they have a lot of content including salsa music, bonus videos and interviews (see sidebar on the website for more sections).
Bloch is carried here as well,...
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