SalsaFrenzy Blogs

12/11/2005

SalsaFrenzy adding City Forums

Filed under: City: Boston,General,Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 1:43 am

SalsaFrenzy is setting up discussion forums for different cities. This to help travellers looking for tips on where to dance in other cities and to give exposure to the salsa scenes in different towns, countries, etc. We’ve started with forums for Boston, Denver, Puerto Rico, and Tokyo:

http://www.salsafrenzy.com/forum/

For each city forum we start, there are one or two volunteers willing to act as “city helpers”. They’ll respond to posts and guarantee that questions don’t go unanswered.

If you are in Boston, Denver, Puerto Rico, or Tokyo, tell your friends and feel free to post announcements of local classes, workshops, club nights, and concerts. If you would like to see a forum added for your city or region, let us know. We’ll add a forum for a town as soon as we have two volunteers willing to answer questions about its salsa scene.

We are particularly interested in adding forums for small towns and far away places with hidden or emerging salsa scenes (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America). If you are from one of those towns or countries and would like to get a lot of exposure for your salsa scene, let’s talk. SalsaFrenzy is a widely and frequently visited site, particularly by people wanting to learn about other places and people.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes now at 20 Episodes

Filed under: General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 1:39 am

There are now 20 episodes of the SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes:

20. Turn pattern by Milton Cobo & Samantha Erskine

19. Turn pattern by Victor Mayovanex & Amanda Estilo (Karisma)

18. Turn pattern by Ahmed (Yamulee) and Desiree Dicupe

17. Footwork by Wakana Mori (aka Sexy Wakana Pachanga)

16. Turn pattern by Joe Figueroa & Amie Archut (Luna Negra/Philly)

15. “Yo Yo” trick by Dave Paris & Caryl

14. “Mambomentum” turn pattern by Mike Bellow & Stephanie

13. Turn pattern by Rodney (SalsaGang) and Emily

12. Turn pattern by Victor & Burju (Hacha Y Machete)

11. Turn pattern by Nik & Parya

10. Turn pattern by Josh Gomez & Jen

9. Footwork by Andres Giraldo

8. Turn pattern by Rob & April

7. Performance by Duplessey and her Saoco Dancers

6. Turn pattern by Stewart and April

5. Footwork and styling by April Genovese

4. Turn pattern by Rob and Sonia

3. Turn pattern by Stewart and Julie

2. Footwork by Michelle

1. Turn pattern by Danny and Julie

You can download them via iTunes. Follow this link or search of Salsafrenzy using iTunes 6 or later.

I’m no longer posting them in .avi format as that took more than twice the space and is lower quality than the newer .m4v format (H.264 encoding) used by the iPod and QuickTime 7.

10/26/2005

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes #5

Filed under: General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 1:40 pm

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minute #5 features a ladies’ styling and footwork sequence demonstrated by April Genovese de la Rosa and introduced by DJ Rob Suave. Video podcast on Monday October 24, 2005 from the VFW Post in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes are video podcasts of salsa dance footwork, partner combinations, and snap interviews with salsa personalities.

You can view this episode by downloading it in any of the following formats: M4V (14.5 mb), MP4 (17.2 mb), or AVI (37.8 mb).

Check it out and stay tuned for more to come.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes #4

Filed under: General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 3:27 am

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minute #4 features a short partner combination demonstrated by Rob and Sonia and introduced by Jen. Video podcast on Monday October 24, 2005 from the VFW Post in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes are video podcasts of salsa dance footwork, partner combinations, and snap interviews with salsa personalities.

You can view this episode by downloading it in any of the following formats: M4V (8.8 mb), MP4 (9.5 mb), or AVI (21.3 mb).

Check it out and stay tuned for more to come.

10/25/2005

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes #3

Filed under: General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 2:02 am

The third “SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minute” features a short partner combination demonstrated by Stewart and Julie and introduced by DJ Rob Suave. Video podcast on Sunday October 23, 2005 from Wepa Salsa Sundays at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes are video podcasts of salsa dance footwork, partner combinations, and snap interviews with salsa personalities.

You can view this episode by downloading it in any of the following formats: M4V (11.4 mb), MP4 (12.7 mb), or AVI (33.7 mb).

Check it out and stay tuned for more to come.

10/24/2005

Juanito! Music Co.

