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…

SALSAHOOK.COM — The Los Angeles Salsa Congress (also known as the West Coast Salsa Congress) has been, historically, well-attended by international performers and dancers, and has had great concerts by some of the great names in Salsa music. 

 

Experiencing the salsa congress is something that can be translated into words in different ways by different people. 

 

In my personal experience, I've always had a great time at the salsa congress, made new friendships with dancers from London, Sweeden, France, Colombia, Japan, etc., and generally always found the event to be a time of escape from my daily life in Los Angeles. Certainly, for someone who lives in the city, it can be a bit more tedious to have as much fun or be as excited as someone who traveled 2,000 miles to get here to see it for themselves. 

 

I must confess that my international friends, many…

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…

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…

ZANZIBAR, SANTA MONICA — With the name of "Tumbao," every Monday night at the Zanzibar Club in Santa Monica, CA is turned into a Latin celebration and complete cultural experience. 

 

Just as its meaning says it, Tumbao: 'the groove, the motion inspired by the Salsa beat', the team known as Rumba Promotions, led by Fernando "Doctor Rumba", puts on a show that keeps faithful patrons coming back week after week. 

 

With the popular world salsa champion, Cristian Oviedo, as the in-house salsa instructor, the location immediately becomes one of the premier salsa dancing venues in Los Angeles. Club goers can be sure to get premier dance instruction from one of the best dancers in Los Angeles, such as Cristian is. 

 

DJ Charlie, a fellow and proud Guatemalan, plays the best Latin music and tunes ranging from Salsa, Mambo, Bachata, Cha Cha Cha, Merengue, and plenty…

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…

ALEX DA SILVA — Lately, a lot of attention has been placed on Alex Da Silva's court trial on multiple charges of rape, and what can easily be perceived as fierce online/web fighting has errupted amongst those who truly despise Alex Da Silva and those who truly support him. So much of such attention to what Alex Da Silva has had to endure in the past few years has clouded the fact that Alex was truly an accomplished Salsa dancer who was admired around the world. 

 

As a Salsa dancing driven website, it is right that SalsaHook.com put some spotlight on ADS's accomplishments and his many contributions to the world salsa scene and Latin dance. This is not to condone his behavior or persona in other areas of his life, but just to make observations of the major distinctions that the man had for what he did around…

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…

SalsaHook.com — Tune in to Alma Del Barrio every Saturday and Sunday on KXLU 88.9 FM from 6 AM to 6 PM. If you live in Los Angeles and you love Salsa and you have never listened to Alma Del Barrio, you are totally missing out! Twenty full hours of the best salsa music in the world every single weekend! 

 

Alma Del Barrio has been on the Los Angeles airwaves since the fall of 1973, when it was started by Enrique "Kiki" Soto and Raul Villa, then students at the Weschester campus of Loyola Marymount University. KXLU 88.9 Los Angeles is a LMU radio station licensed by the Federal Communiations Commission (FCC) to be a non-commercial, educational station. It has been assigned a radiating power of 3000 watts, which means its reach is limited, but for those living on the west side or surrounding areas, it is truly a great…

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…