WanderingSalsero

Don't confuse the foreplay with the orgasm....bachata-tango.

Over the last 3 years bachata has definately come a long, long way.  I don't see how anybody can deny that.  And actually, even going back a few more years, you realize don't you that bachata has only been 'out of the cultural closet' for not-that-many years.   I'm referring the it's under-the-table early years in the Dominican Republic where it's from.

As I've admitted several times previously, I actually like bachata more than salsa....  if I had to make a choice.  And I think with the events of especially the last 3 years or so a lot of other people have come to the same realizaton.....i.e. they were 'closet-bachateros' themselves.

But the point of this post is to say that I have reason to believe that we ain't seen nothing yet.  All the great things we've discovered about bachata in the last three years were not the orgasm.  They were only the foreplay.  There's some things coming down the pike, real soon, that I think are going to eclipse what's happened so far with bachata by a magnatude of 10X or more.

What am I talking about?

Well, I went out dancing tonight.  To Caliente in Itaewon.  Caliente isn't really my favorite club but lately since I've been doing this casino rueda class I've made some new friends and one of them, a Korean guy named Neon, is also a big casino rueda fan and for some reason which I don't fully understand he likes Caliente.

So I've been going to Caliente on Saturdays because he has a small circle of like minded friends and we've frequently been able to do some casino rueda there at Caliente.

Got it?

So.....tonight I'm there and I happen to know the DJ.  I don't know his name but he plays pretty good music and I always say 'hi'.   I used to see him over at some other clubs I go to but....I guess DJs bounce around a bit too, right?

Anyway, I'm loitering around the dj booth tonight and I say something to him about bachata becoming very popular in the US right now. 

Then he proceeds to tell me that there's a new dance.  Related to bachata.  He's calls it 'bachatango' or something like that.  I wasn't sure I heard him right and I sorta assumed he was talking about the 'bachata-tango' as started and promoted worldwide by the No.1 Globe Trotting Bachatero, Jorge Elizando.

Then he proceeds to look in his files (he had a digital DJ rig, you know) and he finds a particular file and hands me a headset and says, "Here.....listen to this."

I listen to it and.........Holy Shit!!

It wasn't like anything I've ever heard.  I listen to some pretty eclectic stuff, right?  But this was a quantum factor more exotic than any bachata I've heard ever.  It really had a serious dose of tango in it. 

I still could hear the bachata in it but it had a very, very distinct tango quality to it.  Much more sensual, stylized, ballroom-ish, passionate than regular bachata.  I really liked it.

Well, my interest is up, right?  So when I left the club I trotted down here to this PC bang where I am now and got into YouTube to see what I could find.  Actually, I think I went to Google first but it just so happened that a YouTube video was first on YouTube.  That happens a lot with videos, you know.

Once I got into Youtube I keep clicking on videos that had the title 'bachatango'.  I think that's what it said.  It wasn't "bachata-tango".  It was a variation of that.  I looked at one video...way cool.  And another.....way cool.  And another.....way cool!

I looked at enough videos to see that there was a consistently 'new' twist and style to this new upgrade of bachata.  Initially, it seems to have more accordian in the instrumentation.  Like tango.  And it seems to have slightly different melodies too.

The element that seemed to remain the same from traditional bachata was the clave part.  What do you call that instrument.......the wood block and wooden stick thing?  I don't remember.

But it's still there in bachatango.  And the rhythm of bachatango doesn't slow down and pause as much as it does in real tango.

But it does have, in several of the videos I saw, those same dark, passionate, slinky, suck-my-toes moves that you see in real tango.  Really sexy and beautiful.

So what does this mean to the dance world?

It means that if you thought that what people like Jorge Elizando (actually I mean 'primarily' Jorge Elizando) has done with bachata during the last three years of his meteoric rise and redefining of the bachata genre....if you thought that was something.....I suspect you ain't seen nothing yet.

I've been watching, as best I can from where I am, what the three prime factors in bachata right now have been doing.  That would be Jorge Elizando, Juan Ruiz and Rodney Aquino.  They're all doing some great work.  Even if bachata never evolved one bit more......it's still become a world-class dance.

But I happen to know that there's some (that's "some".....plural) major national events coming up soon.  So I'm putting two and two togather. 

Most of the videos I saw tonight of this new kind of bachata, bachatango, came from Italy, it seemed.  And guess who's been travelling more in Europe and the Meditteranean more than any other 3 guys the last year or two?

Yeah......our ol' Texas Home Boy.....Georgie Elizando!!

You don't suppose he's picked some of this new stuff do you? 

And you don't suppose he's got some killer new products and/or material and/or events up his sleeve........do you?  Hmmmm??!

I'll tell you one thing:  If I had to make a choice about who I was going to keep track of and learn everything I could from about the kind of new bachata that set souls on fire......it would be Jorge Elizando.

