Search Results for: dance

How To Be A Successful Social Dancer

North America / USA / New York

Social dancing is one of my favorite things about the Latin dance world. There’s something magical about going to any social, but especially one in New York City. As I step out of the elevator and into the social, New York’s busy streets fade away and transported to an entirely different time and place. Music vibrates through the room. The air hangs heavy with sweat. Here I am free to feel, to create, to imagine. Here I am safe.

But it didn’t always feel this way. There was a time when the idea of going to any social left me anxious and uncomfortable. I felt nervous asking leaders to dance. I dreaded the part in the dance when he would let me go and leave me on my own for shines––what would I do?! Surely I’d run out of steps and embarrass myself.

The biggest thing that has changed since then and now is my ability to follow. As I’ve become a better follower, I’m able to devote more energy to creating actual movement while I’m social dancing, and spend less time thinking about which foot I step with or which hand I take.

For me, a lot of the magic of social dancing comes from the movement itself. That dancer’s high comes from the physical exertion itself, the endorphins your body creates as it bends and twists, contracts and lengthens.

Practicing the very fundamentals of leadand-follow will help you get to this state in your own social dancing. Take classes and private lessons too, but don’t forget to spend time practicing on your own. Without dedicated practice, you’ll waste all of the time and money you spend on classes. It doesn’t matter if you practice in a studio space or in your living room, just devote time to practicing.

It’s also helpful to set a goal for yourself each time you go out social dancing and focus on that one particular thing all night. For example, if you just learned a new pattern in class, try to use it at least once during each dance. If you’re working on transferring your weight, pay special attention to your six/seven or your two/three during every dance.

Actively creating a community is another large part of being a successful social dancer. While the salsa scene is an incredibly diverse community, it still has a strong Latin influence, and there are certain Latin cultural norms present throughout any salsa community regardless of city, state, or country. Perhaps the one that took me the longest to figure out is the idea that it’s your responsibility to go around and say hello and goodbye to everyone in the room, whether you know them well or not.

Growing up I was taught that it is rude to ask questions or insert yourself into a conversation with people you don’t know that well. It took me a while to learn and understand that at a salsa social, it’s considered rude not to. Be the person who walks into the room and says hello to everyone with a kiss on the cheek. Say hello to them even if you don’t know their name, or don’t quite recognize their face. Even if doing so feels a bit uncomfortable. Make sure to make the rounds and say goodbye before you leave the event too.

Successful social dancers also ask others to dance. Followers, this applies to you as much as it does to leaders! Ask the person you really want to dance with to dance, even if you’re scared to do it. Ask the person you’re not excited about dancing with too. It will make their night. Ask the regulars in the community you see all the time, the newcomers, and out of town visitors.

Finally, a huge part of creating any community is showing up. You don’t have to go out social dancing every weekend, but do make an effort to go out regularly. Show up and show your support for recurring socials, as well as those special events and anniversary parties. The social dancing community only flourishes as much as the people in it and for this global community to grow, we all have to devote energy and time to it.

Dina y Los Rumberos makes Portland and its surroundings dance

We always find, and surely will find, examples of Cubans who have managed to get ahead despite the harsh circumstances surrounding them in their country of origin. One of many is Andy Martinez, current musical director of the group Dina Y Los Rumberos, with whom we have had the honor to share a few minutes to learn as much as we can about his orchestra and current career.

Andy and Paolo — Andy Martínez on percussion next to Venezuelan timbalero Paolo

Andy’s initial taste for music

Andy comes from a musical family with whom he had a lot of contact with music since he was very young, starting with his father himself, Don Raúl Matínez, who was the former musical director of Dina Y Los Rumberos and, for reasons of age, was unable to carry out his functions. However, he is still the head of the project and is part of all the important decisions in this regard.

On the other hand, Andy’s personal interest in music began when he was only five years old, which led his parents to enroll him in his first conservatory where he studied the elementary and middle level, but because of geographic issues and reasons of distance, he was not able to finish his degree. As a result, he chose to study to be a music teacher instead.

