WanderingSalsero

Mark your calendars....Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, 4-6pm.

Yes boys and girls and fun lovers of all ages..............!!  It's Casino Rueda Bootcamp 2, another exciting 2 full hours of fun and frolic as we learn all the basics of the funnest social dance on the planet......Casino Rueda.

Here's a video I created:

Starting the following Saturday, September 19 we will start another series of weekly lessons, Casino Rueda 101. Any individuals who either came to our previous bootcamp or who attended our recently completed first Casino Rueda 101 may attend this bootcamp at no charge.

This 2 Hour Casino Rueda Bootcamp will commence at 6pm on Saturday, September 12, 2009, at the beautiful Candela Dance Studio in Yangjae, Seoul.  Candela Dance Studio is just a 3 minute walk from exit #6 of the Yangjae subway station.  See the video elsewhere on this site.

This class will cover enough salsa basics to allow beginners to get started with salsa not only in a basic rueda format but also to dance salsa with one partner.  We believe that learning salsa in a rueda format is the best way to learn salsa because:

• You get two dances for the price of learning one...i.e. you'll learn to dance in the rueda circle with everybody and you'll learn to dance just with one partner.
• Everybody gets to dance with everybody else.  No more 'superstars'.
• All the patterns have names thus they're easier to learn and remember. 
• Later, you can create your own exciting patterns using variations of what you lean here.
• Dancing in the rueda is almost like a 'team sport'.  Everybody has to do their part in order to make thier connections and keep things going.

Starting the following Saturday, September 19, we will start another series of weekly lessons, Casino Rueda 101.   All the dancers who attended our first Casino Rueda 101 are wellcome to take the bootcamp at no charge.  They'll probably find it to be a good review and also a chance to meet new dancers. 

There is a small charge to attend this class but in order to try to have as many 'pro's as possible for the new dancers, we're allowing any dancers who attended our previous bootcamp are welcome to attend this new one at no charge.  Any individuals who either came to our previous bootcamp or who attended our recently completed first Casino Rueda 101 may attend this bootcamp at no charge too.

We would like to encourge as many experienced 'veterans' to attend this class as possible. 

Admission to the bootcamp is only 5,000 KW.  That get's you 2 hours of instruction, a basic foundation in casino rueda, some 'salsa suelta' footwork, free refreshments and a whole new circle (no pun intended :-) of friends to share your new dance skills with.  

We're also asking that all ladies bring a partner.   But, if you're a lady and you would like to learn 'lead', then it's OK to come 'solo'.  Guys can come solo.

We had a great time at our first full series of classes.  We now have a small but dedicated and proficient group of rueda dancers......a nucleus to grow around.  If you get in now you'll benifit from have some experienced dancers available to help you progress rapidly.

We learned over 35-50 patterns.  That's a great start in such a short period of time.  And we're doing something nobody else in Korea es doing.  If we continue in this direction I think we have a very good chance of performing somewhere in Korea eventually.  Who knows?  We might even take an international trip somewhere.

Casino Rueda 101 starts Saturday at Candela in Yangjae, Seoul

Great new streaming timba discovery!

Remember it was probably at least 3 years ago I discovered and mentioned a timba music site called www.timba.com?  As I remember it, I was intrigued by it but for some reason it got buried under all my usual wanderings (on the net) and faded from conscious awareness.

Well, somehow it came up on my radar again and I've rediscovered that it has not one but two prominent values.

First of all, it's got an excellent selection of Cuban music, mostly timba or course, for sale.  And at reasonable prices it seems.

But the second and most interesting value of it is that it has a great streaming timba radio page.  I found it on the bottem of one of the actual CD pages.  I only did it once but I'm listening to it right now as I type this.  I think that's what you have to do though:  go to a CD page, scroll down to the bottem, and right down there on the very bottem (where you've got the copyrites etc.) you'll see a small tag saying 'radio'.  That's it.

It has easily 1-2 hours worth of music.  I think something like that would be great for dance party music.  I've heard about 4 songs already and they were all timba.  One was sorta a groovy cha-cha and this one I'm listening to now is mid tempo funk-groove jazz.

Boxing Salsa??!!

Those folks at Boogalu Productions (actually www.boogalu.com) have some pretty good stuff in their inventory for your listening, watching and learning pleasure.  Their stuff sometimes is a bit higher of esoteric than practical value but it's always at least entertaining and oftentimes there is a lot you can use in your own real-time dancing.

One of their newest products, Danza-Boxeo, by Geodanis Medina, looks like it might be worth some money.  Especially if you've ever envied that energetic Cuban style of dancing (which I have).

Geodanis is a gifted Cuban boxer who after years of thought, experimentation, and hard work, has integrated his two great passions, boxing and salsa.  Interesting premise, eh?

Here's one of the good videos from the sales page.  There's some other interesting information on it to.  Check it out!

