BACHATA MUSIC — A few years ago, when Bachata music was very popular everywhere else in the country (and the world), Los Angeles Latin Nightclubs where Salsa had dominated for so long, resisted to give in to the craze. Nowadays, Bachata music is a given musical genre when you go to a Latin Nightclub. 

You cannot go to a Latin Nightclub and not hear some beautiful Bachata tunes being played by the DJ in charge. And that's a good thing, as many couples find it to be a perfect opportunity to get close and loving with each other on the dance floor. 

Although, with the popularity of Bachata, a "Dominican style" of dancing where couples actually keep a distance from each other and worry more about their footwork, than each other, also took rise in the Latin scene, Bachata is still perceived by a majority as a romantic…

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA — Given that one of my all-time favorite Salsa singers was known to reach the top of his career in Colombia and is beloved by Colombians all over the world (Tito Gómez), and just the fact that I truly enjoy Colombian Salsa, I thought it would be good to write about a location in Medellín, Colombia that is known worldwide for being a major attraction when it comes to Salsa dancing in that city. El Eslabón Prendido is a venue that attracts a mixed and friendly crowd and has some of the best old-school salsa nights in the city.

El Eslabón Prendido is a small venue that offers salsa music and dancing on various nights of the week. Known for attracting tourists, as well as locals who simply love Salsa, El Eslabón Prendido is truly a hotspot "en el centro" of the city. 

With wax candles…

RUSHIN' TO DANCE — Some of the most fun dances in my salsa life have happened with people with simply couldn't shut up and just dance! They kept on talking through salsa songs, during every spin or double spin or triple spin, during dips, cross-body leads, and even shines! 

Now, when I refer to "they" I actually probably only mean one person...my old salsa friend Ally Perlina, who moved to San Diego a few years ago. She was the most fun to dance with only because I spent 80-90% of any song we ever danced to, asking her to just shut up and dance! She loved it too and knew it was annoying as heck, so she kept on doing it...or maybe she just couldn't help it. I dunno...

Well, have you ever found people like that? My friend Ally would talk about anything, from the music, to…

ANA ROSA DESIGN — Today, when you watch a Salsa show or competition in Los Angeles, part of what makes it a very pleasant experience is the fact that the dancers seem to be dressed so well with flashy and sexy costumes. This wasn't always the case in LA, where dancers used to simply wear matching clothes to function as costumes for dance performances or competitions.

Ana Rosa Design has played a principal role in what has changed how Salsa dancers dress on-stage. She began providing uniquely designed costumes to dancers in the Salsa Community around the year of 2008. Some of the first salsa teams and dancers to wear her designs were those related to the "Tropical Rhythm" dance company in Los Angeles. And as soon as other dancers and dance troupes realized how well-dressed TR dancers were, they also began going to Ana Rosa to get their…

YOUTUBE.COM — Currently there are hundreds of thousands of Latin dance videos on YouTube (if not millions, who knows), and there is one particular video that seems to continue getting millions of views. Currently at a little above 27.4 million hits, the video featuring two of the best Bachata dancers in the world, Jorge Burgos (a.k.a. "ATACA Jorgie") and Tanja Kensinger (a.k.a. "La Alemana"), seems to overtake all other Latin dance videos ever!

When you watch the video, you realize why it has gotten so many hits. Tanja is simply an exquisite female with an amazing body, great hair, and super-sexy moves. Her dancing is so uniquely refreshing that people continue coming back for more, even when having watched the video dozens of times before. It just seems so right to cotinue enjoying such fresh dancing and great looks. 

In the video, Jorgie and Tanja are dancing to…

SALSAHOOK.COM / LOS ANGELES, CA — Known simply as the "Stevenson Sisters" throughout the world of Salsa, Stephanie and Cindy Stevenson are the youngest dancers to contribute to the global revolution of the 'on 1' style of salsa dancing. 

At their young age, they have traveled to over 30 countries teaching, choreographing, and performing professionally, during the last 10 years. With the growing popularity of Salsa, it was their style, technique, charisma, and high energy that brought them to the forefront of the industry.

At the ages of 9 and 11, Cindy and Stephanie began training with Alex Da Silva, who exposed them to an elegant and smooth salsa dancing style. While working with him they discovered their passion for dancing and were quickly noticed as being very talented and gifted. 

Shortly after that, the sisters became the youngest members of a dance company once regarded as the number one salsa…

DANCE COMPETITIONS / MAYAN SALSA COMPETITION / DANCING WITH THE STARS / SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE? / DWTS / SYTYCD — One driving factor in many popular dance competitions is that in order to force a wider participation from the audience, whether to attend in person or watch an event on television, the "popular vote" has become a major part of who wins, who gets ahead, or who is left behind...regardless of talent or actual showmanship. 

