Korea Carruseles

Dedo....give somebody 'the finger'...casino style

Dedo means 'finger' in Spanish and there's actually a handsign for this that looks like flipping somebody 'the bird'.  Sometimes people use their little finger instead. 

This move isn't hard and is sometimes part of the two hour cram course.

Push Turn (AKA: "Turnstile" a-la-Sandra Moro Sleeper

This move is often called a 'push turn' in regular salsa but my friend in Austin, Texas, Sandra Moro Sleeper of www.streetsalsa.com teaches it in here very successful Sunday afternoon casinor rueda classes at the Rutamaya Coffee Shop as 'Turnstile'.

El dos.....not too hard really

I've found that if dancers already know haw to count and can do basic salsa, that a two hour workshop is plenty to teach them enough about casino to have a good time.  I know because I've done it several times. 

This pattern is one that I've usually been able to get into that two hours.  And again, it's one that can be done in regular salsa.  It's pretty simple but I don't see other regular salsa dancers doing it.  But  I do it a lot.  Once you learn it, it leads to several variations, again illustrating how casino isn't all that different from learning regular salsa.

On that note, Rene Guiets, the founder of www.salsalovers.com in Miami (one of the two biggest casino rueda schools in Miami, says that casino rueda is the best way to learn to salsa.  I agree. 

Here's the move:

Vacila (AKA: vacilala)

This pattern is another one of the basics of lots of other casino style patterns.  Sometimes it's done with something called 'the tap'.  Some people do it with the tap and others don't.  Actually, it's probably safe to say that doing 'the tap' isn't easy for most dancers to grasp.  It took me a while and I do think it's worthwhile to take the trouble to learn to do 'the tap'.  It give the pattern a little more 'sassyness'.

I'm initially putting two videos here.  The first is from SalsaJunkies and the second is from some entity in Italy called "Salsa Fuente".  I don't know anything about this Salsa Fuente guy (couple)but his videos on YouTube are excellent.  The guy is always 'spot on' the beat and I like the way he doen't act like a total 'spasmatic' when he dances (like one other guy does).  He's very concise in his execution.  I'll be adding more of his videos later.

Siete and Siete con Coca Cola

These two patterns go togather....i.e. one is a variation/extension of the other.  It's not something that's done in regular salsa and it does take an aware an sensitive mindset to set it up and execute it.  But, in essence, it's pretty simple. 

Also, it can be done at the end of a 'dame' or it can be done with the girl right there in front of the guy.  Here they is:

Evelyn....simple but useful

This video comes from the very excellent guy/studio up in Toronto, Canada, Salsa Junkies.  This guy is, as far as I know, the first guy to start putting casino videos up on the net for free.  And they've always been extremely high quality.  I don't why I don't hear more about him because he's always seemed like an excellent dancer and instructor.

Anyway, this pattern is a quickie.  It's simple and easy and something that fits in very easily with regular salsa dancing too.  It also has a hand sign.

Exhibela (right hand turn)

This is the Cuban version of a 'right hand turn'.

It's very basic and you'll find it in lots of other casino patterns.....i.e. as a part of the pattern.  Very often this is one of the patterns the group does while they're getting cranked up and before they start doing a lot of fancy stuff.  But it's also something that can be thrown in by the caller almost anytime.

Beginner's first casino patterns (Enchufla)

These two patterns are  Enchufla and Enchufla Doble (a variation of Enchufla).  It's kinda confusing because some people also call in 'enchufe' or 'enchufle'.

 

 

Casino Rueda in Seoul, S.Korea.

In case you didn't know, I've been over in Korea teaching English since June of 07.  Generally speaking it's been fun but the best thing about it is the dancing is really spectacular over here.  And I'll mention that there's still a big demand for more teachers.  Basically all you need is a 4 year degree in anything.

It's a good deal and you can get more information here: www.asknow.ca/teach .  But that's not the purpose of this post.  A small but enthusiastic portion of the foreigners over here (like me) salsa dance in the huge number of excellent clubs here in Seoul.  Although you'll still find a lot of that "LA Style stuff and that 'on 2' ridiculous-ness, one can still have a great time in most of the clubs.

There's a little bit of casino rueda going on.  But not much.  So, I'm going to crank up my activity on this blog again in hopes of getting some of my aquaintences and friends here on the same page as far as the patterns we're doing and how we're doing them.

I'm a member of a social group, www.seoullatindanceandsalsa.com and we have several sub-groups.  Most of them are small and don't actually do very much.  But we do have a few people who are interested in casino rueda. 

I've decided to collect and feature as many good casino pattern videos as I can.  I'll be grouping them into (probably) three groups:  the first group will be the kinds of patterns that people usually learn the first few months in casino rueda.  The second group will have more advanced patterns.  Then, if we get that far, I'll have a third group of really hard core patterns.  But frankly I don't think we'll get that far.