Friday, April 20, 2007

Salsa Storm and Pueblo Nuevo


IT WAS SPECTACULAR !!! Thursday night at "Bocado Restaurant", filled with joy, happiness, rumba and a lot of rhythm. "Salsa Storm" was there with us, delighting the night with their wonderful moves. These guys dance whatever they find rhythm in. It's amazing. Of course, part is the love for their profession and the other part, is their Latin passion. (Wow). You can contact them at http://www.salsastorm.com/ for more information about scheduling and classes. So, THANKS to them and all the people who came.

For the people who need more Information about Salsa, here it is a little review:

Salsa is a dynamic and exciting dance. Salsa music is a fusion of traditional African and Cuban and other Latin-American rhythms that traveled from the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico to New York, somewhere between the 1940s and the 1970s, depending on where one puts the boundary between "real" salsa and its predecessors. There is debate as to whether the dance we call Salsa today originated in Cuba or Puerto Rico. Salsa is one of the main dances in both Cuba and Puerto Rico and is known world-wide.
The late Celia Cruz, hailed by many as the queen of salsa, said that salsa does not exist as a rhythm, but that it is rather an exclamation for music such as guaracha, bolero, cha cha cha, danzon, son, rumba, etc. The famous Latin composer and musician Tito Puente also argued that there is no such thing as salsa but only mambo, rumba, danzon and cha cha cha, etc.
According to the late David Melandez , one of the first organizers of the East Coast Salsa Congress and a salsa dancer in New York since the 1970s, the word 'Salsa' first referred to the music. The term was coined in the 1970s by young musicians like Hector Lavoe, Larry Harlow, Ray Beratto, Willie Colon, who wanted a different name for the kind of music they were playing. The term 'salsa' was then popularized by Izzy Sanabria, owner of the Latin New York magazine, and Jerry Massuci, owner of Fania Records. Today, the term 'salsa' as we know it, has become synonymous with the dance.
The dance steps currently being danced to salsa music come from the Cuban son, but were influenced by many other Cuban dances such as Mambo, Cha cha cha, Guaracha, Changuí, Palo Monte, Rumba, Abakuá, Comparsa and some times even Mozambique. It also integrates swing dances. Salsa can be a heavily improvised dance, taking any form the interpreter wishes. Modern Salsa has elements of Jazz, funk, reggae, hip-hop and samba.

No comments: