WanderingSalsero

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

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!

A skydiving instructor was giving a class to a group of beginners and he took a few moments to their first-timer questions.

One fellow raised his hand and said, "Sir.....if our chute doesn't open, and the reserve doesn't open, how long do we have until we hit the ground?"

The instructor looked at him, and in perfect deadpan, answered, "The rest of your life."

I was thinking that's sorta like the answer to the question, 'When are you going to look into the opportunity to come to Korea to teach English?' 

Fact is, there's still a huge demand for native English speakers over here.  With the bad economy back in the US and Canada, lots more teachers are staying an extra year, but all the good jobs are not gone.  Perhaps it's time for you to give it some consideration.

Is it a perfect job?

Well, that depends on what you're looking for.  But I'll bet that, for a lot of people, it's better than what you're doing right now. 

You won't make a gazillion bucks but, really, what's life all about anyway?  Life is about more than making money isnt' it?.  Everybody, especially in America, gives that phrase lip service but you'd never guess it from looking at the drudgery that most of their jobs wind up being. 

What about your situation right now? 

• Are you really getting anywhere? 
• Are you really doing anything that 'can't wait' a year or two while you see an exciting part of the world and take some time to enjoy yourself in a job with good benefits, guaranteed pay, and great 'off-the-clock' opportunities for fun?
•   Are you really having much fun doing what you're doing now? 
• Does your job own you or do you own your job?

Teaching English in Korea isn't hard work.  The biggest challenge is one of some slight but important adjustments in your own attitude.  It's a big world we live in and the US is, although still an important part, it's certainly not the only part, of it.  If you'll come over here and just make up your mind to do the best you can and let the chips fall where they may... then everything will be fine.

If you salsa dance, you'll absolutely love it.  There's lots of opportunity in and around Seoul.  Seoul is one of the top salsa towns in the world.  In Seoul you'll find over 11 great salsa clubs.  Do you know of any other cities like that? 

For dancing styles you'll find 'on1' and 'on2' and even (lately) some casino rueda.  In general, most Koreans are friendly to foreign salsa dancers.  Especially if you're good.  There's clubs all over the city (i.e. South, Central, Western Midtown and Southeast) and at least 11 of them are within easy walking distance from a subway station. (there's a few clubs that arent' but taxis are cheap).

And I'll tell ya too......if you're really good, you could possibly wind up making some good money giving lessons.  You're not actually supposed to have any kind of employment other than your job but.....it is done both in teaching and in other areas.

Remember.......you've got the rest of your life to have all the adventure you want.  How much do you want and.......how long is the rest of your life?  If you'd like some free and comprehensive information about the opportunity to teach English in S.Korea, you can get it here.

A market Edie has all to herself...

You know, sometimes things have to happen a lot or be around you a lot before you finally take notice of them.  I think the idea of 'training-the-trainers' is one such idea.

The fact is there's a lot of people training dancers (regardless of how much good they might actually be doing).  But who's training the trainers....the people who are operating these studios.  The only person I know of is Edie the Salsa Freak.

Edie is probably the most prominant multi-tasker in the salsa business.  Not only is she a top-rated performer, but she also is an excellent teacher, she produces her own private label of instructional materials, she does some online publishing and.......she teaches and mentors studio owners and managers.

I've been seeing the periodic emails from her about her seminars on how-to-run-a-successful-studio for some time now and I'm realizing that this is something she obviously likes to do and is making money at.  There must be a big market for it.

I think there's very probably some other studio owners out there who would have something constructive to say about the methodology and skills involoved in running a studio.  They're leaving money on the table, I think.

The UnlikelySalsero.com .....good blog

Do you know Don Baarns?  I don't know him personally but I do know that he has a very nice blog.  It had been a while since I'd seen it and, in fact I don't recall that I ever examined it in detail, but I just looked at it again it's very nice. 

I'd recommend it.  Don Baarns and www.theunlikelysalsero.com

One thing that I think is very unique and interesting about Don is that he's a musician.  A real one who used to (and maybe still does) make money at it.  As you probably know, it's not common for musicians to be dancers.  Still, Don is a musician and I'm sure that gives him some unique perspectives in his teaching.

That's probably why he posts some very worthwhile posts about music.  And not just salsa music either..but music in general.  And he posts some good videos too.

This is a trend.......yet?

This articles implies there's a trend toward parties with less salsa and more of other dances.  Is that right?

I don't know, but I definatley am all for more bachata, rueda and kizomba.

MamboScene.com Radio

I don't know who it is or very much about it.  All I know is I'm connected with them on FaceBook, their name is "The Mambo Scene" and the guy there does a readio show that seems to emanate from his Facebook page.

I got an email in my Yahoo mail advising me that the show was 'on now', I clicked on the link and, sure 'nuff.....there it was.

It's pretty good.  They DJ's got a good voice too.  Offhand, I don't know what the link is but I'm sure you could find it on Facebook.

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