LOS ANGELES SALSA CLASSES — Los Angeles is by far one of the most populous salsa dancing cities in the world. There is even a "L.A. Salsa Style" of salsa dancing that is taught in a multitude of countries and is, perhaps, the most popular style of salsa dancing in the world. We are truly a mecca for salsa dancing worldwide and salsa classes in Los Angeles can be found everywhere!

Nightclubs — Usually, nightclubs offer salsa dance lessons before a salsa dancing night. Students arrive about 2 hours before the dancing starts and learn from instructors that show up to teach them.  Look at our calendar for salsa events and simply pick a venue that is close to you (or wherever you'd like to go to) and read the description of the event. You might find that they offer the classes and you can just show up, withour a…

LOS ANGELES, CA // LATIN JAZZ - When one listens to Oskar Cartaya's music, one can easily detect the fusion of influences and experiences from his extensive professional musical background in Puerto Rico, New York, and Los Angeles. Cartaya, who is well-known for his composing, arranging, and his work as a musical director for a wide array of premier artists, possesses a personal catalog of credits to his name that make him one of the most sought-after and recognized Latin Jazz bass players in the world. 

Cartaya's talents have been recruited by the likes of Herb Albert, Jennifer Lopez, Celia Cruz, Ruben Blades, Tito Puente, Robbie Robertson, Obie Bermudez, and Nestor Torres, just to name a few. Amongst his career credits are the production of Passion Dance by Herb Albert (Almo Records), and Plenarriquea for Jennifer Lopez, which is a live concert on DVD (Sony Music). He has also…

LEARNING TO DANCE SALSA — Many dancers often ask for opinions and suggestions on how they should learn to dance salsa and what method would give them better and faster results. The question often rotates between the options of Salsa Bootcamps, Club or Studio Dance Lessons, Private Lessons, or straight Instructional DVDs. 

Learning to dance Salsa can be difficult, especially for individuals who have no natural rhythm and/or have difficulty telling apart beats in music and/or different songs. That, in itself, will be a defining factor in how fast and how well a person learns how to dance. So, the first step I always tell people to take is to simply be honest with themselves in how rhythmic they are with music. 

If you are a very rhythmic person, even during your first lesson, when the instructor goes "left, right, left ... right, left, right" you will step…

DANCING WITH THE STARS (DWTS) — After a Salsa number that looked more like Merengue by dance professional Karina Smirnoff and actor Ralph Macchio, Judge Bruno Tonioli went overboard by using the word "p***y" when referring to them and Karina in specific (who was dressed in a leopard print outfit of some sort).

We, at SalsaHook.com, have maintained that the mere fact that Karina is even remotely offended by the comment is a complete irony given the fact that she posed for Playboy as a publicity stunt during the airing of the 12th season of "Dancing With The Stars." We believe that a show that is watched by millions of U.S. children, as well as adults, should cast people with higher moral character and integrity...but we continue watching because of one thing, and one thing only: the dancing. 

Recently and only after being axed from the show, Karina's…

LOS ANGELES, CA — Karina Smirnoff, the Ukranian dancer in the TV Show "Dancing With The Stars" who appeared completely nude in Playboy while the show, which is watched by millions of children in America and the world, was airing in its 12th season, felt 'dirty' after a comment by Judge Bruno Tonioli. We hope the irony of that reaction from a woman who can bare it all in the name of popularity and cash (it's all about cash), is clearly being transmitted in the first line of this article.

I don't usually comment on television shows that relate to dance in general, but since the comment on Karina came after she and partner Ralph Macchio performed a salsa number, it seemed appropriate that SalsaHook.com posted on the topic. The insult was apparently taken so vividly by the dancer that it was even trending in Twitter today! Wow...that's important!

TIKRIT, IRAQ — Many of us will never know what it feels like to be in combat in Iraq, but one thing some of us who love salsa dancing do know is the feelings of joy, excitement, and true happiness that salsa dancing can give you.

