This Week in Salsa

Today's featured salsa snack is the song El Cantante performed by Hector Lavoe.

This episode features the following music:

The Zoom International Salsa Congress is happening Saturday, April 25th! Buy your tickets now! We are hosting a Talent Show for all attendees so if you want to show off your talent (dancing, singing, juggling, baton twirling, etc) submit here!

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Joel Dominguez is on a crusade to dance with feeling. He is a native of Mexico where he was raised in a family of musicians. This upbringing fostered an early love and appreciation of Latin music.

From this early upbringing, Joel relocated to New York City by way of Dallas, where he now teaches classes with an emphasis on dancing to the musical instruments, especially the conga and the clave. In our conversation, we talk about this relationship between the dance and the music and how to dance with feeling.

Besides teaching classes in NYC, Joel also runs La Vieja Guardia social which if you are in New York is a must visit! He also runs MySalsaOnline, Joel Salsa and Dance With Feeling which are great resources for aspiring salseros. I personally have signed up for his

Salil is a PhD graduate from University of Florida where he also taught salsa classes and was vice president of The Gator Salsa Club.  He has DJed socials and run Latin nights in Gainesville and is also the founder of the Facebook group Salsa Memes for Spicy Teens.

Will is an MA student in Latin American Studies at UF (graduating in May), starting a PhD program in anthropology at Emory in August. He is a Bachata instructor at The Gator Salsa Club.

Resources mentioned on the show:

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Here is part 2 of our interview with Eddie at the Chicago Salsa Congress. If you haven't checked out part 1, do it!  

Jose Santamaria is the owner of the J.A.S. Latin Dance Academy in Santa Rosa, CA. He has been teaching Latin dance for more than ten years, and has taught in many festivals and congresses across the United States and Canada.

His style and expertise have taken him to new and exciting places like Egypt, Japan, and several countries in Europe. According to Jose, anyone can become an international dance instructor. And while the experience might be different for each person, he shared the story about what worked for him and what he thinks takes to become one.

Click on the audio player below to hear about Jose's story, his passion and knowledge for the dance, and his tips and opinions on how to stay on track to become an international instructor.

If you live or plan to visit Santa Rosa, CA and wish to take lessons with Jose, contact the J.A.S. Latin Dance Academy at (707) 293-4292 or salsa@jasdaance.com. www.jasdance.com

Mike del Campo and his wife Gina have been teaching dance for more than 20 years. They are the owners of "Del Campo Dance Studio", one of the most popular and highly rated dance studios in Sacramento, CA.

On this podcast, Mike shares his years of experience with us, and gives some tips and advice on how to teach beginners, how to deal with students who have a hard time and are clearly out of their element, what to look for in teaching assistants and even advice for people who want to open their own dance studio.

For Mike,students are a reflection of their teachers, so he makes sure all his students are well taught.Click on the player below to listen to some useful information on how to become a great dance instructor. Even if you are an expert, I'm sure you will pick up a few pointers.

The World Latin Cup is this month. Dancers from all over the world will flock to Miami Beach and attempt to impress the judges to come home with a title.
How do champions train for a dance competition? The road to any dance contest is hard, but it involves more than just learning and practicing a routine. On this Podcast episode of LDC, dance champions Will Orrock and his wife Constanza talk about how they prepare to compete. They spend hours at the dance studio, but they also train at the gym, they eat well and prepare mentally. Listen to the podcast to find out what else they do to train and win!

Will Orrock studied dance and choreography at the University of the Americas in Chile. He's a two-time South American salsa, bachata and merengue champion and also national ballroom champion in Chile. He currently teaches in the South San Francisco Bay Area. 

If you live in San Francisco and wish to train or take classes with Will and Constanza you may contact them at (408) 480-2769, or send them at e-mail: orrockw@icloud.com. You can also visit their website: http://www.wevolvedance.com/

Because sometimes it's a good idea!
Listen to Michelle Donehew talk about how she comes up with new choreography, the importance of teaching beginners and how to manage a dance team effectively in order to have a strong dance community.

