"Surround yourself with possibility thinkers, and watch your life blast off like a rocket!"
- Edie, The Salsa FREAK
Salsa Freak Workshops and Boot camps Around the World!
Contact edie@salsaweb to book an event in your city! August 1-14 - Salsa Tour on Curacao Island
- Click here for a personal dedication by the island... (thx guys!)
December 1st - 4th - The Pontins, England!
Jeff and Colleen Shirey from Pittsburgh, visited Los Angeles, California once again! Click Here to read about their one-month stay in Los Angeles!
Miami Instructor, Rick Pagan's Viewpoint on Miami Style Salsa... Hi Edie!
First and foremost, allow me to greet you once again, and to wish you great success on the upcoming Salsaweb Convention; I honestly hope everything works out the way I'm certain you've carefully planned it. We're all looking forward to this weekend (especially us Miami/Ft. Lauderdale locals) to participate in the International Salsa/Hustle competition. I was re-doing my partner search posting and for the first time I decided to read your description on the different styles of Salsa from around the world. I concur with your description of Israeli Salsa; I had a recent opportunity to dance with an Israeli woman, and experience her style first hand. On the other hand, I'd like to point out that, although Miami Salseros are mostly of Cuban descent (notwithstanding the large amount of Puerto Ricans, such as myself, and other Latinos there are in Miami), Miami's Salsa is quite different from the traditional "Cuban Style." This I've also experienced first hand, as I've danced with women who have recently arrived from Cuba and who are TOTALLY lost, trying to dance Miami Style with me. In your description of Cuban Style you mention "[t]he way Cuban Salseros hold on to the women's wrists during the majority of the dance, restricts her from extending her arm and fingers, and displaying a sexy style of her own." This may be the way Salsa is danced in Cuba, but it's certainly not the way it's danced in Miami. In fact, I teach my students never to hold the wrist; to always hold the hand, and using no thumbs (personally, I prefer the fingertip grip, especially after extended dancing, when the hands tend to sweat and become slippery). Furthermore and to the best of my knowledge, traditional Cuban Style does not have as much arm work as Miami Style does (alardes, enganches, and so on), which requires "spaghetti arms" on the part of the woman. In Miami Style Salsa, the woman is very well exhibited; in fact, the name of one of the Casino Rueda steps is "exibela," which means to "exhibit her. You also mention "at least 30% of Cuban style is being danced solo, depending on the song and its rhythms." This is not so in Miami Style. Miami Style is very much a couple dance; the amount of "solo" dancing is extremely minimal, perhaps limited to master level dancers who love to spin before picking up the woman (or "recoje," as we call it ) for a cross-body lead, or "dile que no" as it's called in Miami. In lieu of these differences, I believe that an addition to your description of styles, as well as to the menu from which to select the style of Salsa you dance when posting on partner search, must include Miami Style Salsa. Notwithstanding that Miami is most famous for "Casino Rueda," the amount of Ruedas danced at clubs is not great, and above all that, the amount of clubs where spontaneous Ruedas are danced, is minimal. For as much as Los Angeles has its own style and New York has its own style as well (notwithstanding the great amount of Puerto Ricans in New York), Miami's style should be given its proper recognition and, as Puerto Rican style and New York Style are different, Miami Style and Cuban Style should be recognized differently as well. I trust you won't perceive my writing with negative connotations and sincerely, I'm open for your viewpoint. Once again, best of luck on the upcoming convention. I'm saddened that I'll not be able to attend this year, but hopefully next year I'll be able to attend. Perhaps I can sneak a dance with you :-) Besos,
Rick J. Pagan Have you ever had the feeling...
...of an overwhelming sense of love... Click Here for our New Love Stories Section!
Here's a great sample!!!
Well my Salsa partner search ended many other searches I had not expected. It was an innocent e-mail that I send to a salsa freak that was an average /advance dancer and was seeking a new partner. I e-mailed him on the fact that I needed a Salsa partner to teach me some new moves. We began to chat almost everyday for a few weeks. I had pictures of me online so he always had the advantage of knowing what I looked like. One day he invited me to go to a local salsa club that I had never been too. I was hesitant and was not sure if I would even go that night. I was feeling down at the fact that these clubs are all about getting your groove on. I was so tired of going to a club to dance and getting hit on and not actually having a good time. And please don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with that but I went to have fun dancing not find a man. I was going to meet a schoolmate there as well. As I see my friend across the bar…. there he is. He stops me as I was walking towards my friend. Stops me!!!!
Marilyn(Chicago)
This is HILARIOUS! Check this website out: http://www.dontquitdancers.com/ ... made me put up my DAY JOB RESUME real quick!!
- Edie
"You've got to Dance like no one is watching,
and love, like it's never going to hurt."
- Author Unknown "Without Music, Life would be a mistake." -Nietsche "Without Edie, Salsa would not be the same" - Fernando :-) |
