I, Robot ‘Salsa’ – Quiro the dancing robot.

So, I remember seeing this video a long time ago. It is basically that they had made a robot in Japan that could dance (pretty close) to human motions. So, in this video they played some salsa song and programmed the robot to dance to it (however, some parts don't really look like salsa… but come on – its a freakin' robot, what can we expect). It does show you how advanced the robotics engineers are in Japan. I like the details of when he shakes his butt, his eyes change color. That was funny.

The David Stein On2 Challenge : The One Month Program

Ok, so I just came back from my lesson with the great San Diego Dancer – David Stein from Majesty In Motion. However, I received undelightful news. Basically it boils down that I may have some ok moves, but my timing is off when I perform those moves. So he said one of the girls I danced with at congress mentioned that my timing was off – and when he mentioned that, my heart stopped… because I became very worried if it might have been the female dancer that I liked. (So, now I'm worried I dissapointed her). Anyways, he basically proposed a challenge – 1 month, On2, no crazy patterns, just simple moves, on beat all the time. Of course this is also adding the body movement stuff I just finished re-learning for the 4th time. He says that if I follow this "On2 Diet", I should be good in no time flat.

So, since is also a type of blog, every week for 4 weeks, I will be giving you my progress on how
everything is going – with my trials and tribulations. I will take the month of September to get this done, so that I could be ready for the San Diego Salsa-Mambo Congress.

For those who want to follow at home – I've came up with a schedule that fits my situation that will practice timing and body movements.

Week 1 Schedule
8:30am (before breakfast)	Do body isolation excercises for my shoulders. 15 rotations each shoulder (while maintaining hands inplace). really stretching.
9:30am (driving to work)	Doing  shimmies in the car. Holding the steering wheel with both hands (at 11 and 2 o clock), and make sure I'm only moving the rib-cage to create the effect. Do this while listening to salsa (and paying attention to the 2 beat)
12pm lunch	Do more shoulder isolations in front of the mirror at the workplace bathroom. Another 15 rotations on each shoulder.
7pm	If no salsa class tonight… listen to salsa on my iPod while I dance On2 by myself. Do this for at least 2-3 songs. Maybe do more while doing other chores. Will also practice side-step with shoulder coordination. (Putting shoulder isolations to practice with basic step).
Club Night	If dancing at a club, only dance on2. And if you dance, you must not do any complicated patterns. Stick to doing simple turns/crossbody leads/simple fundamental patterns – but make sure they are all done on the correct beat/number and on the on2 time.

So, hopefully I will update this next Friday with a new schedule – but I will start this today (Aug 31st)! Let's see how it turns out.

More Salsa Salvaje Lessons (awesome!)

I felt like we needed more Salsa Salvaje lessons on this slow wednesday morning! Enjoy!

Just to answer a few questions that keep coming up…

So, I decided to write a quick article on what is going on with the website. For those who don’t know, my name is Anthony Persaud and I am the creator, founder, maintainer, designer….. ..blah. .blah….. of Addicted2Salsa. I wanted to clear that up because I get the whole: "Oh, so you are the one in charge of the California section?" or "Oh, you only take care of the Iowa section?" — and no, I take care of everything. The website is run by thousands of lines of code (yes, thousands….). (or as Ted Stevens likes to say – its run by a series of interconnecting tubes [see video - its hilarious]).

Why do I bring this up, well, I have been slow in updating the website with content, fixing it and making new episodes of the podcast. One of the main reasons is that I do not have internet at my apartment (yeah, I live in the sucky part of San Diego), so I only get time to work on the website, well.. at work. And its pretty hard when you work 50 hrs a week to get extra time to work on the website.

The second big thing is that I am trying to save money to get a new MacBook Pro (your donations will help) so that I can start editing video and audio for podcasts again. I’m would like to get all of the previous episodes recorded and make a DVD image so that I can distribute it. But currently I’m borrowing someone else’s laptop just to do the audio podcasts.

In addition, I’m trying to fix the bandwidth issues with the site – and therefore I will start migrating the site over to a new hosting company. I’m hoping this transition goes smoothly and transparently over Labor Day Weekend. (You should not notice any change — I hope).

