While listening to salsa, some times I’ll come across Cuban son like Arsenio Rodriguez’ Papaupa and find myself wondering what makes this a son and not a salsa. Other than it sounding older, and perhaps a bit slower, what’s the difference? I endeavored to find out with the help of the internet and wikipedia.
It’s been a while, but we’ve got another throwback for you today. This time, we’ve got our ad posters from 2008.
Thursdays are the domain of the throwback, so today, we give you our ad posters from the 2007 academic year. Before you peruse, here’s some background info on these pictures. Charlie Roberts was our Ad director that year, and was the designer of the Fall ads. I co-designed with her on the Spring ads.
Bachata originated from the Dominican Republic in the 1960s following the demise of Trujillo and his 30 year dictatorship, the first recorded bachata singles being credited to José Manuel Calderón. Originally, it was considered a variant of bolero, though was given the name bachata by those who wanted to disparage the music as culturally backward and vulgar.
A while back I posted a video on the clave rhythm, but if you’ve been listening to a lot of salsa, you may find that you can’t actually hear it all the time. So how do you find the clave when you can’t hear it (you’ll likely want to do this when dancing on2 or in the clave)? This video explains how.
It’s Throwback Thursday! Here’s a little bit of nostalgia for those OG members of ours. Presenting some of our officers and volunteers from 2004:
I recall the exact moment like it was yesterday. It was my second salsa lesson, and I was practicing the basic step with a couple other nervous beginners. I remember how the way I was moving in rhythm with the music felt so good, so natural. I thought, “I love this. This is what I need to do.”
We were originally thinking of movie parodies like American Beauty and Spiderman when Charlie had mentioned in one of the advertising meetings the idea of doing something with firemen in the shoot. It sounded like a good idea to all of us, and luckily, I had recently met a new dancer who was married to a fireman; so I was able to get her and her husband to agree to lend us equipment (and her husband) for the photos.
There comes a time in every young man’s life when he must undergo a kind of ritualistic death. It is through this destruction that the old ways of doing and thinking are exterminated giving birth to a new energy marked by calm, compassion, and clarity of vision. It’s a symbolic and sacred process that strips him of his protection and his security. He is vulnerable to a world that both loves him and hates him. He is forced to see his environment through new eyes for its beauty and unforgiving cruelty. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. This is the catalyst of change.
I was in my fourth year at Cal Poly and the path I was walking was the path of loneliness: long hours of studying sprinkled amidst long hours of gaming. I was sadly friendless, with my best friend away at a different school due to poor academic performance, and an inability to relate to anyone in my major. I needed a change.
“You have to come to CPSalsa! How will you know you don’t like it if you don’t try it?” my friend Michael pleaded.
Found these drum lessons on youtube that give some great background and insight into two core rhythms in Afro-Cuban music. Pretty in depth since it’s meant to teach how to play these on drums, but good nonetheless.
Our stroll down memory lane begins a few years after the founding of CPSalsa (detailed in Part 1.
In Part 1, I told you about how I ended up at CPSalsa for the first time.
Learning to teach Salsa starts off by analyzing every lead, follow, movement and style that make up a combination. This detailed analysis will improve your own understanding and awareness of the combination, and will also show you which parts of a combination you need to practice.
There are many ways to become a better salsa dancer. One of the best ways, is getting to know the music. Here’s a list of some of my current favorite songs to get you all started:
Cuban Pete was one of the celebrated dancers of the Palladium era of mambo/salsa in the 50s.
For all the leads out there struggling with the ‘I need more moves’ conundrum, I give you this sage bit of advice from Oliver Pineda:
Too many CPSalsa dancers wear flip flops or sneakers, week after week, month after month, without realizing what a huge hindrance it is to their dancing. Buying a pair of dance shoes is perhaps the easiest way to improve one’s dancing quickly.
{"The best advice I can give to an aspiring dancer, besides taking classes and dancing, is to become mindful. I see too many “experienced” dancers leading or following poorly because they are dancing blindly, unaware of their flaws, their surrounding, their everything. They dance at the same low level for years, barely making progress. It’s a common sight, really. The remedy is to sharpen your awareness of yourself, your partner, and your environment. It’s so easy, I’m surprised more don’t do it. Here are a few tips to get you tuned in"=>nil}
Yes, ignorance is bliss, but if you want to be a better dancer, you need to venture out and experience Salsa in the big world. SLO has a particular homey, homogeneous style called “late nineties on ‘1’ L.A.” Our local dancers know each other so well, they can dance blindfolded and tell who their partner is.
Eleven years ago, CPSalsa was little more than an idea floating around inside the heads of a couple of guys. Back then, they may not have known that CPSalsa would still be here now, but to them, all that mattered was that they needed to dance Salsa, and they wanted more people to get into it like they were. This little story is about how those two guys gave rise to our favorite little club.
Dancers use the term “plateau” to describe a point of stagnation. If you want out of this rut, you’ll need to push your limits, and here’s how:
As a thirteen year Salsa veteran, I consider myself a decent lead; however, when I started, I stumbled and flailed, couldn’t keep a beat, and generally made a fool of myself. And all the while, I couldn’t figure out why I was surrounded by better dancers that have been dancing the same amount of time as me.
