Latin Dance Community

This post was prompted by an e-mail from Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Lift, an app for instilling positive habits in your every day life. The e-mail discusses this idea of deliberate practices which is defined as...    "focused, grueling, repetitive practice in which the subject continuously monitors his or her performance, and subsequently corrects, experiments, and reacts to immediate and constant feedback, with the aim of steady and consistent improvement."   While Tony didn't have salsa in mind, hopefully you can see the usefullness of deliberate practice in your salsa journey. Give this podcast episode a listen to learn more about Tony's thoughts on deliberate practice as well as some of my own.     --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Fuquan and Candace run Fuego y Hielo Dance Company in Atlanta, Georgia and are fusion artists having trained in a variety of dance styles. But their real dance love is for the mambo, salsa and cha cha. You can check out one of their cha cha routines here.    The first part of the interview revolves around salsa music, specifically the difference between commercial and artsy approaches to music. From there, we talk about dancing the cha cha, musicality, spinning technique (hint: squeeze your legs together), dance etiquette and much more!   This is a tactical episode chock full of highly actionable advice that you can incorporate into your dancing today. Check it out and leave any feedback in the comments below! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Today on the show I revisit a few of my own personal experiences with building the salsa community in Gainesville, Florida. We all have our own communties where we live and dance.    Too often, we complain that there aren't any good salsa nights in town or wish that we could move to NYC to be around really great dancers. Instead, I want us to shift our thinking. Let's look inward. Let's think about how we can take the initiative and start a salsa group, put on a local social ourselves and otherwise build our own community rather than just whine and moan about the lack of options.   Welcome to the no excuses episode, enjoy!   PS. Here's a clip of me dancing at the house party last night :) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Today's show is all about the wonderful world of salsa congresses. The TWIS roundtable discusses the social aspects of congresses like meeting other salseros from around the world and how to dance with the pros. We also talk about the practical issues like food during congress and how to take care of yourself with proper sleep so you don't die by the end of the weekend.    Like with any conversation about congresses, we talk about our favorite congresses and our experiences there. There are plenty of rabbit holes we go down, including:   Why Frank should wear a dress while dancing Why Cory should shave her head Why Rob only remembers what women wear if they are missing a shoe

Franklin Condori is a self-proclaimed salsa addict and is known on the dance floor for his smooth, New York style lead. Frank has been dancing for so many years that he can't quite remember though legends say it begain ~2007 in Gainesville, Florida.   From there, he has improved as a dancer, DJ and event organizer in the Boston area. He has trained with Universal Mambo Dance Academy, Masacote Dance Company and Salsa y Control. Frank now runs the Fuego y Candela salsa social in Boston along with Salsa in the Park. He is also a co-founder of the Gator Salsa Club.    Frank is passionate about organizing salsa events to build the community. We talked about the elements for a great social and a great congress. We also talked at length about the ideal mindset of a dancer, what makes for a good lead/follow, techniques to improve your dancing and a lot more.   

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

It's congress season and that means many of you are spending your weekends taking hours of workshops, eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in your hotel room and dancing in the bachata room until 6am.   If you have never been to a salsa congress, this podcast talks about what you can expect from the weekend, both the good and the bad. Overall, congresses are an essential experience to have if you are in the salsa scene. It is a time to make new friends and connect with old ones from around the world.   Check out the show and comment with anything that I missed! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Today on the show, I discuss the best latin music documentary I've ever seen, Latin Music in the USA put on by the fine folks at PBS.    I consider this required viewing for all serious salseros. It gives you a great base of understanding the history of latin music and how it has evolved here in the U.S. The first of 4 parts is called Bridges and talks about the influences from Puerto Rica and Cuba and latin music in New York.    This documentary spans 4 decades from 1930-1970, with other parts tackling 1970-today. If you don't know who Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez are, you need to watch this. Listen to the podcast where we incorporate some of the musical numbers from these artists and others.   And watch out for additional summary podcasts coming out for the rest of the PBS episodes!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

This week on the show, our guest is Jose Botta of Josebotta.com. Jose is originally from Lima, Peru and came to the states more than 20 years ago. During those years, he got involved with the salsa community and got hooked. After several years of dancing in Washington, D.C. and trying all of the dance shoes on the market, he realized there were no options for a more versatile men's dance shoe that could be worn on any surface and not ruined by weather. JB dance shoes were born as a comfortable, durable, stylish, lightweight and multi-surface option for men.   One of the most important decisions that we as dancers make is what shoes to dance with. Jose is an expert on men's dance shoes and our conversation revolves around what makes a great shoe and what factors to consider before putting down your hard earned cash on a new pair of kicks. What color should they be? What kind of soles are ideal for how you plan to dance? Are there other options besides just suede soles? All of these questions and more are answe

