Music Video: Cachondea - Fruko y sus Tesos

While quality of this 'salsa music video' fell short in many areas such as actually salsa dancing, taste and artistic merit, somehow I was compelled to watch the entire video. Also this was the song that Chimere and myself used during our competition. If this does not get more men to checkout salsa dancing, then I do not know what will!

Cachondea - Fruko y sus Tesos

Update: I had the wrong salsa band listed. Thanks for the comments and phone calls correcting me. For some reason the video is listed as Sonora Carruseles. Honestly I should have caught this because I own music from both groups. This is what I get for blogging late at night after a glass of wine.

SalsaIndy Gets A New Look!

My Indianapolis salsa site has a new look! I would like to give credit to Kristy for the work she put in designing the new layout. Please navigate though the site and tell me what you think. You can either post a comment or just send me an email. I hope you all enjoy the new look and as always I will continue keeping everyone informed of what is going on in Indianapolis' salsa scene. I will also be hosting a website launch party earlier next year, I have not pick a date, but when I do it will be posted on SalsaIndy. Take care and keep dancing!

Saturday Night Salsa Melee!

Sometimes more is better, but when it comes to salsa nights in Indianapolis, more does not always mean better. Take two downtown nightclubs which are less than a 1/2 mile away from each other and host a Salsa night on the same night. This is a recipe for disaster! With winter upon us, the number of dancers coming out has dropped considerably. Wednesday night at the Red Room has been hit the hardest when it comes to dancer attendance.

The two clubs that I referring to are the Cozy hosted by DJ Taz and supported by SalsaIndy (hey, that’s me!) and the Vault hosted by the VIP Crew and IntoSalsa. For me as a dancer, this really sucks! Why? Simply because I would prefer to have all my favorite dancers at the same venue. More options of who we can dance with is better than having limited options. Both venues have a good dance floor, safe environment and good music selection. Because there is no hard deciding factor as to which venue is better, loyalty plays an important role. Followers of Taz go to the Cozy and followers of IntoSalsa go to the Vault. There is nothing wrong with loyalty being the deciding point, both Taz and IntoSalsa have worked very hard to develop such relationships in the community.

What happened to the good old days of IntoSalsa Night with Taz spinning everyone’s favorite salsa and international beats at a small Italian restaurant called Il Gargano? Back then going out to dance was about having fun, not having to be loyal or compelled to support someone. This and the drama that has been created have put a bitter taste in my month and have tainted my perception of salsa dancing in Indianapolis.

The solution is simple, someone should back down! We need to look past our self interests and do what is good for the Latin dance community. Competition is good, but the tactics that are being used have gotten out of hand and need to stop. What happened to unity that was the topic of Yang's (IntoSalsa) last article?

I will not post what I have heard and seen, because it is hard to separate fact from rumor. Feel free to post your thoughts on what has been going on and what should be done to bring peace back to our salsa community.

I wish for the good old days to be back again.

Update Cortisone Injections

Here is an update on the cortisone injections I was planning on getting for my knees. My doctor did not give me the option of getting the cortisone injections, but another treatment option with a product called Supartz.

Here is an some information I found about this product.

Hyalgan or Supartz are lubricating material originally used in the knee. They are used in other joints of the body today as they have shown promise in the knee joint. The primary goal is 5 injections given at weekly intervals for calming of the swelling and pain in the joint and added lubrication of the joint. The Foot and Ankle Institute doctors were and are among the first to use this treatment in the foot and ankle after promising results in the knee were noted. Refernce: Foot & Ankle Institute

My doctor was not able to do the injections during my office visit because they needed to see if my insurance will cover it. I was supposed to get a call back from my doctor last week on weather or not my insurance will cover it. It might be a good thing that I am force to wait because I am now having second thoughts.

I decided to give natural supplements another tried. I went to GNC and spent a small fortune on knee supplements. Even if my insurance covers the treatment, I might hold off on it for a few more weeks. There is no right or wrong answers when it comes to health and well being issues like this. In the end you have to do what you feel is right and hope for a good outcome.

Thanks to everyone who posted to my previous blog in regards to this and also to my friends over at Dance Forums who also provided some helpful advice and guidance.

4 Nights of Intense Dancing!

Two weeks ago, I told myself that I should take it easy for a couple of weeks to give my poor knees a rest. As always, I did the total opposite! This week was fanatic! I survived four (yes four) nights of intense, no holds barred dancing. What can I say, life is about simple obsessions and salsa is one of them.