Also, because I’m also working on a new version of the website — I know some stuff (links) don’t might be broken – though I really like everyone helping me find them, so I can fix them. I know there is a request to add more countries/cities/states to the list — so I’m also working on that. So, just giving you a heads up answering most of these questions, so you know that I do read the emails and will try and fix all the issues.
Remember, I’m just one guy with a borrowed laptop managing the whole addicted2salsa site. So Thank You for your patience and continued support!

Thanks again and keep visiting,

Anthony Persaud

More information about the ‘El Cantante’ movie…

Thanks to Kanemaster for the update!

Producer: Julio Caro, Simon Fields, Jennifer Lopez, David Maldonado
Screenplay: David Darmstaedter, Leon Ichaso
Cinematographer: Claudio Chea
Editor: David Tedeschi
Production Designer: Sharon Lomofsky
Sound: Danny A. Abeckaser
Music: Willie Colón
Principal Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, John Ortiz, Vincent Laresca, Manny Perez

Bring on the Nuyorican soul. This biography of Hector Lavoe, salsa music’s celebrated vocalist, luxuriates in vibrant musical numbers, heart-wrenching drama and the palpable chemistry between chart-topping superstars – and real-life husband and wife – Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.

Hector (Anthony) is a humble Puerto Rican singer who feels the pull of stardom leading him to the United States in the early sixties. Once in New York, he quickly captures the attention of the local musicians – impressed by his emotive singing style – and Puchi (Lopez), a tough-talking beauty who becomes Hector’s advisor as well as his one true love. She gives him the confidence he needs to partner with his long-time collaborator, trombonist Willie Colón ( John Ortiz), and their label, Fania Records – and to pioneer a sound combining Puerto Rican and American influences: salsa.

His natural charisma and arresting voice means he rides high on sold-out concerts, dozens of hits and best-selling albums, but Hector can’t escape the allure of drugs and the pain of his father’s rejection. Even Puchi ultimately throws up her hands at his unwavering self-sabotage. As she says: "Love is never perfect when it’s real love."

As the couple move from the glory days of the seventies to the bleak realities of the eighties, their relationship flames out in wrenching scenes of personal tragedy. El Cantante purges its difficult emotions with a touching final tribute, as director Leon Ichaso incorporates footage of the real-life Lavoe’s funeral in 1993, for which thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets to pay their respects.

The stellar performances make this end seem all the more poignant and proud. The fabulous Lopez delivers the goods as Puchi: all tight dresses, oversized sunglasses and sexy New York brass. Anthony is a revelation, bringing a pitch-perfect combination of charm and vulnerability to the endearing but star-crossed Hector. His captivating vocals adorn re-recordings of Lavoe’s hits – an unforgettable repertoire of classic songs that enrich the story with all the lustiness, joy and heartbreak this music conveys – in entrancing concert set-pieces. El Cantante is a must-see, a tale of love and loss set to an irresistible clave beat.

One of my favorite videos….

So, its Tuesday, and well I like to share videos that inspire me to keep practicing. Here is one of my favorite instructors, Milton Cobo (and his Brother) are some of the greatest salsa dancers I’ve met. I really like their style very much (especially the special Cobo-CrossBody Lead). Even more fun, they are from North Carolina!

Olivia Dasso & Juan Matos

Another great clip from two famous dancers! Olivia and Juan Matos. Its interesting to note that they both shares similar dancing styles and body-movements… hmm… I wonder why? Also, I think someone is trying to figure out the name of this song, so if anyone knows the name, please post it in the comments section. Thanks to Patrick again for the clip!

Salsa Clip of the Week: Salsa Salvaje from Seattle

I’d like to give a shout-out to Patrick (one of our salsa fans here in San Diego) for finding the link to this video. I think this video is awesome because it is the ’salsa style’ that I wish to perfect. The name of the group is Salsa Salvaje (which means "Savage Salsa"). This is a short small clip of lesson at China Harbor in Seattle by Marcello and Coco. I might have to visit Seattle to see these guys in action. Great video for the archive!

Salsa Tip #108: 50% of the dance is personality…

Now, we talk about technique, combos, rhythm and timing. We also talk about body movements, styling and footwork. However, we keep forgetting that the main part of the dance is the personality and attitude. Anyone can be a great technical dancer — however, many people forget that personality is really what makes the dance entertaining. A simple rule — always smile! There have been many times when I see dancers just be all stressed and flustered over the dance, they forget to make eye-contact with their partner and smile. Smiling helps their partner know they are having a good time, which enhances the chemistry between the both of you.

