How Salsa Dancing is Great for Your Health.
There is a time of the year that I always look forward to.
No it’s not the Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer.
It’s a time of the year when thousands from around the world travel to New York City to attend workshops, see world class performances, and dance the night away to the sounds of salsa music. This event is the New York International Salsa Congress (NYISC).
Every Labor Day weekend my calendar is circled with the letters N Y I S C written on it to remind me of one favorite Salsa dancing events New York City has to offer. It’s the one time of the year I know I’ll be out to the wee hours of the morning. For those of you who don’t know I’m a huge fan of Salsa Congresses. I recently did a post on “Salsa Congress…Love it or Hate it” where I talk about why I think they’re so great and while others don’t.
Share and Enjoy
Top 10 Best Salsa Songs for Beginners
Many beginning salsa dancers are faced with this question…
Which salsa songs are good to practice with?
It’s a viable question.
It’s actually a question I had for my first salsa instructor. His response was that you need music that you will allow you the freedom to execute. Which means when you’re first practicing your patterns you need music that’s slow to medium speed because with those types of songs you can work on fine tuning the various patterns. If you’re trying to perform the patterns with a high speed salsa song you’re not doing yourself any good. All you’re doing is learning to do patterns that are not well executed and you run the risk of hurting your partner as well.
Share and Enjoy
Support for “The Heart of Salsa”
PASSION.
It’s an emotional feeling that is used numerous times when you hear a salsa dancer describe what salsa dancing means to them. It’s the word that is at the “Heart” of this documentary currently being produced by Janja and Magali—two filmmakers from Los Angeles.
Share and Enjoy
Terry & Pia from the 2012 DC Salsa Congress
Terry Tauliaut from SalsaAlianza social dancing with Pia from the 2012 DC Salsa Congress. Video by Nuevotec Productions
Share and Enjoy
How do you become a Master Salsa Dancer?
Vector Graphics by Vector Open Stock
As the saying goes…practice, practice, practice would help. Maybe even trying to get 1,000 dances in within a two-month period.
That’s what fellow salsa blogger Chilly and a few of his buddies are trying to accomplish over the months of July and August. The 1,000 Dances challengers even went as far as to buy a counter to help keep track of all their dances.
What inspired the 1,000 Dance Challenge?
Chilly recently brought up a good topic on his blog post here of an old adage that one is able to master a skill after practicing that skill for 10,000 hours. After doing some calculations he figured that he would have to dance about 150,000 dances if he were to follow that rule. So he and his buddies decided to have a friendly competition and start with a much smaller number of a 1,000 dances over two months.
Some may look at this as an insane concept but I look at it as a great way to focus and challenge yourself. It’s always fun to push yourself a little further and to set goals. Goals are essential in life. We are innately setting goals for ourselves from the second we are born. From babbling our first sounds, to being able to crawl, to taking our first steps. We humans are goal-oriented machines. Setting up a friendly challenge for yourself as Chilly is doing is a great way to improve on your dancing and hopefully become a “Salsa Master.”
Share and Enjoy
Salsa Mag Summer Edition
Summer is here which means I just finished reading through the latest international edition of the salsa e-magazine—Salsa Mag. Once again the team at Salsa Mag has put out an outstanding issue with two must read features that I highly recommend.
1. Star Profile – This latest issue of Salsa Mag contains a feature on one of my favorite Salsa singers—Gilberto Santa Rosa. Learn how the international Salsa superstar got started and how he became the first Salsa singer to perform at one of New York’s world famous venues.
2. Concert – The salsa band La Excelencia is the focus of topic for this issues’ “Concert” section. Find out how this “new generation salsa dura” band stuck to their beliefs by not being limited to main stream record labels.
Overall, this is definitely a Salsa Mag issue you must check out. Read the magazine online here
and don’t forget the magazine is available for FREE in the itunes apps store here.
Share and Enjoy
Rasove & Cory at the CT Salsa Fest
Salsa Congress…Love it? or Hate it?
What’s the ultimate salsa dancing event? Read the rest of this page »
Well for some of us it would have to be a Salsa Congress. If you’re into live bands, workshops, performances and lots of dancing for 3-4 days then Salsa Congresses are it. Since I’ve been dancing I’ve found that Salsa Congresses are the only events that takes the traditional social dancing experience from the dance studio or club scene and elevates to the highest level. Salsa Congresses bring together dancers from all across the globe. It’s also the one event that gives you a chance to see or take lessons from those Salsa “Celebs” you’ve heard so much about or seen on Youtube. It is also the only event I’ve been to where I didn’t get bumped, elbowed, or stepped on while I danced. But it’s not just the huge ballrooms, bands, workshops or Salsa “Celebs, for me it’s also a time of the year that I get to catch up with friends I’ve made at previous Congresses.
Share and Enjoy
Happy Mother’s Day!
Remembering Salsero Junior González
Yesterday, the salsa heavens added another great salsero to their choir–Puerto Rican vocalist Junior González. We lost the legendary lead singer of Larry Harlow’s Orchestra to complications with his pancreas and liver at age 63. Junior is well-known for classic songs like “La cartera”, “Tengo derecho a ser Feliz”, “El jardinero del amor”, “Nos vamos a bailar el son”, “Cari Caridad”, y “No hay amigo”.
I’ve complied a short YouTube playlist of my favorite songs for you to enjoy and remember the great salsero.