Remember that it was Jorge that coined the phrase Bachata Fusion in the first place.  And that's exactly what this is.  If I was looking for the newest, freshest, most innovative bachata on the planet, I'd go to Jorge Elizando.

And if I heard that Jorge was doing a workshop.....or some other type of event (hint....hint! ;-) anywhere withing driving or flying distance of me........man!  You can bet I'd beg, borrow or steal the money to get there.

(BTW........I hear airfares are ridiculously cheap lately.  You might want to check what they are to say........someplace like uhhhh......Dallas?)

One thing I've discovered lately is that bachata has become very popular all over the globe.  In places you'd never suspect.  Like........China, Singapore, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Australia, Korea and other places too.  And guess who's been living out of a suitcase the last 2 years travelling to all those places?  Guess who probably knows these global superstars better than probably anybody else in the US?

I'd think it would be good 'ol George.  George Elizando, I mean.

If you want to see what got me started on this, go to YouTube and look under 'bachatango'.  Or you can try 'bachata tango' too.   You might find some of George's videos from earlier Bachata Bootcamp World Tours tjere but I'm sure you find some of this new stuff I'm talking about too.  You'll recognize it when you hear it.

It's really amazing.

What I've seen tonight is going to raise the bar once again for bachata.  It'll never be the same.  It's that much different and that much mo'betta (more better).  And I predict that people will like it. 

They'll like it for the same reason that they liked George's original idea of bachata-fusion.  He discovered that bachata gave dancers, and especially women, the chance to be sexy and passionate in a way that salsa never did (not for the average dancer anyway). 

And when he made that DVD with Camille Yanantuano (did I spell that right?) that was a precursor to what I see going on now.  I always thought Camille was hot and I've noticed she's been involved in several other new products too.  That's great.  She's gonna be 'the right girl at the right time' if this new stuff takes hold like I think it will.

This new, third-generation, bachata is just made for gals like her.  Or anybody else who's been looking for a sophisticated looking, sexy but easy to learn dance to do.  I never took any tango lessons so I can't say for sure but I don't see the general dancing public, in the US anyway, every getting heavy into tango.  It seems too highly formalized to me. 

Of course I could be wrong on that.  Possible but not likely :-)

But if bachata teachers and community leaders can adopt this new, more simplified tango-bachata-tango styles, I think people will really love the results and fun they'll have.

I suspect the last three years were just the first stage of the bachata-rocket.  Get ready for ignition of the second stage.  I can feel it coming.

And keep your eye on Jorge Elizando too.  You never know what he's up to......til he does it.  But when he does do it.........I guarantee you it'll be ground-breaking and earth-shaking.

Casino Rueda 101 starts Saturday at Candela in Yangjae, Seoul

Major dance stuio in Houston needs professional instructor(s)

I'm originally from Houston, Texas and I still have a lot of friends and contacts back there.  One of them is a person who owns one of the major dance studios and he/she is looking for a professional level dance instructor.

This studio teaches all the well known dances.  My association with them was in regards to salsa so that's what I know about.  And I can tell you that this studio has excellent connections withing the salsa community.  If salsa is your bag, then you'll meet a lot of the right people.  Texas is one of the most dynamic salsa states in the US.

The studio also teaches a lot of tango, swing, ballroom and C&W too.  And many of their dancers compete professionally.  It really is a very reputable studio...but not stuffy.  They have a once-a-month salsa social that's very well attended.  It was one of the my favorite monthly events back when I lived there.

Would I recommend the gig?

Yeah.  I was told, by the owner, that they're looking for someone either temporary or permanent.  The owner himself/herself is originally from abroad so I'm assuming he/she would assist with the necessary visa sponsorship.

I have no idea what the compensation and benefit package is but I can tell you that Houston is the 5th largest city in the US and Texas in general is doing a lot better economically than other parts of the US.  Point is.......it sounds like they've got plenty of people wanting to learn to dance.

I lived there from 1980 until 2007 when I came over here to Korea to teach English.  It's a big place.  You'll need a car because their public transportation sucks.  It's nothing like Seoul or Korea.  But......cars are cheap there too, so........

Send me an email if you want to get in touch with the specific studio/studio owner.

Regards,

Art Williams

A weasel named Tim caught in the headlights

You've seen the pictures, and maybe it's even happened to you, of a possum or raccoon or some other little scavenging animal caught by an automobile's headlights on the road at night.  Isn't it cute how surprised they act?

Well, I wouldn't call it cute but I would call it funny........how these crooked politicians act when they can't avoid the questions of their constituency.  That's what's going on in this video of a recent town hall meeting someplace in New York state. 