What most attracted his attention at that time was percussion, in fact, he ended up graduating as a percussionist and playing instruments such as the bongo, the timbales, the tumbadora and many more.

Dina Y Los Rumberos

The first thing Andy wanted to clarify about Dina y Los Rumberos is that the group was at first a family orchestra, starting with Dina, the lead singer, who is Andy’s older sister. On the other hand, his father Raul was the director, as we have said, and his uncle Ernesto Martinez was the bass player.

Dina Matínez — Lead singer of Dina Y Los Rumberos Dina Martínez

It all starts when, in 2001, Raul made the decision to formalize a band that included the family musicians, who had already been in other groups and had the necessary expertise to take up the challenge. Soon after, they got their first chance to tour outside Cuba, more specifically in Mexico, where they spent approximately 10 years. That time was more than enough to travel around the country and establish the band there, but unfortunately the situation of violence at that time made them move again.

Andy and the rest of the band preferred to move to Portland, Oregon, where they still live today.

Great challenges after their arrival in the United States

Although the plan was not to leave Cuba indefinitely, Andy also admitted that the idea of leaving the island was always hanging around his head due to the political and economic situation there. The artist also pointed out that in the music business, most of those who have the opportunity to leave never come back.

In the case of Andy and his bandmates, they specifically chose Portland, since they had many acquaintances in the area and it was a place very much like where they lived in Cuba with a lot of nature and tranquility.

One of the first challenges they faced along the way was Raul’s inability to remain at the forefront the orchestra due to his advanced age and health problems, so the best person to replace him was Andy, since he was the one who had more musical knowledge and was more qualified to lead a band in terms of scores, arrangements and that sort of thing.

Andy, Dina, and Raul — Andy Matínez, Dina Martínez and their father Raul Matínez playing the guitar

Another of the difficulties they had was the bad reputation Cubans had at that time, so many doors were closed to them because of all that was said of their country of origin. However, they have managed to get ahead despite the adversities and now defend Cuban music to the last on any stage where they play.

How Dina Y Los Rumberos is currently composed

At present, Dina Y Los Rumberos is made up as follows: Dina Martinez on vocals, Luis Perez also on vocals, Paolo on timbales, Diego Cruzado on piano, Moises Hernandez on piano and Mario Posada on piano, Thomas Pierce on trombone, Olaf on bass and Alexis also on bass.

Swedish dancer Molly Hagman made it in Europe and now in New York

Undoubtedly, Latin music continues to enslave hearts around the world and the protagonist of this story is a reliable proof of it. It has been such a great honor for us to have known the story of Swedish professional dancer Molly Hagman, who has shared with us the most important facts about her career and how she has reached the point she is at today.

How Molly became interested in dancing in her home country

Nice and jovial Molly was describing in detail everything she has done in her career, thus answering most questions we had for her. She began by telling us that her dance studies began when she was still very young. Being only 15 years old, her best friend at the time convinced her to enroll in the Malmoe Dance Academy in the Swedish city of Malmö, to learn from instructors who introduced her to genres such as jazz, hip hop, contemporary music and ballet.

Two years later, when she was sufficiently prepared, she began experimenting with salsa and auditioning for women’s dance teams, one of them being the group Bellasitas, Molly and Maddy being the first two original members. Once the team was complete, they began to perform in congresses throughout Europe such as the Berlin Salsa Festival, the Hamburg Salsa Festival, the Copenhagen Salsa Festival, the Stockholm Salsa Weekend at the Capitol Stockholm in Sweden, the Scandinavian Salsa Congress, the Love Dance Festival, among many others.

Activity outside Europe

By the year 2014, the young woman studied a year of commercial dance at the International Dance Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of her education, she was able to travel to Los Angeles to train at the Millenium Dance Complex studio, where she remained for about three months and shared with some of its choreographers such as Gustavo Vargas, Jojo Gomez, Yanis Marshall, Tricia Miranda and many more. That time was enough for her to know that her destiny was the United States and that eventually she would like to live there. And she did.