Filed under: General — jchavez @ 10:43 am

A new “age” in salsa!
Formed by violinist, Juan P. Chavez, “DiLe” is a Latin group that has been long over due. The musicians are amazing talents from all over the world with a common fervor for Afro-Cuban music. Their shows are lively and filled with so much energy that it’s almost impossible to not get up and start dancing; however, those who enjoy sitting back and watching a good performance can also be captivated by “DiLe” through their stellar showmanship. Their originality, stage presence, and passion as artist are what set them apart from your regular Friday night salsa band and their connection with the audience is what keeps fans returning for more.

10/21/2005

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes #2

Filed under: General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 11:06 am

The second “SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minute” features a short footwork combination demonstrated by Michelle and introduced by Tien-Yi. Video podcast on Thursday October 20, 2005 from an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes are video podcasts of salsa dance footwork, partner combinations, and snap interviews with salsa personalities.

You can view this episode by downloading it in any of the following formats: M4V (8.8 mb), MP4 (12.4 mb), or AVI (32.7 mb).

Check it out and stay tuned for more to come.

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes now on iTunes

Filed under: General,Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 11:05 am

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes are now listed as video podcasts on Apple’s iTunes Music Store! This means if you have iTunes you can subscribe to them and you’ll get the latest episodes automatically when you run iTunes. It also means you can easily get them on your iPod!! This link will take you to the SalsaFrenzy video podcast page on iTunes.

To download and view video podcasts, you need to be using version 6 or later of iTunes and version 7.0.3 or later of QuickTime.

Click here to get the latest version of iTunes (PC or Mac).

Click here to get the latest version of QuickTime (PC or Mac).

10/18/2005

SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes #1

Filed under: City: Boston,General,Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 12:42 pm

SalsaFrenzy has kicked off a little project called “SalsaFrenzy Salsa Minutes”. These are video podcasts of salsa dance footwork, partner combinations, and snap interviews with salsa personalities.

The first Salsa Minute features a short partner combination demonstrated by Julie and Danny and introduced by Michelle. Video podcast on Sunday October 16, 2005 from Wepa Salsa Sundays at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

You can view it by downloading it in any of the following formats: M4V (9.4 mb), MP4 (10.7 mb), or AVI (28.3 mb).

Check it out and stay tuned for more to come.

8/28/2004

The real thing?

Filed under: City: Boston,General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 10:22 am

In recent emails announcing his congress, Boston promoter Olaf sought to clear up a confusion by saying:

we’re having a bit of naming confusion on account of the “1st Annual Boston International Salsa Congress” that was put on by New York promoters at the Logan Airport last April, but this is the 4th annual real thing.

It’s reasonable to want to clear up any confusion people might have about which event is which, but calling one the “real thing” suggests the other isn’t – some sort of copy or cheap imitation. Better to promote one’s events on their own merit without taking swipes at others’. People who attend can make up their own mind about each.

Here’s my take on the name confusion. As any long time Boston salsa dancer knows, Olaf called his congress in its 3 prior years the “SalsaBoston mini-congreso”, the “2nd Annual New England Salsa Congreso”, and the “3rd Annual New England Salsa Congreso”. For whatever reason, he didn’t call it the “Boston Salsa Congress” those years. It’s only after April and David Melendez adopted that name for their congress and web site (BostonSalsaCongress.com) that Olaf wants to use that name. Seems to me an attempt to create confusion rather than clear it up.

I don’t mind there being two or even three congresses in Boston (e.g. Olaf’s New England Salsa Congress and April/David’s Boston Salsa Congress), but I would like to see organizers do their own thing without sniping at or swiping from each other.

8/27/2004

the olympics

Filed under: General — on123567 @ 9:22 pm

if i had access to tivo and bravo i would have selected for myself a very different olympic experience than what NBC programmed. but having had to make do with NBC’s selections, i have to admit that i got to watch a few events that i either didn’t know existed or didn’t have much regard for prior. (more…)

new york salsa congress – quick impressions

Filed under: City: New York,General — on123567 @ 4:09 pm

still recovering from this past weekend’s new york salsa congress. got there friday night in time to register and catch the first set of shows and left a couple of hours after the event ended at 4 monday morning. i’ll be posting a full review soon, but here are some quick impressions.

things i liked:

1. the venue, right in midtown at the hilton hotel.

2. great ballroom with a nice big floor.