You are probably asking yourself: "How is lucid dreaming going to help me become a better salsa dancer?" Now that I've inceptioned your mind with the perfect question to start this post off with, let me answer:   Turns otherwise unproductive hours of sleep into time for mastering your dance moves. Dance with world-famous salseros and learn from them. Overcome the emotional baggage stopping you from becoming the best dancer you can be. Try out crazy/high-risk moves in a safe environment with no chance of injury   On this podcast episode, I talk about what lucid dreaming is, how it can improve your dancing, and tactics to increase the incidence of lucid dreaming. Give it a listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

This week's interview is with Sonia Rivera, Director of Diamond Dancers International based in Tampa, Florida.    Sonia is extremely passionate about salsa dancing, both the dancing and the culture. This passion exudes from her during our interview where we discuss topics like what makes a good teacher, dealing with salsa love and heartbreak and the education of younger dancers.   My favorite part of the interview was discussing how to become a full-time dancer. Sonia is one of the few  salsa dancers who has achieved this and she shares some tips and mindsets to have if you want to make salsa your life, both personally and professionally.    For more information about Sonia, check out Diamond Dancers on their website and on Facebook. You can also connect with Sonia on 

We all want to get better and faster...and let's throw in better looking for good measure. While I can't help you with the 3rd, those first two are very achievable when it comes to salsa.    Today on the podcast, I talk about these 10 ways that you can speed up your rate of improvement.    Define actionable goals Video yourself Leverage your existing strengths/figure out how you learn best Expose yourself to salsa right after waking and before going to bed

This week on the show we sit down international dance photographer Daniel Tarrosa of Jacksonville, Florida.    Daniel founded Daniel T. Photography and Salchata Media Bloc and now travels the world capturing the best moments of some of the biggest salsa and bachata congresses.    As a photographer, he has a unique perspective on the salsa community and also on the similarities and differences of dance communities in the U.S compared to abroad in Asia. We talk about these differences, some of his favorite congresses and much more on this episode. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Before I get into the turtles, I want to introduce this post with some background.   I'm wired to think in terms of metaphors and this is also the way I teach salsa. Most of them just come up in the spur of the moment. While they're often times ridiculous, I've found they are some of the best teaching tools for my students because the metaphor sticks. It gives a vivid image in their mind, the more ridiculous the better, that they can refer back to an important point I'm talking about.     Onto Turtles   Here in beautiful Gainesville, Florida, we have a ton of springs and summertime means tubing! One time I was out on the river with a group of salseros and as we passed through the jungle of trees, around the bend appeared a family of turtles. They were hanging out on the rocks to our left and we were quickly approaching them.   As we got closer, one of my more rowdy friends jumps out of his tube and starts swimming quickly towards them, splashing and yelling "AHHHHHH!!!". The turtles freak out and dive into th

This week on the show we had Anthony Kumo Tineo from Dolce Vita Dance Company in on the show. Starting at the age of 14, Kumo has honed and continues to perfect his dance skills. What started as a social pastime has exploded into an ever growing passion for the art of the Latin dance and quest for knowledge in body movement, teaching techniques and performance showmanship.   I first met Kumo in 2009 at Flava Invasion and was amazed by his spinning technique. During the interview, we talk about his early days as a salsero, his experience competing and also about salsa technique and etiquette.    I definitely came away from this interview with a lot of knowledge, specifically I have a new training regimen for practicing my spin technique. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Salsa music is a beautiful example of human-engineered evolution. In fact, The Great Salsa Timeline attempts to document each step of this evolution going back to Christopher Columbus' discovery of Cuba in 1492. I won't go back that far in this post but I do want to highlight two of the most important musical innovations of the late 19th and early 20th century that led to the creation of salsa as an art form, Son Cubano and its sub-genre, Son Montuno.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Cory Gray has been dancing hip hop and salsa for more than 20 years. She is now pursuing her MFA in dance at Mills College. During the interview we talk about her transition from hip hop to salsa dancing, dance techinque and the salsa community at large. This interview with jam packed with dance tips and tactics and much more. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

One of the beautiful things about salsa is that you cannot out-evolve your lifespan. That is, even if you spent every day of every hour learning how to dance, you can keep improving until the day you die.   But before you start dedicating all of that time to improvement in dancing, it's important to figure out how you learn most effectively. This is akin to if I told you to read 10,000 books. The first book you should read is the one entitled "How to triple your reading speed and comprehension". This post will help you to identify your personal "speed reading" strategy for salsa dancing. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Beats are how you keep the timing of the music. Most students first learn to dance 'on the beat' which corresponds to the 4/4 timing which is why we count to 8 in salsa. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

I've been dancing salsa On2 for the past 4 years. Like many, my salsa career began as a wide-eyed and bushy-tailed On1 salsero. For those of you that have yet to make the jump to On2, here are the 3 essentials of New York style salsa that will help you on your journey: --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message