Bachata Madness

Salsa Dancing – A Sensuous Addiction.

Last week we discussed the various influences that created salsa music. Naturally, with the evolution and melding of different countries and rhythms has come a variation of different styles of salsa dancing. Again, the style of salsa that you dance will depend on where you live and what is most commonly danced in the area where you reside as well as what your personal preference of style is. Additionally, your heritage may come into play. Are you Colombian, Puerto Rican, Italian, Cuban, Mexican, from New York, Miami… In San Francisco or New York you might hear someone ask you, “On1 or On 2”. This does not mean what is your drug of choice. Unless, of course, you’re addicted to salsa.

In Puerto Vallarta what has been most commonly danced is ‘On1’ or LA style, but you will also see quite a bit of Cuban salsa, and Colombian salsa which is also called Cumbia especially on most nights at J&B Nightclub. Colombian style salsa consists of moving your feet back or to the side. There aren’t too many fancy tricks, turns, or spins in Colombian style – except if you are competing or are a professional dancer.  It’s a more casual, calmer but lively style of social dancing. Personally, I think the music is redundant and the moves are boring, but if there is no other option, I gotta keep moving my feet. So let’s talk a little a bit about the Cuban style you might see in “La Bode.” There is often a great band from Cuba on a yearly contract playing at that fun little place on the malecon.

Cuban style salsa is a more male-dominated ‘macho’ dance. All salsa is really, but Cuban style is more than the Los Angeles or New York style. This is because this style of dance is restrictive to the woman. Cuban Salseros grip the women’s wrists in a way that restricts her from extending her arms, fingers or doing any sexy styling. After a while, the woman gets bored because her freedom of movement and creativity becomes limited.  There are some popular contemporary bands, however, that play faster rhythms and allow for the woman to dance solo and display her beautiful, rhythmic body movements. I’m all for that! Dancing should always allow for creativity and freedom of movement. This leads me to the more popular Casino Rueda..

Casino Rueda, also known as Salsa Casino or Salsa Rueda, is Cuban style salsa danced in a circle. It incorporates Afro-Cuban elements such as Son and Rumba and combines turns patterns and intricate combinations that are inspired from the 1950’s Rock n’ Roll craze. In this exciting dance, couples form a circle in which one person calls or signals the different moves. It’s a fast paced, beautifully synchronized, exciting dance. You can learn Casino Rueda at Shanti Studio here in Puerto Vallarta.

Many salseros who have mastered On1 salsa are beginning to take up On2 rhythms. Both salsa styles are linear.  The main difference between the two styles is the approach to styling, and the ebb and flow of movement which begins on different breaks in the measure of the song. On1 is very flashy incorporating many flips and dips as you advance in the dance. It uses the contemporary mambo basic but executes the step by breaking forward on count ‘1’.  

New York style or On2  is more like Mambo. This style incorporates body waves, free style footwork, shines, rib cage movements and shimmying displaying smooth, rhythmic body movements. The counts are on ‘4’ and ‘8’ and is also known as Eddie Torres style. 

You’ll see more On1 and On2 dancers usually at Candela Pura here in PV or as far as Bucerias at the Twisted Rose or Don Pedro’s in Sayulita.

No style is any better than the other. In fact, many dancers take the time to learn different styles because soon you find that certain songs are complimented better by certain styles. The more important thing is to develop your own sense of style by taking classes, workshops, listening to music, discussing concepts with your salsa dancing friends and just having FUN!! After all, salsa dancing to many is the drug of choice.

Marcella Castellanos teaches salsa at Yoga Vallarta. You can contact her via Facebook or Twitter at Latin Motion PV or at www.latinmotionpv.com or visit her blog at http://latinmotionpv.blogspot.com/.