Molly at the Malmoe Dance Academy — Molly when she was studying at the Malmoe Dance Academy during her teenage years

Some time later, more specifically in 2016, Molly moved to New York to study dance at Broadway Dance Center and the possibility to meet the best salsa instructors, many of whom were in that city. It is there where she made contact with Franklin Diaz, with whom she was dancing for a few months in a number of events, until joining the Yamulee Dance Company in the Bronx. She danced for that dance company for about six years, that is, until the year 2022.

During her time with Yamulee, she was able to participate in all kinds of events all over New York, Florida, Trinidad and Tobago and other places.

It is during this time that her passion for Latin music developed even more, since practically those whom she interacted with listened to salsa, merengue, bachata and reggaeton and the great majority of Yamulee’s members were Dominicans who gave much importance to their heritage. As mentioned before, Molly had already had contact with these genres, but this constant exposure only reinforced her decision to continue along this path.

Solo career

In 2022, Molly felt ready to start her career as an independent dancer thanks to all the training previously received. Since then, she has worked with her current dance partner ”Vittico La Magia” with whom she has performed in numerous festivals such as the New York International Salsa Festival in 2023 and 2024, the BIG Salsa Festival in the same years and the New York SBKZ Congress last year.

Molly in Harlem — Molly posing for the camera in the Graffiti Hall Of Fame, Harlem

She also told us that she was starring in the official music video for the latest song my Thalia and Los Angeles Azules – “Yo Me Lo Busque” that already has over 1.2 million views after being out for only 5 days! What was an incredible experience and dancing for such big artists. Similarly, she has participated as a dancer for several concerts by Dominican artist Yiyo Sarante in New York and New Jersey before thousands of people who enjoyed her great talent. She also danced with Grupo Niche and La India in some of their shows.

Additionally, she has been interviewed by important shows such as The Art Of Fashion TV, which was broadcast through the Manhattan Neighborhood Network and exposed to millions of viewers, giving Molly the opportunity to make herself known to a much larger and diverse audience.

Her role as a dance teacher

Molly has been teaching dance since she was in Sweden on some occasions, but where she further gained experience was in New York, which is when she has developed all her skills through the private lessons she today offers. She says that this is an area of her work that she really enjoys very much because it gives her the opportunity to teach other young people what she herself learned at the time and this satisfies her enormously. The need to create a new choreography for each class invites her to be more creative and to keep the interest of her students with new dances in each session.

Ms. Hagman has also completed with Malmoe Dance Academy’s professional dance teams on the Swedish national talent competition “TALANG”, (“This is Talent”) where she and her team won First Place. Talang is the Swedish reiteration of the Got Talent series. Talang features singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts and other performers competing against each other for audience votes and prize money. It’s a nationally recognized dance competition which was broadcasted on Swedish national television and to viewers around the world.

Molly at the fashion week — Molly modeling at the New York Fashion Week

Damian Ballester and the transformations of Cuban Folk Dance

Latin America / Cuba

The relationship of Africa within the musical and dance culture in Latin America is notorious when we see the cultural expressions of the peoples of this continent, it is easy to see how similar they are, the use of percussion is one of the most relevant topics, in itself a mixture of cultural customs, religion, musicality, dance, in itself all the elements of the black race.

America, one of the main destinations of the ships with black slaves from many areas of Africa, caused our culture to be armed with a bit of each custom, therefore, we can say that in America there is a bit of each African people, this relationship of variety of slaves focused on dividing the forces of the race so as not to make it powerful, divided languages, customs, words and religions only left the marginalized population to communicate through percussion, an element that made the system improve at times of understanding within the fences where they lived.

Due to the above, African religions and customs are born in Cuba but, adopted by those already existing on the island, this combination gives us a rich variant of movements from three continents, Europe through Spain and Africa in all its splendor.