Today, after randomly thinking about our U.S. Armed forces who have sacrificed so much for our freedom during so many years already, I wondered if some of them would ever use salsa as a way to cope with the stress of combat. Sure enough, I found an article on the Army website, written by Spc. Jazz Burney (3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs, 25th Infantry Division) that points precisely to how soldiers are able to cope with deployment and combat by salsa dancing. 

The article focused on Sgt. James Whorley, from Sacramento, Calif., who found that his stress was relieved and…

SALSA WEB TECHNOLOGY — SalsaHook.com launched in the first months of 2010 as a tool that aimed to help salsa lovers know the location, time, and date of salsa events and dance lessons around their georgraphical area. While it has mostly emerged within the Los Angeles area as a major source of information, it has also touched various other geographical areas, such as San Diego, San Francisco, Texas, Florida, and many other cities across the US where salsa is predominant. 

Promoters can sign up and freely post event information for all their promotions, so that visitors to the site (in the thousands) can view it and can be up-to-date with what's happening around their city. Instructors can sign up and freely add themselves and all their classes to the salsa instructor database. 

The SalsaHook.com site is built in a way that provides all its visitors with the information…

LOS ANGELES, CA — A report tonight on NBC News at eleven showcased a couple who in 2008 (read their blog) paid a 'professional' photographer, Frank H. Papini (possibly a fake name), to take photos of their wedding. They paid over $2,000 in advance and are still waiting for photos that they can print and do something with. This report, although not a salsa dancing topic, needs to be out for anyone in our salsa scene who might be thinking of getting married soon and might run across his information as someone who could take photos of their wedding.

We just felt really bad for the couple and want to aid putting that photographer's name (Frank H. Papini) and his bad professional ethics out on search engine's natural results. 

Frank H. Papini is a photographer (working out of North Hills in California) who, according to NBC's on-television report takes…

LOS ANGELES, CA // ALEX DA SILVA - Reports surfacing early February of this year state that Alex Da Silva's court trial preliminary hearings have commenced after more than a year of confinement in the LA County Men's Central Jail. Alex has been unable to meet a 2 million dollar bail (a harsh bail imposed because as a Brazilian national he was considered a 'flight-risk'). His next court date is scheduled for February 25, 2011. 

[ June 23, 2011 UPDATES TO THIS ARTICLE // Alex Da Silva Case Information ]

[ ARTICLE by STACY DA SILVA on SalsaHook.com // Alex Da Silva's Sister ]

Conditions inside the jail are said to be harsh for Da Silva (Booking#:2024149), who in late 2010 was admitted to the Men's Central Jail's medical wing as he suffered from severe dehydration that resulted in kidney stones. Water provisions are…

The Internet is changing and we are changing with it. SalsaHook.com is improving the experience that it offers to visitors and registered users by incorporating Facebook Social Plugins. Our goal is simply to provide an effective alternative in the way Salsa events, music, dancing, and culture is promoted to the world! 

With over 400 million users (as of the time this article is being written...it continues to grow!), Facebook could possibly be the one dominant web factor that even companies like Google will have to abide by in order to continue growing. With the announcement of Open Graph at the company's 2010 F8 Convention, the reality of a more social, connected, personalized, and more semantically aware web does not seem so far off anymore! It could be right around the corner! 

SalsaHook.com will continue to grow and develop new solutions that will cater to our global Salsa scene.…

SalsaHook.com version 2.0 website is now available to Salsa lovers all over the world, and we want YOU to be a part of it! The site is a marble of social media technology in itself...and it caters only to SALSA!? Wow, certainly the first of its kind in the world of Salsa. ;-)

The goal of SalsaHook is to promote Salsa music and dancing and help it become more popular wherever it already has a presence in the planet we live in, and in the future in the moon, space stations or crafts, other planets or galaxies. ;-) For now, let's stick to earth.

We would love to have you join our SalsaHook team, and be a part of something big! We believe that we will grow and be a mecca for salsa music, dancing, social networking, and much more! 

Come on, BE A PART OF IT!! ;)