Thursday Night @ the Jazz Kitchen
I will openly admit that I am not a big fan of the Jazz Kitchen. While the music selection is good, their floor gets way too crowded and serious salsa dancers tend to avoid this venue. But this night we managed to have a very good time. Sonja (my dancer partner) and I arrived at the Jazz Kitchen early. Cynthia was finishing up the free salsa lesson and the DJ started to play the music. When you get to JK early, there is more then enough room for you and your partner to give the spectators a good show. It only took an hour before the dancers began to flow in and crowd the dance floor. The floor was crowded at times, but it did not get overly crowed as it does during the summer months. For the first time, I was involved in salsa foursome! Two other Salseros and myself were dancing with Sonja during the same song. Overall a good night.

Friday Night @ Adobo Grill
This is where you will find me on most Friday nights. Either myself or Ryan teaches the free dance lesson before the start of the night. Salsa dancers love this venue with their hardwood floor and no reggaeton music in the rotation. We managed to pull off another salsa foursome, this time with Drea. I wonder which salsera will be next?

Saturday @ The Cozy
I was taking it easy at the Cozy because I had taught a private lesson an hour beforehand. It was a costume party, but I decided not to dress up. I did wear my 4 pocket Mexican shirt; if I'd had a Mexican hat, I could have pulled it off as a costume. Congratulations to Roberto in his dancing grammas costume for winning the costume contest!

Sunday @ Syndicate (Cincinnati)
Our friends at Midwestern Latino hosted a party at the Syndicate with Puerto Rican Power as the headliner band. Son del Caribe from Cincinnati was also there and gave an outstanding performance. I will not bore you with boring details about the night other then that the live music of both bands were fantastic. Here is a video clip of Diana (KamaSalsa Instructor) and myself doing some social dancing during that night. Not too bad for only dancing together one time before and on carpet.

Diana and Marques Salsa Dancing

Are cortisone injections the answer?

About a two years ago I injured both my knees during a racquetball game, which triggered my arthritis. With my active lifestyle and my family's history with arthritis, I knew that this fate was coming. I just wished it did not happen so soon and could have at least waited until my 30s.

About a year ago I decided to try the surgical route, which provided little to no pain relief for my knees. While the arthritis pain that I have after a long night of dancing is certain, it has not stopped me from doing what I love to do. My grandmother who has arthritis tried cortisone injections; they helped a lot with her pain, and hopefully my body will react the same. I am planning on attending the StuckOnSalsa Cruise at the end of November and I really want to attend this cruise without worrying about waking up with inflamed knees and having to ice them down day after day, which has almost become my daily routine.

I am scheduled to visit the doctor this Thursday, so wish me luck! If everything goes well, I should still be able to attend the Salsa De Los Muertos Masquerade party this Friday at Adobo Grill and teach the free salsa lesson.

While cortisone injections will not cure me of my arthritis, there is a good chance that it will stop the inflammation and pain for a few months.

I hope that they find a cure for arthritis in my lifetime; I miss the days where I could go running or inline skating for hours and not have a care in the world.

MySpace and Salsa Peer Pressure

Most of us are familiar with the free social networking website called MySpace. If you have not heard of MySpace you are most likely living in a cave. You either join MySpace because you are interested in expanding your social network, promotion (music, business, etc) or you have succumb to peer pressure.

I admit that I fell victim to 'salsa peer pressure' when my dance partner Chimere asked me to join MySpace. I resisted at first but in the end I gave in and created my page. At first you have not clue what to do with your page other then filling out your profile description, but after awhile you get used to the interface you and start posting pictures, video clips and custom layouts to match your personality.

Feel free to check out my profile. You may recognize some of my friends, some are from the salsa community and I have a few of the internationally known dancers (Josie Neglia and Eddie the Salsa Freak for example).

I would encourage everyone to check out this free service, it has kept me in contact with friends and help build stronger friendships. With my busy lifestyle, MySpace makes it easy and convenient to stay in touch and it keeps my cell phone bill from getting out of control.

You can find me on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/indysalsero

L.A. Style Salsa Workshop Video Clip

A couple of weeks ago there was a L.A. Style Salsa Workshop at Latin Street Dance Studio in Chicago. I did not post any clips from the workshop because we were not allowed to video tape the instructors (Rodrigo Guzman & Vai Au-Hare) and the videp clips I took of myself 'attempting' the moves were not complimentary. My friend Dewayne came across a video clip on YouTube of another couple practicing one of the patterns that was taught. If you look in the background you will see myself walking by and Chad and Karina in the wall mirror. Stacie from Orquesta Bravo and India was also there taking the workshop. Over 1/4 of the class was from Indianapolis!