The Casino Rueda class was a success

Yesterday was the day of the 2 Hour Casino Rueda class that I did and I gotta believe there was some Godly direction in it because was a remarkable chain of events that even made it possible.

First of all, it couldn't have happened unless I somehow met Pill Hyun Hwan , the owner of Candela Dance Studio who most graciously (and wisely, I might add) contributed his contacts, staff and most excellent studio to the event.

I forget how I met Pillhwan.  I think it was from my blog.  We got to talking about interesting new things to do for dancers in Seoul and, of all those that we discussed, doing a free casino rueda class like this seemed to most logical right now.  So that's how it got started.

We had an excellent and very interesting mix of attendees at the class too.  Probably about 60/40% Korean to 'foreigner'.  I, for one, think it's a good thing to have events like this where the local nationals can meet and mix with foreigners because it's so hard to do otherwise.  In most cases, they're curious about us and we're curious about them.  Life is just so busy otherwise, ya know? 

We had about 7 couples.  We had an extra couple of ladies but luckily a couple of them, Suki and Michelle, were capable and willing to practice their leading so that made it perfect for pairing up.

To be honest, I thought I might cover a lot more than we actually did, but.......well, that's OK I guess, since everybody seemed to have had a good time.  We did:

son montunu, pa' el media, llevela abajo, exhibela, caminando, taro, taro y no le sugues, dile que no, enchufla, enchufla dos, enchufla que no, enchufla mentira,  vacila, and adios. 

Then we did that thing I used to do back in Houston called 'el corral' except here I'm calling it 'Hwaseong' (there's a big fortress here called "Hwaseong Fortress" that has a very long wall).  I've got some other ideas too for patterns that'll be fun.

Suki actually said something that I thought was very profound.  She was talking about the ethnic background of casino rueda and she said that in Cuba it started out like a 'game'.  I though to my, "Yeah......that makes sense!"

Actually, I would have used the word 'sport' but I think the implications are similar.  'Game' might actually be a better word in some respects because it has more of an implication of fun than sport does.

The class was two hours but I really think everybody would have gone another hour if we'd scheduled it.  I am reminded now, after all this, that it takes more time to teach those fundamentals than it does to just teach patterns.

As of the present we don't have have any specific plans for our next event but I'm sure there will be something.  I think we've got three general objectives now:

(1)  Wash, rinse and repeat this introductory crash course for rueda newbies.

(2)  Come up with a 'Pre-K' introductory class for complete salsa newbies

(3)  Move ahead to higher levels of proficiency with this first freshman group.

What's really significant about this event though, in my opinion and as far as I know, was that this was the first every such event to ever happen in Korea.  From what I've heard this was the

• First ever A-Z Introductory class on casino rueda in Korea
• First ever such class for foreigners and Koreans
• First ever class sponsored by a real dance studio

I think that's pretty cool.  And it's all because Salsa Eddy told me about the class that Sandro Moro Sleeper was having in Austin one Saturday, way back around 2000 or 2001 where Rene Guiets, (www.salsalovers.com) was coming to Austin, Tx. to do a big workshop.

One thing led to another and now I find myself in Korea, or more specifically...Seoul, S.Korea.  Seoul in an incredible salsa town with over a ten excellent salsa clubs.  But like lots of places that have the 'potential', casino rueda hasn't taken off here.

Maybe I can do my part to get it started.  Yesterday seemed like a stepn in the right direction.  If you're reading this and you're in the Seoul area and you have any interest in casio rueda, let me know and I'll make sure you're kept up to date of what's going on regarding the reuda community in Seoul.

Free 2 Hour Casino Rueda Crash Course

Here's a video showing the directions to the Free 2 Hour Casino Rueda Crashcourse I'm doing Saturday July 25, 2009 at Candela Dance Studio in Yangjae, Seoul, S.Korea.  Workshop starts promptly at 4 pm and goes til 6 pm. 

The only requirement to attend is that you already know basic salsa.  That's all.  The object of this 2 hours is to show you the basics of casino rueda and as many patterns as possible. 

This crash course will be great for salsa dancers who've had an interest in casino rueda but never had an opportunity to learn.  After you're finished, you'll be able to  enjoy basic Level 1 casino rueda at the clubs and parties.

Candela Dance Studio is an excellent learning venue.  It's well air conditiooned, there's change rooms, nice restrooms, and plenty of cold water.  Free refreshments and light snacks will be served too.  The studio space for this first-of-it's-kind event is provided compliments of Pill Hyun Hwan, Proprietor and Primary Instructor of the studio.  He'll be in the class too!

I hope to see you there!

Art Williams

010 5822 2277

Good reason to go to Palm Springs!!

It looks like you've got a good excuse to visit Palm Springs, California.  On August 13-16, 2009, there's an event that looks like it'll be a winner:

Palm Springs Salsa & Rueda Congress!
Aug 13-16, 2009

Wyndham Resort & Convention Center

I spent some time looking over the schedule and it's for sure something I'd like to go to.  The schedule indicates an exciting and equal mix not only of salsa (lot's of on1) but also casino rueda.  Enough said, eh?