The fact of the matter is that the real name of the game in any organized dance competition is how much money is coming in for the organizers, and that's just that. And so, the prostitution of dance and the integrity of dance competitions takes place in the name of who is 'most popular' and 'deserves' to advance to the next level so that 'we' the 'organizers' can cash in the…

LOS ANGELES STYLE SALSA — The three Vazquez brothers are considered to be the major catalysts that changed salsa dancing forever, and began the evolution of the worldwide dance phenomenon that Salsa dancing has become today.

Never before them had Salsa dancing been so popular around the world. A few can claim that without promoters and event organizers, the popularity of Salsa dancing would have never reached the levels it has, but I would contest that without 'the talent' that attracted multitudes back in the early 90s, the events would have been a failure or impossible to market or even organize in the first place.

The non-Latin people who came rushing to the events around the world loved the music, but they really did not care whether they understood the lyrics or didn't (as they still don't); what they cared for was the adrenaline and the rush of…

LOS ANGELES SALSA — There are many names that come up as possible contributors of what L.A. Style Salsa has become in the past decade or so, but when it comes to giving credit to a sole originator of the style, that person has and will always be: Francisco Vazquez. 

Francisco Vazquez is considered by many as the greatest salsa dancer in the world. A complete innovator, a visionary, and someone who in the 90s single-handedly promoted a flashy, dynamic, showy style of salsa dancing that featured fast-paced footwork and strong accents to the music: L.A. Style Salsa. 

He is the founder, choreographer, and principal dancer of the world acclaimed dance troupe "Los Rumberos," which has been consistently in the top 5 salsa dance teams in the world. Los Rumberos has laid the foundation to many of the greats in salsa, such as Luis and Johnny Vazquez (Francisco's…

SALSA DANCING — "Soldiers Who Salsa" is a non-profit organization based in San Diego, CA, that uses Salsa Dancing as therapy for wounded Military members and their families. They partner up with therapists to teach salsa dance to amputees, brain injury patients, and patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), while at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. The goal is to bring about social, recreational, and physical therapy, while improving the quality of life for those who have served in the armed forces. 

Last week we wrote about a deployed soldier in Iraq who found Salsa dancing to help him cope with the stress of the environment at war. Now we know that Salsa dancing is being utilized at many locations around the world to help military members cope with the many stages of war.

SalsaHook.com is a website that was created, in good will, to simply…

SALSAHOOK.COM — To many, dance is a great passion, to others it is just a hobby, to others it is part of their culture, to others it is just something they do to meet friends, but to some, dance is a means to an end and a way to generate income for themselves. When dance is your profession, you realize that there is a lot of obstacles out there that prevent you from either succeeding or profiting as much as you could, if the market wasn't so saturated or there were other dancers who practically give away their services and talent for free, or very little, just to gain a name or to get on a stage to perform. 

Dancers traditionally make their money from instruction, choreography, performances, etc., and for a very lucky few, they make it into film and television, or other media fields that cater to…

LOS ANGELES, CA — Laura Canellias, who is widely known as the "First Lady of Salsa," "The Salsa Queen," and "LA's Salsa Diva," is a legend of dancing in Los Angeles and someone who has taught thousands of people in the course of her career. She is, indeed, one of the foremost salsa instructors on the west coast.

When I first started dancing, my very first salsa lesson was with Laura Canellias at the now-closed Rudolpho's Nightclub in Silverlake. She started her classes by bringing a level of comfort to all students with a little Merengue dancing, which is much simpler than Salsa steps and partner dancing, but gets you in the groove and makes you confident. Not many instructors anywhere do this, and not one does it like Laura does it. I think it is very safe to say that Laura's extensive experience really shows in how she…

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 SALSA DANCING — The Los Angeles salsa scene prepares for the 13th Annual Salsa Congress to be held on May 26 - 30. The event will kick-off on Thursday the 26th with a pre-party dance night at the Mayan Nightclub in Los Angeles with Dimelo! Records's #1 agroupation, "Chino Espinoza". We at SalsaHook.com like the approach! It's better to keep things within means than to be too extravagant in a business (niche: salsa) that does not offer much to be gathered. 

And if there was any questions as to how influential Bachata has been to the Los Angeles Latin dancing scene, a scene formerly heavily dominated by Salsa music and dancing all by itself, the Salsa Congress is being promoed, in hopes to attract a wider range of attendees, with a bachata concert on Sunday by Xtreme and qualifier competitions for some type of  'World Bachata Dance…

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!