Michelle was born in Hato Rey, PR, and she's been dancing since she was 9 years old. Her dance training is extensive, and includes ballet, tap, jazz musical theater, and Latin dancing. For nine years she was part of  "Salsamania", one of the most renowned dance teams in San Francisco. In 2015 she joined forces with her very talented partner Manny Villarreal to be the co-director of Sabor Latino-Oakland bachata team. She is known for her feminine, fierce, and sassy style which has helped her win many awards and championship titles in her career.

Michelle and her partner Manny Villarreal plan to shock audiences and the judges at the World Latin Cup again this December. They need our help to pay for travel and lodging expenses, so click here to help them achieve their goal, and as always, thank you for supporting our community.

DJ Mario B has been mixing tracks for more than ten years in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area. He's currently the resident DJ for the new Latin nightclub "Millennium",and he keeps everyone dancing for hours.
How? He does his homework, he pays attention to the crowd, but most of all, he loves music.

So what does it take to be a DJ?
Click on the player below to listen to "DJ Mario B's" story, including some great advice for new and aspiring nightclub DJ's.

Today's chat is with Richie Kirwan, LDC author of When Dancing Becomes Groping: Time To Clean Up the Dance Scene! Sadly, within the Latin dance community there are some shady characters. Richie sheds light on these guys and Rob gives some self-defense tips for the ladies. If you enjoyed Richie's post, you are going to love this interview!

This week's song is 'Merecumbe' by Johnny Colon, aka the birthday song, as chosen by our guest, Richie.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher. And I would REALLY appreciate you leaving a 5-star review so that more people can find out about us :)

This week's show features an interview with Jonathan Goldman. Jonathan plays trumpet for Spanglish Fly, a boogaloo bound based in NYC. If the name sounds familiar, that's because we had him on the show last year for his fantastic Fania 50-year anniversary tribute.

He's back talking about the band's new album dropping on September 18th. Listen to the show to hear the story behind many of the songs as well as sneak peek listens of top tracks.

And for those of you that listened to this episode, here's a link to the Cuarenta Dos video featured by the NY Yankees.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher. And I would REALLY appreciate you leaving a 5-star review so that more people can find out about us :)

This week's show features an interview with Del Dominguez of Mixed Motion Art Dance Academy. Del is passionate about figuring things out and refining them to the best of his ability. This goes with his dancing, his art and his teaching. Known as a refined dancer and meticulous instructor, Del’s mission is to make MMA the go-to destination for higher learning in social Latin dance.

This week's song is Mi Desengano by Roberto Roena.

Resources from this week's show:

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too!

This week's song is Fantasia by Quarter Street. I found this sweet tune courtesy of DJ Condorito so if you like it, let him know :)

Resources mentioned in today's show:

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too!

Over the past few days, one of our LDC posts has gone crazy viral! So naturally we turned it into a podcast episode :) Calling it Quits: Why Some Social Dancers are Hanging up Their Dance Shoes a powerful piece on the Latin dance community and why some dancers are opting out. And it has truly struck a chord with our readers. Hopefully it will do the same for our listeners. Enjoy!

This week’s song is Mango Mangue by Los Totos, a salsa/chacha old school tune.

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too :)

This week’s song is Stairway to Heaven (salsa version) and here is a great social dancing interpretation by Mitchell & Monica.

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too :)

This week's song is Hechicera Tú by Wuelfo and here's a beautiful social dancing rendition of the song by Andres Giraldo and Selene Tovar. 

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too :)

And this week's song is 'Mulato Rumbero' by Nacho Sanabria. Got some nice hits in there ;)

Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it leave us a review too :)

Don't forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher...and if you enjoy it leave us a review too :)

And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher :)

This week on the show, we are reviewing Rachel Cassandra's post, "So You Want to Be a Man?" On Gendered Language in Dance.

On the event calendar for the weekend ahead, we have a WORLD'S FAIR salsa congress :) But seriously, cool venue for dancing and GREAT lineup. If you are in NYC, worth checking out.

And for my random thought of the day, the Orlando Salsa Congress full weekend pass is more expensive than ever, $250! But I argue why that is a very good thing for us Joe Salseros.

LDC Song of the Week for this week is Otra Oportunidad by Jimmy Bosch!