How do you express your personality? Well, easy…. just be yourself. Find the salsa style that you like, that lets you have fun in the dance floor — and your personality will naturally come out. I know it is very hard for beginners to ‘cut-loose’ and not worrying about doing the combination right, or for the ladies to make sure they are paying attention to the leader. But, even if you don’t know a lot of combos, you can use your basic step and spice it up with your own style and personality. When your personality shows, (and hopefully is a fun one), more people are going to want to dance with you because it will seem more natural and fun.

And please for God sake… don’t chew gum while you dance! Use breath mints instead… (Of course, you should brush your teeth before you go out to the club)

Salsa Episode 20 : The Classics Songs

So, I have decided to change things up a bit. This is our first audio podcast episode. Again, first episodes are always very….low quality becuase half the time I don't know how to do one, and we learn as we go (If you ever see our salsa video episodes 1-4, and compare them to 12-19 — you'll see the difference). Anyway, feedback is always useful to make the content better.

Here is the salsa music guide as: (the song in parenthesis is the background playing song)

- (Intro) Lalo Rodriguez : (Devorame Otra Vez)

- Hector Lavoe : (Barrunto), Todo Tiene Su Final
- Willie Colon: (Idilio), La Murga
- Justo Betancourt: Pa'Bravo Yo
- Frankie Ruiz : A bunch of mixes
- Andy Montanez : Payaso
- El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico : (La Muerte – Live) Me Libere

- (Ending) Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz : (Aguzate)

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From On1 to On2, and the Salsa Immune System

So, I’ve decided to dedicate my whole time to getting good at On2. No dammit, I’m going to be great. (I have to keep talking myself into it). Swear to God, I have now relived every salsero’s nightmare — the ’salsa hell’ stage in life. Its even worse trying to learn on2, when you are also trying to impress a girl on a dance floor.

It used to be I went through salsa hell on1; and I had overcome that and it was like an anvil being lifted off a sponge. Now, here I go again, acting like a beginner just to get on2 correct. And see, the problem is not that I don’t know on2 — the problem is that I know on1. My body tries to auto-compensate and auto-correct itself back t on1. It feels like when you get an organ transplant – how your body tries to reject it because its foreign…. well, that’s what exactly is happening. My body is trying to reject On2 with its ‘On1′ immune system (autocorrection mechanism).

Of course the hard part about learning On2 (other than fighting my own body and brain), is really all the skills and talents that are already programmed for On1. Here is the deal — not all combinations or footwork go according to plan on the dance floor. So as we are doing a combination with the lady, lets say something goes wrong — my body lets the lady go and starts doing on1 footwork (instead of on2) and the — poof, the counting goes out the door. The counting helps, but only when my feet are listening. I basically ended up remember how hard it was for guys to learn how to lead — its a lot of things to juggle on the dancefloor.

Its really sad though because I danced with this really "NICE" girl, but she forced me to dance on2, and crap – I was like a little kid learning how to ride a bike. Things went ‘ok’, nothing impressive with some mistaked, but all the time in my head I’m like dreaming of telling her something like: ‘ohh girl, if you could dance with me on1, I’m a totally different person, and you would be smiling more… ‘. She did smile, and it looks authentic – but I know I could do better next time. There is no feeling like the one when you dance such a great dance with the lady that she feels like an atheist just being touched by the Holy Spirit.

Can I get an Amen?!
 

This is why he is Frankie Martinez!

If you don’t know who Frankie Martinez is, you should watch this video. He is friggin fast, with great body isolations and control. If you ever get a chance to see him live or take a lesson from him — YOU SHOULD!

Salsa Episode 19 : The DPS Lock Combo

In honor of Steve Jobs' Keynote address at the Apple Computer WWDC, I decided to release this video today.

So, another funny combo name. DPS stands for 'Department of Public Safety'. I got arrested one time at Iowa State University for carrying a door down the street (oops!), and the way they lock your arms is the same way you do it to the follow. The reason for this name is because its a variation on both creating a wrap with the lady, but also having both arms in a kind of hammerlock position.

This salsa combo is kind of tricky to perform, so practice it various times at home to get the timing down: especially the mechanics of moving around the lady and moving their arm down (so you don't break it).

So the lesson for today? If you ever get arrested, you might be learning how to dance as well…