We have salsa lessons this Friday, March 3rd!!!! (Thanks Todd)

Well, first of all we should ALL thank Todd Steffen (you can leave a comment) for getting us a room this Friday for Salsa dance lessons! So, after the long hiatus, especially from living it up in salsa heaven at the 2006 Chicago Salsa Congress, we will host lessons this Friday, 7pm-9pm in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union. (Note the room change). So, if you have been itching to ask questions, learn new moves after Hotel Fort Des Moines, or want to just have fun — come and learn more salsa styling, techniques and patterns.

It will be a very BIG room — so bring lots of people!! Take advantage of the classes, because due to room reservations, we do not know when our next lesson might be. I have been told that our lessons are less expensive and more entertaining than other instructors, so come try us out even if you live in Des Moines! (Thanks for the positive feedback)

Again, Addicted 2 Salsa dance lessons by Anthony:

Where: Gallery Room, Memorial Union, Ames, IA
When: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: $3 per lesson (other donations are also appreciated)

Watch the Salsa dance episodes on Google Video!

Now you can watch the Addicted 2 Salsa videos on the internet (without iTunes)! They are now available for FREE on Google Video. So, wherever you are, you can always practice what we can teach you. You can view the episodes online at: http://video.google.com/

We have more videos on the way, but remember, if you would like us to have an episode on a specific subject, move or technique, let us know using the contact form on the website. We are here to help as best as we can! Thanks for your support!

The King of the Hard Hands, Ray Barretto Dies at 76

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ray Barretto, the Latin conga drummer best known for his 1960s hit "El Watusi," died on Friday at a New Jersey hospital, a family spokesman said. He was 76.

Barretto died at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, George Rivera said in a statement. Barretto had undergone heart bypass surgery in January, according to press reports.

 Music critics said Barretto was key to the introduction of the driving salsa beat of the conga drum to jazz music.

 "The first thing that came to my mind was passion," said Nat Hentoff, a noted jazz critic and columnist at The Village Voice in New York. "I first heard him with (fellow percussionist and bandleader) Tito Puente, who had this enormous spirit and sense of polyrhythm, and Ray was able to keep right up with him."

 Jason Koransky, editor of the jazz magazine DownBeat, said, "The two musics, Latin and jazz, had a long history of intersecting, and they intertwined because of artists such as Ray."

 "El Watusi" was released in 1962 and made it to the top 20 of the U.S. pop charts the following year. Barretto won a Grammy Award in 1989 for his performance of "Ritmo en el Corazon" with Celia Cruz.

The son of immigrants from Puerto Rico, New York-born Barretto played alongside jazz greats including Puente, Art Blakey and Lou Donaldson.

 

For More info: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/ap/entertainment/mainD8FR01NO0.shtml

HOT SALSA FRIDAY – Best Night!

Join us for HOT SALSA FRIDAY @ CRUSH. If there is one club event worth attending this would be it. With the freshest Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton, Bachata, Cumbia and Hip Hop. Come catch a glimpse of the newest hot spot in DES MOINES.

I ask everyone who can, to go to this event to start another ONGOING SALSA EVENT!! Please support latin events in Iowa by attending!!!

Why Salsa?

People always ask me how long I’ve been dancing salsa. Easy answer: going on five years now. Occasionally, people ask me how I got started, which is probably a better question. So I wrote a rather lengthy article which answered it and served as an excuse for me to show off my knowledge of contemporary Latin dance forms and their respective histories. Even after reading that article the most inquisitive minds would probably still end up asking yet another question: Why Salsa? Why Salsa at all? Why keep at it? Why live and breathe it? Why not something else? Easy answer…

Well there isn’t just one…

The point I’m most apt to make about salsa is that is it’s a partnered dance. So generally speaking, you have to dance with someone. Personally, I think our culture is overdue for a club dance form that puts lovers back in each other’s arms instead of simply locking perfect strangers’ buttocks to pelvis; but that’s just me. Salsa means dancing face to face with someone on a floor that you won’t get stuck to if you stand still too long. Salsa means walking across a room that’s not so packed it’s violating the fire code so that you can take a lady by the hand instead of by er- anything else. It gives couples new and old a bit of kindling to keep the fire going. Salsa gives the casual romantic a place to belong, and may very well mark the reintroduction of chivalry into our otherwise barbaric society. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not expecting any of the Latin dances to usher in a new utopian era. But when world peace does finally roll around, I bet we’ll all be dancing Salsa Rueda to Tito Nieves’ La Salsa Vive.