Enjoy the podcast and remember to subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher! And if you really love us, leave a review too so that more people can discover us :)

But wait, there's more...did you know we have an event calendar? That's right, all the latin dance events coming up around the globe for you to check out. I go through some of my favorite June events (and wish I could fly like superman to all of them).

And for my random thought of the day, I talk out loud about bachata. A recent visit to Puerto Rico was devoid of any bachata music at all. This made me realize that bachata plays an essential part in the LDC ecosystem, even if you hate dancing it.

Enjoy the podcast and remember to subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher! And if you really love us, leave a review too so that more people can discover us :)

Great post this week by Chilly Alisar on the different kinds of leaders. Check out my recap and some personal thoughts about leading!

Oh and below is the Adolfo shine I'm currently learning :)

Remember to leave us a review on Stitcher and iTunes and we'll give you a shoutout on the show!

Remember to leave us a review on Stitcher and iTunes and we'll give you a shoutout on the show!

Free Hugs. We get them every day in life and also when we dance. Today we explore the social etiquette around hugging and salsa as told in Free Hugs by Brisbane Salsero. Enjoy!

Remember to leave us a review on Stitcher and iTunes and we'll give you a shoutout on the show!

I came across a super cool technology this week, SoloShot, which follows you around and records you! I know, sounds creepy, but also super useful for salseros who want more video of their dancing. Today I discuss this tech (with myself), enjoy!

Oh and here's the link to the prior episode I did on cool future technologies for the dance floor.

Remember to leave us a review on Stitcher and iTunes and we'll give you a shoutout on the show!

Back in October of 2014, I met with the organizers of TEDxUF, the largest TEDx conference in the southeast, about an idea for a talk. Over the past six years, salsa dancing has completely changed my life and I wanted to share my experiences on stage. The organizers loved the idea and so did I, so I got the green light for A Brave New Salsa Dancing World.

Flash forward a month, and I've made no real progress on my talk. I had a rough outline but there were lots of holes in the story and, most importantly, I had no ending. Driving in the car, I was thinking of how to end this talk. Could it be with a dance, something motivational, funny?

Then, I got a text. It was from my girlfriend (who I first met at a salsa social) and it read "Love you, muah". BAMMM!  It hit me like a train. I knew exactly how I was going to end this talk. I was going to propose to my girlfriend on stage. It both excited and terrified me at the same time.

I spent the next 4 months living a double life. On one side, I worked with my girlfriend to build up the talk that she thought I was going to give, which included her dancing on stage. And on the other side, I worked on the talk I was actually going to give. The whole facade came close to crumbling down on numerous occasions: almost sending her the wrong draft of the talk for review or saying lines seemingly out of order to her as we practiced together.

Then the day finally came. I don't know which made me more nervous, giving a complete TED talk from memory (c'mon, powerpoint is for amateurs) or getting down on one knee to ask the love of my life to marry me. Probably a little of both.

Once I began my talk, all of the nerves that had built up over the past 5 months, the planning, writing, editing, re-editing, re-re-editing....it all just melted away. I was in the zone, hitting on every point in my Memory Palace.

But as I neared the conclusion of my talk, something dawned on me. I was about to propose in front of 1500 people! You can see the exact moment where this realization occurs, right after we finish dancing for our second time. I sound quite winded from the dancing. Lies...all lies. I dance salsa all the time, so 30 seconds of dancing is not going to put a dent in me. Me sucking wind is entirely due to forgetting to breathe for a moment as I let my girlfriend head back off stage. I suddenly realize that I have 4 more lines before the backstage organizers will re-introduce her into the talk (push her back on stage).

As I delivered those last few lines, it felt exactly like going skydiving. When you head up in that plane, the instructor

This week on the show we are revisiting Jason Haynes great post putting together his salsa congress dream team, entitled "The Greatest Salsa Congress....Ever!". 

I hope you enjoy the show and don’t forget to tell friends to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher!

Today on the podcast we are recapping a great article written by Jazley Faith entitled "Bailando! College Students Get Their Salsa On". I dance salsa in a college town and teach for the Gator Salsa Club here in Gainesville so this recap of a night out salsa dancing at college definitely sounds familiar. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy the show and don’t forget to tell friends to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes andStitcher!

Today on the LDC podcast, we are doing a recap of one of the posts from this week, When your non-dancing spouse doesn’t support your dance life. It's a very relevant and timely post for me since I just got engaged last week!