To clarify some topics of the folklore of the Caribbean island and its current dance transformations, we had to contact a great teacher, Damian Ballester, director of Iya Aye, one of the best folklore groups on the island of Cuba, to speak with this professional of the dance is necessary if we want to obtain real information about Cuban traditions, a great teacher who has left his teachings in many Spanish-speaking countries, among which Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and now in the United States stand out…

we begin by greeting him and opening a pleasant conversation, to which we got an original response “Greetings acere, what was it”, calling him opens up a range of questions on the subject in question, here is an extract of the most common doubts generated around the relationship with salsa, its festivals and diffusion in the world.

Greetings Prof. Damian, grateful for your receptivity, we want to give information to our readers about the relationship of Cuban folklore within our world, Salsa, to begin with, what is defined as Cuban Folkloric dances?

Grateful for the opportunity and sure, that if we report on the case, folk dances are nothing more than the set of cultural goods or phenomena that constitute a cultural complex with manifestations of all aspects of popular life. It is the sum of the manifestations acquired by experience, by inheritance, by tradition, by the satisfaction of biological or sociological needs, among other things. This lasts through several generations and almost always undergoes transformations.

They will get compound terms in the word folklore, which speaks of people or people, popular knowledge, together with the popular knowledge of the people. It is a very long topic, because I should talk about so many things about my culture, better let’s leave the definition until here and thus add flavor to the interview.

Much better, we continue then, do African dances have any impact on Cuban folk dances?

Yes, of course, it is the root, the exercise of dance has always characterized my land and has suffered the same processes of contagion and transculturation between the ways of dancing of the colonizer and the styles introduced by African ethnic groups since the 16th century, in fact, the colonizers brought romance, active in the Cuban countryside for several centuries, with its couplets and their ways of singing and founding alegrías, while the black slaves included their ancestral rites, their drums, and their particular sense of rhythm and movement. bodily.

Given this brief explanation, we can say that not only dances of African origin contributed or influenced Cuban folklore, we can say that there is also an incidence from Spain, France and the Caribbean, but its main axis was born from the Spanish and the African.

We know the extent of Cuban folklore, for how long should a person prepare to be called a professor in this branch?

First of all, to carry the name, whether it is a teacher or instructor of Cuban folklore genres, there are two factors that are very important, the first is study, since Cuban folklore is made up of a very wide range of genres divided into different styles, I could mention some examples: Peasant, popular, Afro-Cuban and Franco-Haitian folklore.

Within the styles of peasant folklore, examples could be given of the Cuban zapateo, the ripiado parakeet, the chidonga, the hawk, the caringa, the son montuno, among others.

Within the styles of popular folklore, the Complex of the rumba, the mambo, the chachachá, the danzón, the dance, the pilón, the congas and the comparsas, the casino can be mentioned, within the Afro-Cuban folklore the Bantú cycle can be mentioned, the Yorubas, the Arara, the Abakua, within Franco-Haitian folklore we can mention the French tomb, the Haitian merengue, the gaga, the vodu among others, if I continue we will not finish today. (laughs to close)

Of the folkloric dances, which are the most outstanding or spread worldwide?

It could be said that there are several, examples are the popular folkloric ones, one could say the casino, the mambo, the chachachá, the son, the rumba complex, that the latter people tend to say are African or Afro-Cuban dances, that have African influence does not mean that they are classified within Afro-Cuban dances because this genre emerged in Cuba, was used as an object of protest against the government of that time and was eradicated in the essence of Cuban. In the same way, the one that has had the most impact and remained in the whole world are the Yoruba dances or dances of the orishas.

Should we open another interview to just talk about the many genres that the island embraces, what institutions correctly form the folkloric traditions in Cuba?

There are many institutions in Cuba, from the community point of view what is named in Cuba as amateur dancer are the community projects and actions that are nothing more than groups created in the communities, all of these supervised technically and methodologically by specialists from the houses of culture of each area by provincial and national methodologists governed by the Ministry of Culture.

From a professional point of view, there are art schools such as the ENA (NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ART) and the ISA (SUPERIOR INSTITUTE OF ART) all governed by a logical curriculum organized by specialists and connoisseurs of the genres.