3. the social dancing, particularly on friday and sunday night.

4. sunday’s live music (johnny polanco and his orchestra).

the thing i didn’t like:

1. the setup for the performances. an L-shaped space with the stage off-center at the end of the long end of the L. most people could only see the shows looking up at the projection screens as the stage was far away or out of view.

the gallery has pictures from friday, saturday, and sunday.

feel free to post your thoughts about the congress as comments.

8/11/2004

Pitfalls of dance floor clumsiness

Filed under: General — on123567 @ 4:40 pm

Yahoo News reports a bizarre story of the fate of a man who tripped over a woman at a dance.

8/5/2004

Goings on in Boston

Filed under: City: Boston,General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 1:11 pm

In mid-July, Jeff organizer of Havana Club nights, announced on the SalsaFrenzy Forum a weekly Tuesday night at Ryles. I had learned of this a couple of days prior and also learned how it had come about. Jeff had approached Ryles with the interest in moving his Friday night there (after it didn’t work out at the Greek Ballroom in Central Square) without informing Suzanne and April, respectively organizers of Temporada Latina on Thursdays and Wepa Sundays. I thought it was an unfriendly move on his part and wrote to him privately pointing out that he had built his nights in part with the support of fellow local promoters and for him to move against their interests was problematic and that the success of any salsa night is ultimately a function of the goodwill extended to it by the community. (more…)

It’s all in the balance

Filed under: Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 11:13 am

Quite by accident, I stumbled on the fix to the “blue look” of all flash pictures I had been taking. Turns out I been using the wrong color balance all this time. Sigh. Glad I didn’t dump the camera which I thought was the problem. Pictures from this past Tumbao Tuesdays are the first with the correct color balance.

Tumbao Tuesdays pictures

Filed under: City: Boston,Clubs,General — SalsaFrenzy II @ 11:04 am

Pictures from this Tuesday’s Tumbao Tuesdays are up on the Gallery. Ana and Joel performed. A friend there who was a sceptic early in the night left a very happy camper.

7/22/2004

Gallery changes

Filed under: Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 8:22 pm

There’s now a “sub-category” under “Boston” for each of the weekly nights/clubs that have multiple albums in the gallery. This makes it easy to see the weekly pictures for a particular Salsa night:

Temporada Latina at Ryles:
http://www.salsafrenzy.com/gallery/index.php?cat=15

Tumbao Tuesdays:
http://www.salsafrenzy.com/gallery/index.php?cat=17

Wepa Sundays at Ryles:
http://www.salsafrenzy.com/gallery/index.php?cat=14

7/15/2004

tumbao tuesdays

Filed under: City: Boston,Clubs,General — on123567 @ 6:47 pm

this past tuesday (7/13) was the opening night of tumbao tuesdays a “salsa meets sushi” night at a japanese restaurant in copley square, boston. the first thing i noticed walking into the dance room was the floor. it was spotless and at least at the beginning of the night, you could have eaten your sushi off it. it seemed almost profane to be wearing street shoes on it.

the layout of the room reminded me of the green street grill, a rectangle with bench seats along the two sides, except this was bigger and a much nicer floor. the music courtesy of dj d martinez and the sound system were great. the only problem (hopefully a short lived one) was the low turnout, presumably on account of the rain that night.

the location is good, it’s a 2 minute walk from the copley t-stop, and it looked like there was ample street parking. i plan on bringing friends there next week. some pictures now available in the gallery.

6/25/2004

Photo Gallery Launched

Filed under: Site Updates — SalsaFrenzy II @ 4:42 am

SalsaFrenzy now has a photo gallery at www.salsafrenzy.com/gallery/. It’s intended to be a community gallery with salsa pictures posted by the public or pointers to other salsa photo albums. In the spirit of being a directory, the albums are organized by cities. Details on how to post an album or how to point to your album will be added soon, but the adventurous can experiment on their own.

6/19/2004

havana club friday night salsa

Filed under: City: Boston,Clubs,General — on123567 @ 8:44 am

last night’s grand opening of a friday night in cambridge was… grand.

i got there around 9:45 and a class by johnny and felicita was still in progress. they on the stage leading some footwork and scores of people on the dance floor following diligently. the ballroom of the greek american political club were this is held is large with an all wood floor. the bottle of baby powder i had proved popular as most but not all the floor felt sticky. (more…)

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