Salsa’s partnering aspect makes it a great way to meet people but it also leaves a lot of room for personal expression. I love the opportunity to really get down and to do it in my own way. There’s a uniqueness about every salsa dancer no matter their skill level that you don’t necessarily find in Hip-Hop for example. And then there’s the regional differences. Salsa in Boston has a different flavor from the salsa in Miami, which has a different flavor from the Salsa in London. It’s really amazing how a worldwide sub-culture can stay so paradoxically diverse and unified at the same time. I’d say it eventually all comes back to the music.

A lot of salsa enthusiasts will point out the music as being one of the main reasons they can’t get enough of it. There’s a lot to be said about that. Salsa music is very potent. There’s so much energy and emotion in the score and lyrics. It’s practically timeless. In a salsa club, the DJ can play a track that’s over 20 years old and the word “old-school” never crosses anyone’s mind. The rhythms of salsa have always been pertinent and always will be. A genre that is best enjoyed in the presence of a live band has a definitive edge. With a brass section blaring, vocalists harmonizing, and claves syncopating just feet away, you don’t have to know the steps at all. You just can’t help it. You have to dance.

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Latin Dance Forever Valentine’s Party!!

Tuesday, February 14 – 2006
 

Dear Salseros Friends & Students Join us to Celebrate Valentine’s Day!  
Best Western Golden Sails Hotel (PCH Club)
6285 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. Long Beach, CA  (562) 596 2332
With the Hottest Live Band & Guest DJs in LA! Dancing All Night Long
Playing the Best Salsa, Descarga, Rumba, Merengue, Cha Cha, and more… 
7:30 -  8:30pm. Salsa Lessons  Beg/ Int/ Adv. 
8:30pm Live Salsa Band " Sensacion Latina "
Guest Djs: from Peru, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia..etc…

Tickets in Advanced  $12.00 (Dance Lessons & Dancing) or $15.00 (At the Door)
Dancing only $7.00 (in advanced) or $10.00 (at the door)* Doors Open from 7:30pm * Dress to Impress * All ages Welcome! * Free Parking * Purchase & Reservation Tickets must be received in any of our locations or by e-mail to LatinDance4ever@aol.com , before January 31
Phone: (562) 923 9625 (562) 861 9374
www.LatinDanceForever.com

Support us…please donate! Thanks. (UPDATED)

I’d like to thank the people with their positive feedback on our podcasts and website. We appreciate it very much and it keeps us motivated. We do ask that if you feel we really help your salsa life, you can help us keep the videos coming by donating what you can. (We are paying everything out of our own pockets…)

(button should work now)
This is what we are planning to use the donations for:

1. A tripod stand for the video-camera (couple of feet high)
2. Final Cut Express (video editing software)
3. Garage Band 3 (for audio editing podcasting)
4. Pay our monthly bandwidth and webhosting service bill ($20+/month)
5. Keep the addicted2salsa.com web address
6. Fix the computer doing the video editing…. (yep, its broken)
7. New imagevue picture gallery software (to make photo albums easier)
8. Pay the costs of having the email newsletter sent out ($5/month FEEDBLITZ)

Thanks again to those who support us! (Wherever in the world you are..) We hope to have a thank you page soon to those who donate!

Share a ride, room, or company to Chicago Salsa Congress

So, I’ve received emails and phone calls of people looking for rides to chicago, or need to find someone to share a room, or just to get company so they don’t drive alone to Chicago for the 2006 International Salsa Congress!.

If you would like to find someone who needs to go to congress, leave a message in the message board and hopefully someone will reply to it. Congress registration ends soon, so make you arrangements as soon as possible!

You can leave your message in the message board here:
http://addicted2salsa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

New Salsa Music for 2006 Victor Vega

Local New York Salsa singer Victor Vega is working on his second salsa album. We have managed to get some snippets to sample on the web and demos. Click on the links below to sample the teasers:

Como tu quieres
Me dices Que Te Vas
Now I Know
Viviendo En Pecado

To learn more about Victor check out http://www.addicted2salsa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19

Salsa Episode 9 : Another Rushed Episode

Well, another episode from filming in Ames…. yes, its another rushed episode, so we didn't have time to reherse because our students were walking through the door…. we apologize.. Anyway, in this episode, we each a very simple turning combo that taps into a reverse-open-break. Then, the ladies will open (and maybe wink) and finish turning while the lead picks them up to finish with a cross-body lead.., I hope you enjoy it… 

Salsa Episode 8 : MagicDrop Hands with Copa

So, we sort of rushed this episode out the door… hopefully we will find some time to actually make an episode with some organization behind it.. In this episode of the salsa podcast, we show you how to do some 'magichands' drop, a quick hammerlock to a cross-body lead, and then to a copa for the ladies. Again, we will setup a donation system through paypay since we are running out of funds and would like to have better podcasts! PLEASE DONATE! Thanks!