This video is excerpts from a recent town hall between Congressional Representative Tim Bishop and members of his constituency.  There's actually several You-tube videos of this same encounter.  I think it's great to watch this little weasel, Tim Bishop, squirm.  Gee, you'd sorta get the impression that the people he supposedly works for aren't too happy with his performance, wouldn't you?

I got this video, or actually another one of the same incident, from World Net Daily (which I do recommend).  The higher point and inference of their treatment of it as news was that incidents like this are becoming more and more common across the US.  And that 'the people' and their 'tea party mentality' is picking up steam.  God, I hope so.  Their might be time to save the country yet.

You know, I think that 99.9% of the politicians think that they're the first person to ever pull some of these little tricks the pull on us.  They forget that they've done it before and they forget that politicians have been treating 'we the people' that way for quiet a few years now.  And they (the politicians) don't seem to think that we have a very good memory.  But we do.

I think people are starting to put two and two together.  I think we are starting to realize which end we're getting screwed from.  It's from Washington.  It's not the Russians or the Chinese or even the Iranians or the N.Koreans.  We can handle those little pricks if we're left to build and maintain an America like it used to be......prosperous, strong, confident and free.

What's almost bizarre about this Bishop video is to listen to the bullshit this guy tries to feed the real smart people in the room, those citizens.  And I listened to what he was saying and I just thought to myself, "God......this crap sounds like it's the script of some movie about ignorant, corrupt politicians!"

Yet there it is on You-Tube.  I thought it was kinda incredible.  A politician actually trying to lay that Washington-insider-politico-speak-bullshit on real citizens and apparently thinking they might fall for it.  I give them a lot of credit that they didn't put up with it.  I think Bishop is lucky he got out of town with his ass in one piece.   Not that I would hire him but I'm assuming that one of the first things he did when he got back to Washington was have his resume updated.

One thing that I thought was 'choice' was how he tried to talk about all the dire emergencies we're facing, you know the standard line......green house gases, environmental problems, yada, yada, yada. Yet neither he nor any of those other jerkwads in Washington have to live with those factors in their lives.

Why not? 

You remember, don't you?  You know how they vote their own pay raises every year.  matter of fact, they're even automatic.  You know how they live like kings on the public payroll.  You know how they get wined and dined by lobbyists.  You know their free post office privileges.  All that stuff...........sure you do!

Yet people like Bishop have the balls to talk to us about what 'we need to do'.....or else things are gonna get real bad.  I say, "Bullshit!"  I say the first thing we need to do is fire their ass.  Give them a quick transfer back to the reality of the real world.  Do not pass "Go".  Do not collect $200.

Anyway, I'm not going to let his worthless existence ruin my vacation (I've got two weeks off).  Actually I'm really encouraged by the video and the fact that those constituents took him to account like they apparently did.  Maybe there's still hope for America.  We need to do that for probably another 200-300 such congressional-critters, up to and including the Great-Deceptor-In-Chief.

Here's the video:

Casino Rueda Crash Course today in Seoul, S.Korea

ON a happier note, today is the big day me and a couple other people (but mostly me) do a two hour crash course in casino rueda.  I met a nice fellow who has a salsa studio in Seoul called Candela Dance.  He's very open minded about other forms of dance and offered to provide some studio space so I could do this workshop.

There was a lot of work went into putting it togather but it's finally going to happen today.  I'm expecting around a dozen people probably.  The idea is to try to put togather some kind of core group. 

So far it seems to be going the right way.  I'll know in a few hours.

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

Rhode Island..........it ain't America anymore.

They don't want to hear nothing about that "Constitution" crap up in Providence, Rhode Island.  They're not big fans of history....at least, not American history. 

Read the shocking story here.

I would definately say that Rhode Island would not be on my 'A' List of tourist spots.

Bachateros (Au.) Double Barrelled Workshop

I don't really know him, and them, personally but I get the impression that Juan Ruiz and his Los Bachateros down in Australia are doing some serious kick-ass advancement for the bachata cause.  On this page you'll see that they've got a workshop coming up that's going to be teaching not one.....but two different styles of bachata. 

It sounds like something I'd really enjoy but, of course, I can't make it.

Juan Ruiz is known for his 'bachata moderna' style of bachata but the 'bachata dominicana' teacher will be Airagdin Pavon More, AKA: "El Moro", who has his own dance company in Australia, is teaching the 'bachata dominicana'.

I've seen Troy and Jorjet doing that style of bachata and it does look like fun.

Yeah......no doubt, bachata is really proving to be a very diverse style and one which lots of dancers have been very receptive too.  I don't think there's any doubt that the recent growth of the popularity of bachata in the last couple of years is due primarily to one guy, Jorge Elizando from Texas.

I remember when Jorge had to beg promoters to let him teach.  All he wanted to do was have a chance and he gave the promoters a totally 'no risk' guarantee regarding the money, etc.  I won't go into that but suffice it to say that he doesn't have any problems getting bookings now.