Other institutions that could be mentioned, is the little school of the national folkloric group of Cuba with 56 years of creation in charge of rescuing and safeguarding the traditional Cuban musical and dance traditions.

Wao, Enough, Do you know if there is any similar institution in the world?

In the world there are countless schools that are training dancers with the Cuban style and technique, whether they are Cuban or foreign teachers, but nothing like the preparation of art schools in Cuba that work with a logical and well-prepared program, in some schools around the world it could be said that they do not work under a logical methodological program for the teaching of these genres due to the commercial and monetary part, unfortunately there are many dedicated to commerce, to money and not to the necessary dedication.

This dissemination has been achieved while respecting the roots and traditions of the farmers? The root? The original essence?

Unfortunately, it could be said that a good diffusion of Cuban genres worldwide has not been respected or achieved, of 100% of the performers, it could be said that only 10% are protecting Cuban traditions, it is sad to say, but trade and populism it is destroying the folklore of an entire country.

Have these changes in traditions positively or negatively impacted Cuban culture?

First of all, traditions do not change if they are not passed down from generation to generation. In terms of their impact, I see it negatively because the dissemination that is taking place is incorrect and worst of all, there is no organization, which was of Cuba, can follow up on the program that is being given to Cuban genres, in itself, many see the commercial and hence they do not care about the poor distribution of what is taught.

What is the reason that so many dancers seek to perform Cuban dances? It is notorious to see it at festivals and congresses.

There are two very important factors: 1 Cuban music, which has been evolving in an incredible way, fusing Cuban rhythms within its repertoire, and the other factor is not because I am from Cuba, Cuban folklore could be said to be the most complete genre available. world level from the point of view of dance, is that it has a history, virtuosity is varied, it could be said that it is well complemented, due to its complexity and interpretive difficulty, it is what attracts attention, additionally, salsa comes from us, from these roots is born what now wants to be denied.

Teacher and the Cubans? Have Cubans spread their dance correctly?

It could be said that the vast majority of Cubans have disseminated the genres well, why do I say that the vast majority?

Because there is another small group that deforms it, money changes everything, foreigners think that all Cubans They dance, it has happened that they say Cuban and quickly you think he is a dancer, he knows everything, he is good, and no, that is not reality, one thing must be clear about being an opportunist, not a dancer, being a dancer by hobby and another is being one by profession or for being a teacher.

There are Cuban teachers who are hurt by the deformation that is happening with what has been studied so much, but there are others who only care about getting paid and do not care if their students do it well or badly.

How has the interpretation of Cuban roots impacted the so-called Salsa Casino in the world? Has the original and real spread of traditions been respected?

Look, since Cuban music began to evolve inside the casino, it began to undergo a series of transformations from movements to choreography due to the musical style that Cuban orchestras began to spread, known as TIMBA, which was well accepted by the public, If we talk about the impact from the traditional point of view, it could be said that there is no original interpretation of the Cuban roots because they are not executing a specific traditional genre, but rather what they are using different styles of the traditional folk dances that all this could be called Variety.

Have Cuban music and dance festivals or congresses devoted time and effort to improving these transformations? Have they worried about minimizing the damage?

In most cases, very few, first of all, if it is a competitive event, the organizers make the mistake of hiring unqualified personnel to evaluate genres of Cuban origin, and that is where the serious faults come from. There have been cases where there are groups , couples or soloists who perform a good technique within normal limits and the jury evaluates for a taste problem if they see it as beautiful and give it less points, or disqualify it, it is not about beauty, it is about correctness, the organizers should be more careful about these things.

What recommendations would you give to our dancer readers on this controversial topic?

The dancer must be clear about four aspects that are fundamental to his artistic life and entire career: dedication, love of dance and, most importantly, study.

Do only what you love and you will be happy, the one who does what he loves is blessedly condemned to success, which will come when it should come, because everything that should be, will be, and will come naturally.

