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Time: September 10, 2009 at 8pm to September 11, 2009 at 1:45am
Location: Cafe Cocomo
Street: 650 Indiana St
City/Town: San Francisco
Website or Map: http://www.CafeCocomo.com
Event Type: salsa, mambo, chachacha, latin, jazz
Organized By: Cafe Cocomo
Latest Activity: 1 day ago

salsa class with

Jake (SalsabyJake.com)

Live music with
Edgardo & Orq Candela
plus
DJ Fab Freddy

Time: September 11, 2009 at 8:30pm to September 12, 2009 at 2am
Location: The Beat Dance Studios
Street: 2560 9th st
City/Town: Berkeley
Website or Map: http://www.Afinkao.com
Event Type: salsa, mambo, chachacha, latin, jazz
Organized By: Afinkao Dance Co
Latest Activity: 1 day ago

Class with
Afinkao Dance Co 830 pm

music by
EldelaClave
and guest DJ
DJ Super Chino

Time: September 11, 2009 at 10pm to September 12, 2009 at 1:30am
Location: Club Monteros
Street: Solano Ave
City/Town: Albany
Website or Map: http://www.ClubMonteros.com
Event Type: salsa, mambo, chachacha, latin, jazz
Organized By: Club Monteros
Latest Activity: 1 day ago

So we ran across this video from Dancing With The Stars season 7. This was suppose to be a Mambo performed by Kim Kardashian and Mark Ballas to the old school Rap song, “Baby Got Back” buy Sir Mix a lot. Appart form this not being a mambo in any regard, it turned out to be one funny video-

This performance is the exact opposite of a latin dance but it is HILARIOUS to watch. In interview held backstage on the second night of “Dancing with the Stars” they revealed that the producers of the show actually picked the song for them and were responsible for causing this embarrassment to latin danicn. This is a really good example of why the show has no credibility amongst real dancers— it is all a show. However you look at it, this is comical to watch to say the least.

Take a look at the video and let us know what you think-

~J and Elizabeth

This is of a group of 6th grade students from an local elementary school performing a salsa routine that Elizabeth and I created for them for their school talent show, “Showtime at the Creek”. These students had only about a month to learn the routine and get ready for the performance in front of over 200 of their peers, parents and teachers. 

Dulce Armendariz, a former student of ours works with the kids at their school and invited us to come teach the students how to dance. The kids expressed interest interests in doing something different for their school talent show,  as all the other acts consisted of hip hop dances, rappers and pop singers. Dulce had suggested the idea of salsa dancing to them and everything turned out fantastic! Most of the people in that elementary had never before seen latin dancing or even heard of Salsa music so it was really exciting to see the kids getting exposed to something for the first time.

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I have been lucky enough to have come across Brazilian Samba. I love this form of dance. Brazilian Samba is different than Ballroom style Samba Dancing because it is danced in a line… two lines facing each other to be more exact. Brazilian Samba also happens to be one of the best forms of work out on the planet. You move your entire body in an extremely sensual way, this is very fitting considering how sensual the Brazilian culture is

Brazilian Samba Dancers.

Here in Dallas we have a Brazilian Samba Dance troupe called “Samba Dallas.” It is great because Samba Dallas is run buy a guy name Humberto Araujo, who is straight from Brazil. Every time he goes back to Brazil he learns new dance routines and brings them back to us and teaches them. It is amazing. The way the move their body flat out resembles the romantic act itself. In fact almost ever single song is about sex. The way Samba dancers dance… I mean the really good ones blows my mind. That is how come I took Samba lessons with Humberto. It has made a huge difference on my Salsa dancing. Brazilian Samba has helped me with my body movement.

All different kinds of dancing make your particular style very much better and more unique. Cookie cutter dancing is not worth it.

Here are a couple of videos of Brazilian Samba dancing.

This Memorial Day weekend we got the pleasure of seeing Edgar Cruz this past weekend. Edgar was very impressive because he is able to perform songs that for most people would take a 5 man band.

He walked on stage, I had never seen Edgar Cruz before but everyone around me went crazy for him. He was wearing a blue, long sleeve shirt. Edgar must have been very hot because it was at least 90 degrees outside and he was sweating. He started playing his guitar with no pick. He showed us his right hand that had acrylic nails on it that were filed down to a point. The almost looked like claws, but he used them as guitar picks.

When he started to play everyone listened intently. Edgar played a drum-like percussion instrument that I had never seen before. It was a brown strip of what looked like plastic that he tapped with his foot. The instrument made a sound similar to a heart beat. Edgar played Bohemian Rhapsody among other well know songs and was an absolute crown favorite!

Edgar Cruz with Elizabeth and Jay

Cheryl and Gilles Marini dancing a Salsa on Dancing With the Stars. Ok so for the most part I have been decently impressed by the dancing on Dancing With the Stars. I was not very impressed with Cheryl and Gilles when they did their salsa dance to a remix, of sorts, to Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me.”

Here is the thing though. Every congress I go to and even most nights I go out I see something way cooler than the routine they did. Hell I do cooler routines than that with Jay on a regular basis just playing around at the club. I guess that means we are a little spoiled doesn’t it? We get to see amazing dancing on such a regular basis. Also, it is important to keep in mind these stars on Dancing With the Stars are not dancers, they are just about everything else, but they are not used to the dances they are dancing.

I did like how much energy the put into the routine and Gilles sure can roll his body and oh la la can he shake his hips! Gilles also seems to be a very safe dipper, meaning it looks like when he dips Cheryl she feels safe and secure and not like she is about to fall down. That is crucial to not only making a dip look good, but to ensuring the lady or gentleman you are dancing with will want to dance with you again. Cheryl and Gilles also kept the spirit of salsa alive during that routine, they did a lot of rump shaking and kept the sexuality of the dance alive.

Check out the routine here and comment on this post what you think of it.

Dancing With the Stars