I hope you enjoy the show and don't forget to tell friends to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher!

Daybert Linares Diaz is a contributor to LDC and recently published a post entitled "CUBAN MUSIC: TO BE OR NOT TO BE PLAYED FOR SALSA DANCERS?". Today on the podcast, we are speaking with Daybert about this post and elaborating on the current lack of Cuban music in the salsa scene and why this music should be reintroduced at socials and congresses.

Daybert is a Ph.D. student of contemporary Latin American Literature with a focus on the Caribbean at the University of Maryland, College Park. Born and raised in Cuba, Daybert has taught Cuban dance in the United States for over five years now, having held workshops in cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, New York, and Washington, D.C. He is also the editor of "Son y Casino," the only blog dedicated to both the Cuban dance of casino and son music, which he updates regularly with informative pieces which deal with this small part of Cuban culture.

Some Resources From Today's Show:

Remember to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and Stitcher…and leave us a 5-star!

Soldiers Who Salsa is on a mission to enhance and enrich the lives of active and retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families through a unique program incorporating therapeutic and social dancing with a variety of music and professional instruction.

Today on the LDC podcast we are interviewing founder Jennifer Ables and former patient/volunteer Matt Owens to learn more about the program and the good that it is doing in the lives of those in the armed forces around the world.

Today on the show I am chatting with Richie Kirwan, contributor at LDC and The Dancing Irishman, about some of his latest posts including The Best Salsero You Can Be and What to do when you FFF&#K up while dancing. If you read Richie's stuff (and really who doesn't), this is a must-listen where we take a deeper dive into the ideas behind these posts and plenty more. Enjoy!

Remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher. And I would REALLY appreciate you leaving a 5-star review so that more people can find out about us :)

Earlier this month, Jonathan Goldman wrote an excellent piece on Fania's fifty-year anniversary, aptly named "Fania at Fifty". In the article, Goldman paints the picture of the Latin music scene in the 1960's and 1970's. He discusses the rise of salsa and the decline of Latin boogaloo and the controversy.

The article is a must read for every salsero, seriously, read it now. My interview with Goldman sheds even more light on this boogaloo/salsa transition at Fania and was a truly enlightening interview for me.

Jonathan Goldman teaches literature and writing at the New York Institute of Technology. He is author of Modernist Is the Literature of Celebrity (and has written about culture and hisotry for such publications as The Paris Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Open Letters Monthly, James Joyce Quarterly, Novel and Narrative. As a musician, he leads the Latin boogaloo band, 

Body isolation is simply moving one or multiple parts of your body without moving any others. You see this often in hip hop dancing but it's useful for salsa, too. For example, when you see a salsa dancer roll their shoulders forward and back in beat with the music, that is an example of isolating the shoulders.

Why do we want it?

The best salsa dancers can isolate parts of their body to better interpret the music. It brings a fluidity to your dance that separates beginner and intermediate dancers from the advanced salseros. 

How do we get it?

Today, we're doing part 1 in a series called back to basics. One of the most common moves in salsa is the cross body lead. As much practice as we get on this, it's incredible how often beginner and intermediate dancers get this wrong.

This one move is the building block of so many other moves in salsa dancing. The goal of the cross body lead is for the leader to bring the follower from one side of the line to the other. Remember, in LA and NY style dancing, we dance back and forth on a line. If the leader is facing north and follower south on a straight line, by the end of the cross body lead, the leader is now facing south and follower north.

For the first 4 counts, the leader should be getting off the line. Now that the follower has an unobstructed view, she can dance across the line on the next 4 count. By the end of this 8 count of dancing, the two have switched positions.

The song chosen for today was originally sung by Hector Lavoe and is a classic that you will hear all the time in social dancing. The main theme of the song is that bad shit happens and you have to remain positive, then one day your luck will change. But on deeper inspection Hector is singing from a point of desperation, not determination. 

Check out the episode here to get the rest of my thoughts on the song. I would love to hear your opinion of this song and if I missed anything in the translation or if there is subtext related to Hector's history that influenced this song. And for a word by word translation of 'El Dia de mi Suerte', check it out on YouTube.