Let’s spend time respecting the roots and cultures of peoples, and above all, let’s take a good look at who we entrust our desire to learn, there are thousands of ways to learn correctly, everything is in the research, knowing who we contact and why There are hundreds of excellent instructors in the world, not to mention the many means of learning today.

I invite you to learn a little about this and other topics, I have a virtual classroom where I teach a lot of the theoretical and practical content online, I do it through the son rumbero academy and its virtual classroom format, follow the @sonrumbero accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

The Son Rumbero Academy: E-Learning in virtual classrooms reached the world of dance

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

The Son Rumbero Academy, in step with technological advances, now opens a virtual classroom that will allow you to access an interesting range of online courses open to all through distance education processes with invited international instructors.

The teaching and learning processes are led hand in hand by education professionals, people who handle various tools and techniques that allow reaching the objectives of generalized instruction, now, the means and the contexts that affect this process are in the same way. of great importance to meet the aforementioned goals, hence the institutions invest so much time in physical improvements for the setting of the spaces destined to unite these processes.

It is not new to speak that technological means have invaded all areas of knowledge, there is no longer an area or content that is not already in process or in the process of being taught through the internet, hence the term distance learning. It is not something that escapes from the normality of our day to day.

Professor José Manuel Pérez, director of the Son Rumbero Academy with a great career in the field of salsa and education professional in the area of computer science, is carrying out a process of teaching dance through virtual means, in this case, using the so famous virtual classrooms, where it focuses on asynchronous and asynchronous communication processes by which, the didactic interaction with the students predominates as the elementary basis of teaching, the student becomes the main center of self-information managing their learning through tutors and classmates from the open classroom for the specific dance specialty, is learning to dance by learning, it is doing it between appropriate means and environments.

Aula Virtual - Son Rumbero Academy — Aula Virtual – Son Rumbero Academy

The ways and methods of how to educate in the world of dance have always been maintained, in fact many people look for different alternatives given the circumstances of their tasks, work, home, occupations, in itself, an endless number of causes motivate the desertion when it comes to complying with schedules and routines in dance halls or gyms…

How many do not avoid entering this face-to-face modality due to little free time or the long time it takes to travel to a location, hence new ideas arise that facilitate access to world of dance from any corner of the world and at the time you want, and who would not like to adjust their classes to the hours and days they prefer, even more so if they can change them weekly according to their availability.

The Son Rumbero Academy project is not an original project, E-Learning and virtual classrooms have been in the educational world for several years, only that for the context of dance it was present in tutorial videos, a positive element but more of the same circle for some:

With a virtual classroom, the teaching process is extended, it not only depends on what the student has seen and practiced, in this we obtain constant supervision of the process, teachers dedicated to nourishing theoretical information and practicing something extremely important when understanding music and shaping it in dance it is about taking evaluations, participating in forums or conversations with several students in the same classroom, surveys, tutorial videos, correction process by videos sent to the teacher, easy access to multimedia elements…

from songs to explanatory audios, a world full of of elements that support to a greater degree the fact of learning from any dance discipline, not to mention seminars or professional courses, certifications of improvements in methodological processes in teaching for teachers and instructors, going from evaluation processes for dance competitions to complete percussion courses, a whole world of knowledge and elements given to the me You work in dance and now in music.

For this month of April, the project will begin with 3 high-impact courses, one on Cuban folklore dictated by Mr. Damian Ballester, a certification for instructors based on planning, evaluation and methodological processes of teaching by Professor José Manuel Pérez , closing with a theoretical-practical seminar on the complex of the rumba soon dictated by a professional in this area, director of one of the largest Cuban groups and participate in endless documentaries oriented to the complex of the rumba, a surprise that They will give us soon.

In the same way, they are betting on a new teaching method for beginners, those who perhaps want more privacy when starting steps in the world of salsa or another genre, new media that can contribute to the development of the diffusion of salsa in the world.

The invitation is now open for you to follow the accounts of the son rumbero academy on Instagram and Facebook at @sonrumbero, by the numbers of its offices in Colombia +573022582306, Venezuela +584122110104, Chile and soon in Peru and Argentina.