Seriously, it looks like a lot of thought went into making the event something that beginners and intermediate dancers would not feel left out at.  Here's the URL:

http://www.peoplewhodance.net/summer/salsa/

Toys........? Not!

Ever heard of "RC"?

It means 'radio controlled' and it's a very diverse and expansive genre of sport for individuals around the world.  I'm not really into it myself but I sorta know what it is and it's my understanding that the biggest activity within it involves racing.

In the 'radio-controlled' field, you'll find miniature models of various kinds of vehicles.  These vehicles have motors....sometimes electrical and sometime actual miniature gasoline engines.  The vehicle models themselves might be cars, boats, airplanes,  monster trucks(?) and........virtually anything that moves on wheels, treads, in the air or on the waves.  Whatever the vehicle is, RC fans really get into it and in fact it is very exciting as you'll see on the following video.

BTW.......can you think of any niches and domain names here that might be good for a 'parked' domain or a quick-flip website?  I can :-)

The race you'll on his video takes place in Thailand.  You may not know it but racing of all kinds is very popular in Thailand.  I remember noticing that when I visited Thailand several times while I was in Vietnam several years back.

RC Racing Series 3 Episode 3 from Nick Daman on Vimeo.

Don't forget that if you have any particular hobby you might be surprised to learn that there's always room for one more well made site any popular niche.  And if you do it right, there's substantial and residual money to be made in internet marketing of this type too.  

You can learn how to market successfully on the internet at several excellent online training sites around the net and here's two that I know of:

• Lead Generation Portals
• Wealthy Affiliate

They're both very good.  I'm a member too.

Another announcement:  I'm soon going to be unveiling a content service for dance related (primarily salsa, casino rueda, and bachata) websites and blogs.  It'll be a monthly service.  Each month you'll have access to several unique, fresh, new, key word rich articles designed to add value, and Google attention, to your website, your blog, your studio, and your services.  And money to your pocket.

Using these articles on your website or blog is guaranteed to

• Increase your search engine position
• Add valuable information and credibility to you and your brand name
• Increase site visitor retention (i.e. make your site 'stickier'), and
• Put much more money in your pocket than the cost of the service.

This new service will be very reasonably priced even at 'full retail' but, heck.....who wants to pay 'full pop', right?  I'm offering a limited number of reduced priced, early bird memberships.  So, if you're interested, shoot me an email(use the 'contact me' link on this site or a Skype call at 'wanderingsalsero' and we can discuss it.

And think of all the time you'll save by outsourcing this kind of work to me.  I'll be busily burning my fingers away at the keyboard into the dead hours of the night while you're either out dancing or at home playing with your RC formula 4 racing car :-)

Who's pushing the envelope nowadays in Latin Dancing?

I was just wondering today, 'who's pushing the envelope lately in the world of salsa, bachata,  and cha-cha?'  Who's doing the old stuff well but adding new flavors to make it more interesting?

I remember that there was a couple of dance companies in San Antonio who did some stuff I thought was nice.  But I've been away for a couple of years and I don't know what's going on now.

If you have any thoughts on who you think is creative and innovative nowadays in the dance business....I'd sure like to know who it is.  If possible, I'll follow up and write more about them.

You can leave a comment here if you'd like. 

AbsoluteSalsa.net ...........lots of stuff, but.......??

If you're any degree of casinero or casinera I'd be interested to know if you agree with me on this:

I'm not working today so I slept late.  I thought I'd do some surfing based on whatever was in my mind so naturally the first thing I did was check my email. 

I think it was on my Google Alerts that I noticed something from Absolute Salsa (.net).  I remembered them from somewhere in the back of my mind so I clicked over to the site.  That's when I recalled exactly where I'd seen them before.

www.absolutesalsa.net is the site from Scotland that has a lot of good content and videos about casino style salsa.  I don't think they do any rueda (but maybe I'm wrong on that).  I'd seen the site before and remembered especially the videos witch I'd also encountered in browsing YouTube.

I was thinking I need to get a few new inspirational ideas for my dancing so I thought I'd look at their videos again.  In doing so I realized that it's kinda hard to follow the patterns that guy is doing because, to me, it seems like he bounces around so much.

Yeah, it's free (which I certainly appreciate) and the videos aren't intended to be subsitutes for real lessons (it even says so on the site).  But still, I just thought it remarkable that he seems to be sorta hard to follow just by watching. 

On the other hand........the girl.  I thought she seemed to be much more sturctured in her steps.  Maybe that's because she wasn't doing so much styling.  Maybe just a little bit with her hands.

Overall though the site is a great resource for exactly what I was looking for......i.e. some ideas.  But if you do any casino style I'd be interested to know if your observation of the way the guy dances is the same as mine.