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:
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I gave you some answers on another forum 
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!