2006 Fiesta Indianapolis - Where's my taco?

Last Saturday people filled the grounds at Military Park for La Plaza's Fiesta Indianapolis. I attended Fiesta Indy last year and was very excited for this year's fiesta. While this year's fiesta was fun, it did not meet my expectations.

I understand how difficult it is to organize and manage large events such as Fiesta Indy and La Plaza did an excellent job. As I walked around, everything looked well organized and the live music started on time with little to no interruptions.

So how did this year's Fiesta fall short? Well for me, I went to the fiesta for 3 reasons: the authentic Mexican food, live salsa bands and the people. As for the food, there was only one vendor selling tacos. I waited in line for over an hour and a half. Typically, I would give up and find something else to eat, but I remembered how much I loved eating the tacos last year, so I decided to wait it out. Due to the long wait I missed the Rueda performance from OpenSourceSalsa, which I was planning on seeing. When I finally got my tacos, I was shocked! They Americanized my ‘authentic’ Mexican tacos! Authentic tacos are made with a soft shell, meat, pico de gallo and are served with lime. What they gave me was an undercooked soft shell, meat, and cheese with store-bought salsa on top. I could barely stomach it. I would have tossed the food, but after waiting for over an hour and a half, I could not. I will do the vendor a huge favor and not mention their name.

Now, what about the live music? I was only interested in the salsa bands and will not comment on the other bands. The first salsa band was Salsa & Company, an Indianapolis salsa band. Due to a private group class that I was teaching, I missed them, so I cannot give comment on their performance. I have attended venues where they have played in the past and have been very pleased with their work. The second band was Orquesta Iluziones located in Valparaiso, Indiana. I was given their demo CD in the past and they sounded good, but when I heard them live, they sounded much better. While their band’s performance was excellent, I did not like the vocals of their lead female singer. Her voice did not harmonize with the band. It would have also been nice if there was a big headliner salsa band like they had last year by bringing in Puerto Rican Power!

While 2006 Fiesta Indy fell short by my standards, it was still a great success. The attendance was strong throughout the day, everyone was having a good time (expect for us poor saps in the taco line) and there was lots of salsa dancing in the streets. If someone from La Plaza happens to come across this blog, please don't take offense, and take my comments as constructive criticism for next year's planning.

My First Salsa Competition!!!

A couple of weeks ago, IntoSalsa hosted their first annual salsa competition! Chimere and myself decided to complete. We were only given 3 weeks to put a routine together, but I felt that we did a good job during the finals. Below is the clip of our performance. You can also find our performance on YouTube. If you want to see all the performances (Chad and Karina a must see!!!) they are posted on IntoSalsa's video clips page. We placed third in the competition (hey it was some tough competition), but I am planning on creating a more refined routine for next time. I would like to encourage everyone to give dance competitions a try. It is not about winning, but about becoming a more confident and experience dancer. In my book everyone who completed in the prelims and the finals are all WINNERS!!! Next time there is a dance off in Indy I hope to see the original completing couples and a few new faces.

Salsa on So You Think You Can Dance

While I enjoy watching Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. I have only seen a handful of shows. The main reason is because the show is aired on Wednesday night, the same night I go dancing at the Red Room. So I have the choice of either watching people dance or I can do it myself, which for me is a no brainier. Yesterday night I was cruising on YouTube for salsa clips and I came across a salsa performance from the show. Surprisingly I did catch this episode on TV, and was happy to see that someone posted it on YouTube. The routine was not mind blowing, but was very fun to watch (nice lift). As a bonus, the clip includes the judge’s take on the performance which was all thumbs up!

It is great to see mainstream media taking an interested in social and ballroom dancing (especially salsa). Hopefully this encourages more people to give social dancing a try.

Exclusive Seek Peak of SalsaIndy!

I would like to welcome everyone to take a sneak peak at my new website, SalsaIndy! While there are a handful of Indianapolis based salsa site (IndySalsa, IntoSalsa, OpenSouceSalsa, etc), I felt that we needed a place which could help link them all together. The idea of SalsaIndy is simple, if it has something to do with salsa dancing in Indianapolis post it! Our salsa community may be small, but our hearts are big. With unity we can bring Indianpolis' salsa scene to a higher level.

Indianapolis’ Source for Salsa Dancing

Let apologize in advance for the broken links and incomplete content, salsa may be my passion, but it is not my full time job. Expect the site to up to 100% within the next 2 weeks.

Also to clear up any confusion I am no longer associated IndySalsa.