The only other big proponet of bachata that I know of in the US is Rodney Aquino.  I think Rodney was heavy into bachata too but I don't believe he went out on a limb financially to promote it like Jorge did and I don't think he was travelling worldwide like Jorge did. 

Jorge quit his 'day job' after just his first year in bachata.  I remember when he'd sleep on my couch when he came to Houston to do some of his first workshops that I helped him promote. Now of course, he travels worldwide and, rumour has it, is even found a nice young lady who's fixing to be his partner for life (if you know what I mean).

But that's not to say that any one of these guys is better than the other.  Actually it all goes to prove what I always thought....i.e. that there was room in the market for another dance.  Everybody was all wrapped up and focused on salsa because that's 99% of what was being promoted and taught.  But these guys, Juan, Jorge and Rodney have created and grown a whole new dance culture and one that I think offers a lot more to more people than salsa does.

For what it's worth, I think we're going to see something similar with both kizomba and  rueda.  Notice I didn't limit it to 'casino rueda'?   But I won't go into that now.

Anyway........this workshop in Australia looks like it'll be a good one.  Make it if you can.

Another grand event in San Francisco for Bachateros et.al.

Rodney Aquino and Jorge Elizando, those two tireless bachatero innovators who brought you the first ever Bachata Congress in Reno, Nevada last year are doing an encore in San Francisco.

Yeah, that's right!  This coming July Rodney and Jorge are putting on the 

1st BACHATA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL SAN FRANCISCO

SUMMER OF JULY 16, 17, 18, 19, 2009

Reservations are already starting to come in at an increasing rate because everybody wants to be as close to the venue as possible.  Dancers as well as first class instructors are coming literally from the 4 corners of the world.

This event is for you if you're a:

beginners

intermediate or

advanced!

I guess that pretty much means you should come, right?

This event, the first ever "Bachata International" to be held in the beautiful city of San Francisco, California, is going to be totally awesome because you'll have over 70 dance workshops to choose from for the entire weekend!

Sure there'll be some salsa but.......once again Rodney and Jorge make sure that you'll get your 'bachata fix'.  Rodney and Jorge have made major advances in recent years in bringing bachata 'out of the closet'.  As a result of their efforts, bachata popularity has soared.  So you'll have a chance to learn not only from Jorge and Rodney but also several other of the best and most innovative bachata instructors in the world.

But wait!............That's not all!

Because bachata dancers are so so progressive, this event will also feature instructors teaching Dominican style Bachata, Bachata Moderna, Merengue, Boleero, Tango, Zouk, Zumba, Kizomba..... and more. 

A special added surprise treat, the details of which are a tightly guarded secret, will be a special class in "Lap Dancing For Bachateros and Bachateras".  Gee.....!!  I wonder what that'll be??

 There'll be over 50 internationally recognized dance artists and teachers!

And........you'll enjoy 

• LIVE International Dance Performances
• LIVE Latin Band
• "El Duque" a new bachata Movie screening presented by Award Winning Director Adam Taub
• Amateur and Professional Bachata Competition
• Top Latin DJs spinning the best of oldies and new music
• Workshops, Performances and "Dance-til-you-drop" all-night dance parties. 

The event is a super bargin at only $160.00 Full Pass.  Yeah, 4 full-of-fun days and nights in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  You'll not only learn things that'll take your dancing into the stratosphere but also have a chance to network with other dancers from all over the world and make friends you'll probably know for the rest of your life.

Jorge and Rodney's previous event, in Reno, was a huge success.  This time they've had a chance to find out even more about what YOU really want and that's what they've provided.  You definately shouldn't miss this event.....especially if you're a real bachatero or bachatera.

Man.......!!!  I wish I could be there!!!

I'd highly advise you to begin to make your plans now.  And start by going to this site for more info:  http://www.sfbachatafestival.com

This one'll work too:  HTTP://WWW.SFBIF.COM

Don't delay....... because the price of tickets goes up a bit after 1 July 2009.  You snooze....you loose!  Reserve your ticket right now .......and be sure to take lots of pictures and send me some of your best.  I'll put'em up on WanderingSalsero.  Ticket Info: $160.00 Full Pass Expires July 1, 2009

Tasty and done well but not overdone

Texas has a very, very active salsa scene.  These two dancers are previous acquaintances of mine.  Gabriel is, I think, an engineer and Denise work (or used to anyway) at a hospital/hotel type place where they lodge familes of people in cancer treatment. 

They're both real nice people and have been around salsa for a long, long time.  Denise is actually from Argentina.

I think this video came out very nice.  I like the fact that they didn't overdue the technique but everything they did added to the end impression of two dancers very 'in tune' with the music.