How I got started with Salsa and Latin Motion PV

Hola, my name is Marcella Castellanos and I am a self-proclaimed Latin Dance FREAK. My boyfriend often says, “Honey, if I don’t learn how to dance, you and I won’t last long.” Correctomundo.  Salsa dancing is a part of my Latin blood now.  If I don’t get my fix of dancing at least twice a week, I feel like someone is cutting off my daily morning coffee consumption (don’t think so!) or my weekly tacos from Chilam Bilam. Again, I don’t encourage testing my limitations.

Latin dancing is one of those art forms that is full of passion and sensuality and you just can’t keep your eyes off of a couple who are dancing it-especially if they dance it well. The voyeurism invites you to explore your own sensuality and then you discover that it was always within you, just dormant. I started dancing ballet and jazz as a child and about seven years ago I was first introduced to salsa dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area.  That’s when I first got bit by the Latin dance bug.  It was sensual, infectious, social, and FUN! Not to mention a really good sweat. There were so many people participating and it is encouraged to switch partners without anyone giving it a second thought! I also made an abundance of business contacts and oodles of friends. Wow, getting involved with salsa was the all-in-one solution.

I teach salsa dance basics and soon bachata- a Dominican Republic dance taking the world by storm at Yoga Vallarta. I feel priveleged to have learned by some of the best salsa teachers and dancers in the world and from a few very talented people here in Puerto Vallarta as well. I often have local talent assist with my classes and soon-to-be workshops to encourage people to develop their own sense of style and not be clones of someone else’s fancy moves.  

When I first arrived to Vallarta two years ago, I was really hungry for information on where to go for dance classes, or where I could pop in for social dancing. It took me a while to navigate around town and figure out who teaches where, was there an upbeat live Cuban band playing somewhere, and on and on—Vallarta was lacking information in this area. I found it to be strange because salsa and Latin dancing in general attract people from all over the world; I was baffled that more businesses didn’t realize this opportunity. Since then, I have created a facebook page called Latin Motion PV. This is where people in the mostly salsa dance community post events, pictures, video, upcoming classes, etc.  so that locals, newcomers or people visiting can be informed and also post a comment or a bulletin to share their own  information on that theme. Latin Motion PV also prides itself on helping to raise awareness for social causes in the PV area.

I’m honored to be writing about a topic that I greatly enjoy and that I believe so many are interested in but may be shy about putting one foot in front of the other(no pun intended) to get started. Each week  you can look forward to me highlighting either a different Latin dance form, report on an upcoming or current event,  interview different instructors or dancers in the Puerto Vallarta area or talk about the do’s and don’ts of salsa dancing, as well as other educational articles. I hope to inspire and educate you to learn a dance form because I believe people are happier when they dance.  So the more you dance, the less grumpy you will be-just ask your partner.:)  See you on the dance floor!

A recipe for salsa

A Recipe for Salsa ….

If you’ve been swept up in the vibrancy and passion that envelopes you on a good night at La Bodeguita Del Medio or Candela Pura by merely watching good dancing, you may have wondered, where can I learn this hot Mexican salsa dance? The funny thing is, contrary to popular belief, it’s not Mexican.  Latin, yes…well kind of, but it also has roots from so many other countries including England and France. The origins and history of salsa dancing are as rich and complex as your next plate of chicken mole.

Let’s start with the basic ingredients of where it all started….

Salsa’s origins are debatable depending on who you ask and where they came from, but most will agree that we must give credit Cuba for the ancestry and origins of its inception. This is where Contra-Danze (Country Dance) of England/France, later known as Danzón was brought by the French who fled from Haiti.  Danzón is still alive and kicking as evidenced particularly in the plaza  in front of  La Iglesia de Guadalupe here in PV on Sunday nights, but I digress. Now in Haiti, Danzón then  begins to mix itself with Rhumbas of African origin (Yambu, Colombia, Guaguanco).  Blend  in Són of the Cuban people, which was a combination of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats and a  unique partner dance was born.

The Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and other countries also experienced this syncretism in smaller degrees. Soon bands of these countries such as the famous Perez Prado, the great Cuban influencer of mambo took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous films of that country. Not too long  after, a similar movement to New York occurred and this is where the music was first coined, ‘Salsa.’ There was a great deal of investment into the music that went on in these two cities and as a result, more and more promotion and syncretism occurred which commercialized salsa music even further and increased its popularity.

New York created the term ‘Salsa, but it did not create the dance. The term became a nickname to refer to a variety of different popular dances from several countries of Hispanic influence such as Rhumba, Són Montuno, Guaracha, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzón, Són, Guguanc, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Bomba, Festejo, Merengue, among others. Many of these styles  maintained their individuality, but at the same time many were mixed creating salsa dance.

If you are listening to modern-day salsa, you are going to find the base of són, and also hear Cumbia, Guaracha and maybe even some old Merengue, built-in the rhythm of different songs. Almost always, you’ll hear many of the old styles infused within the modern beats. Salsa music and dancing varies from place to place.

Much like the salsa we eat, salsa dancing has many ingredients and many flavors, but one passion that unites us all.  The important thing is that salsa continues to play throughout the world and has received influences from several continents. No one place can take the credit for salsa music or its dance and not one style is better than the other. In fact, the more you individualize your own sense of dance style, the better. Variety is the spice of life. Viva la Salsa!

Marcella Castellanos has been dancing salsa for over seven years and teaches at Yoga Vallarta. You can contact her via Facebook or Twitter at Latin Motion PV or at www.latinmotionpv.com or visit her blog at

http://latinmotionpv.blogspot.com/.

First Puerto Vallarta Salsa Cruise

On an uncharacteristically nebulous Sunday evening  in Puerto Vallarta approximately 100 people congregated to move their bodies to the rhythm of the Banderas Bay  ocean waves on a white, two-level catamaran. This made Feb. 28^th, 2010 the official inauguration of the first salsa boat cruise in Vallarta. “This will be interesting. I’m excited to see how it turns out, “said Gustavo Camacho a new resident of Vallarta who is just starting to take salsa classes.

 The day began with a salsa workshop given by Lucho Giraldes, Argentinian salsa champion and his new competitive partner, Barbie Marianne. The two-hour workshop given in a cardio kick-boxing studio  devoid of mirrors in the 5 de Diciembre neighborhood consisted of  general body mechanics  and  foot placement fundamentals essential to any kind of dance form.  “I thought it was probably the best workshop I have taken, right up there with Giselle Ponce [ a world renowned dancer]. I give it a 10, “said Nina Janik a local resident of Vallarta and ballet instructor who got the salsa dancing bug about two years ago.

The day progressed with a three hour break before the crowd embarked on the ready to party salsa boat as Latin tunes were booming from afar and awakening the senses. People in their twenties to late seventies occupied the boat as they were entertained by games being played progressively through the night many of which involved tequila and rum. Beginners to advanced levels were represented on the water vessel  as people laughed, danced and tried to maintain their balance on a rocky boat.  Yasmin Servin a local resident who has been dancing for over five years said, “I would do this again because it changes the ambience . It’s different.”

The first-ever salsa boat cruise was organized by Edwin Rodriguez Ovalle of the Latin Brothers  Dance Co. here in Puerto Vallarta, Anel Panpoja Alarcon,  German  Sanchez  and Lucho Giraldes of Elite Center in  Guadalajara.  They began organizing and promoting the event  a month ago and all agree that they would do it again. When asked why they decided to organize this event, Lucho Girades commented, “ I liked the idea because it’s original. It was a risk to do in PV because not too many people support these types of projects, but I wanted to collaborate so that I could support the cause wherever I can.”

The original plan was to have the event one and a half years ago but the influenza scare forced the group to postpone their plans according to Alarcon who just starting dancing a little over a year ago. “ I would like to see more workshops and more salsa events. Viva la Salsa.”