DIA DE SAN JUAN FESTIVAL, FIESTA ALEGRE — Fiesta Alegre organizes the 16th Annual Día de San Juan Festival at Frank G. Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA. The event will take place on June 12th, 2011 and tickets purchased before June 11 are just $25.

 

This year, Fiestaalegre Promotions is seeking to provide the best entertainment for your listening and dancing pleasure, with a lineup that includes:

- Frankie Vazquez- Ray De La Paz- Michael Stuart- Johnny Polanco- L.A. Plena- MC Javier Suazo- DJ Willieand plenty more...

 

 

You can purchase Presale tickets at the following locations:    - Liborio Market (213) 386-1458- El Zorro (310) 674-4219- Mofongo (818) 754-1051- El Nuevo Mundo Market (323) 773-6500- Habana Cafe, Downey (562) 776-7251- El Colmao (213) 386-6131- La Puma Rosa (323) 973-8358     The prices for the event will be as follows:   - Advance Ticket Price -…

EL FLORIDITA, HOLLYWOOD — El Floridita Cuban Restaurant offers the most authentic Cuban experience in all of Los Angeles. In business since 1987, El Floridita has become a Latin entertainment landmark in Hollywood, CA. 

 

The venue is known for being an intimate locale with a very unique old-world style setup that is complemented by the warmth and hospitality that patrons receive as soon as they walk in.

 

El Floridita offers a wide range of Cuban delicacies to choose from and which are intended to please the taste of every diner. From Moros and Cristianos, Mojo de Ajo, Platanos, Ropa Vieja, and Arroz con Pollo, to Yuca con Mojo, Camarones al Ajillo, Pierna de Puerco, and Vegetarian dishes, El Floridita ensures the complete satisfaction of all its patrons. 

 

And what could be better after a delicious Cuban feast than some hot Latin dancing to the best Latin orchestras…

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — La Orquesta Macabeo, la PVC, San Juan Habana, NG2, and Villariny Salsa Project are some of the new generation musical bands from Puerto Rico that are working hard to keep the Latin genre of Salsa alive.

 

"It isn't dead," confirms José Ibañez, musical director of Macabeo; rather, the followers of the genre don't attempt to follow the new generation of musicians and they stick to only following the most popular bands or artists. 

 

Ibañez believes that people simply like to live and remember the greatness of the old Salsa, or Salsa clásica, and they don't want to listen the new rhythms of today. 

 

On top of that, salsa bands all over the world fancy themselves with simply playing covers of old artists and bands, which maintains their popularity alive and trains the listeners or salsa lovers to only like those songs, those…

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…

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…

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…

The world of Salsa dancing has an ambassador in Fox's world-famous "So You Think You Can Dance" television dance show. Her name is Cristina Santana, age 24, from San Diego, CA, and who was originally born in Mexicali, Mexico. She is one of the 11 contestants (5 girls, 6 guys) in Season 7 of the very popular and highly acclaimed SYTYCD show.

 

Cristina had, for a while, made her presence felt in Los Angeles and San Diego with her participation in various salsa competitions, performing at popular salsa events, and being a shining star on the social dance floor after each of those performances. Her style is on1, flashy, a bit raw and not so fluid in body movement, but what makes her stand out is her determination and assured drive, her heart, and her charisma. I remember when I first saw her competing at the Top Ladies Salsa Competition in 2008 and…