Today's featured salsa snack is the song El Cantante performed by Hector Lavoe. This episode features the following music: Latin cha cha cha by Ramon Escale Bartumeus Esta Tierra by Sean Fischer --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Today we have Richie Kirwan and Marlene Navarro joining us. Richie is based in Liverpool, England and you may know him from his blog, The Dancing Irishman. Marlene is a salsera from Tampa and a Koreaboo - more on that in today's show. Resources mentioned on the show: Sound of Salsa in Liverpool, England ZISC talent show Online Dance Music/Resources Sagrada Familia --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisweekinsalsa/message

Today's episode is a strange one. After the Zoom International Salsa Congress, some friends stuck on and we talked about the congress.  Guests: Rosana Castellucci Ratna Suthar Alexander Gonzalez Guerline Thomas Natya Hans Celi Gueoli Emmanuel Vila Danielle Mari Diane Castellucci Resources mentioned in today's show: Zoom International Salsa Congress ZISC Talent Show ZISC Dirty Dancing - Quarantine Nights Angel lift stalling for time NowSalsa - Nery Garcia's...

The Zoom International Salsa Congress is happening Saturday, April 25th! Buy your tickets now! We are hosting a Talent Show for all attendees so if you want to show off your talent (dancing, singing, juggling, baton twirling, etc) submit here! --- Joel Dominguez is on a crusade to dance with feeling. He is a native of Mexico where he was raised in a family of musicians. This upbringing fostered an early love and appreciation of Latin music. From this early upbringing, Joel relocated to New...

Our guests on today's show are Kathleen Matos and Michael Johnson Kathleen Matos is a salsera who lives in Tampa, Florida, and is a performer on the Mambo Elegancia performance team. Michael Johnson is a salsero, bachatero and kizombero who lives in Austin, Texas. He DJs in Austin as DJ Cognition and you can connect with him on Facebook and SoundCloud.  Resources mentioned in this show include: Linda Melodia Dance Company in Honolulu De’Jon Polanski online classes The Zoom...

Our guests on today's show are Hong Kwon, Andres Caicedo and Rosana Castellucci Hong Kwon has been a salsa DJ for 10 years, record collector, 8 years in the Bay Area, 2 years in Philadelphia. He recently teamed up with 4 other DJs to form CoBeatParty which is a worldwide salsa community with over 14k members. Andres Caicedo took his first salsa class on the same day (Mid Jan 2008) as Rob. Andres, Frank and Rob organized the Gator Salsa Club in the summer of 2009 and Andres served as the...

Our guests on today's roundtable are Salil Bavdekar and Will Boose.  Salil is a PhD graduate from University of Florida where he also taught salsa classes and was vice president of The Gator Salsa Club.  He has DJed socials and run Latin nights in Gainesville and is also the founder of the Facebook group Salsa Memes for Spicy Teens. Will is an MA student in Latin American Studies at UF (graduating in May), starting a PhD program in anthropology at Emory in August. He is a Bachata instructor...

Picking the right dance partner is crucial to a successful dancing career. There's so much more to consider besides dance skills. Partners spend a lot of hours practicing, teaching, competing and traveling together.

Eddie Torres also known as "The Mambo King" is a living legend in the Latin dance community. He has trained world-famous salseros like Adolfo Indacochea, Wilton Beltre and Eddie Torres, Jr. Along with June Laberta, Eddie developed what we call New York style salsa where dancers break "on 2". He danced alongside and collaborated with Tito Puente. Like we said, a living legend. Here is part 2 of our interview with Eddie at the Chicago Salsa Congress. If you haven't checked out part 1, do it!  

Traveling out-of-state and overseas to teach is a dream that many young instructors have. But where to begin? And what steps should one take in order to fulfill that dream? On this Podcast, we asked Jose Santamaria how he accomplished his dream of traveling and teaching overseas. It's not easy, he says, but it isn't impossible either. For him, it all comes down to learning the basics and the history of the dance, practicing and training very hard each week, networking and making contacts...

Eddie Torres also known as "The Mambo King" is a living legend in the Latin dance community. He has trained world-famous salseros like Adolfo Indacochea, Wilton Beltre and Eddie Torres, Jr. Along with June Laberta, Eddie developed what we call New York style salsa where dancers break "on 2". He danced alongside and collaborated with Tito Puente. Like we said, a living legend. LDC caught up with Eddie at the Chicago International Salsa Congress. Luckily, we brought our microphones! Here is...

Anybody want to be a dance instructor? Where to start? How does an average instructor become great? Apparently, it takes more than just being a great dancer! Mike del Campo and his wife Gina have been teaching dance for more than 20 years. They are the owners of "Del Campo Dance Studio", one of the most popular and highly rated dance studios in Sacramento, CA. On this podcast, Mike shares his years of experience with us, and gives some tips and advice on how to teach beginners, how to deal...

The World Latin Cup is this month. Dancers from all over the world will flock to Miami Beach and attempt to impress the judges to come home with a title. How do champions train for a dance competition? The road to any dance contest is hard, but it involves more than just learning and practicing a routine. On this Podcast episode of LDC, dance champions Will Orrock and his wife Constanza talk about how they prepare to compete. They spend hours at the dance studio, but they also train at the...

Why does Michelle like to hijack the lead from her partner when she social dances? Because sometimes it's a good idea! Listen to Michelle Donehew talk about how she comes up with new choreography, the importance of teaching beginners and how to manage a dance team effectively in order to have a strong dance community. Michelle was born in Hato Rey, PR, and she's been dancing since she was 9 years old. Her dance training is extensive, and includes ballet, tap, jazz musical theater, and...

DJ Mario B has been mixing tracks for more than ten years in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area. He's currently the resident DJ for the new Latin nightclub "Millennium",and he keeps everyone dancing for hours. How? He does his homework, he pays attention to the crowd, but most of all, he loves music. So what does it take to be a DJ? Click on the player below to listen to "DJ Mario B's" story, including some great advice for new and aspiring nightclub DJ's.

Today's chat is with Richie Kirwan, LDC author of When Dancing Becomes Groping: Time To Clean Up the Dance Scene! Sadly, within the Latin dance community there are some shady characters. Richie sheds light on these guys and Rob gives some self-defense tips for the ladies. If you enjoyed Richie's post, you are going to love this interview! This week's song is 'Merecumbe' by Johnny Colon, aka the birthday song, as chosen by our guest, Richie. Remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and...

This week's show features an interview with Jonathan Goldman. Jonathan plays trumpet for Spanglish Fly, a boogaloo bound based in NYC. If the name sounds familiar, that's because we had him on the show last year for his fantastic Fania 50-year anniversary tribute. He's back talking about the band's new album dropping on September 18th. Listen to the show to hear the story behind many of the songs as well as sneak peek listens of top tracks. And for those of you that listened to this...

This week's show features an interview with Del Dominguez of Mixed Motion Art Dance Academy. Del is passionate about figuring things out and refining them to the best of his ability. This goes with his dancing, his art and his teaching. Known as a refined dancer and meticulous instructor, Del’s mission is to make MMA the go-to destination for higher learning in social Latin dance. This week's song is Mi Desengano by Roberto Roena. Resources from this week's show: Sekou McMiller social...

Today's show features Michael Johnson, bachatero y salsero hailing from Gainesville, Florida. Mike is a wealth of knowledge on all things Latin dancing. This was a fun deep dive into the social dynamics side of the scene along with plenty of discussion about technique. Enjoy! This week's song is Fantasia by Quarter Street. I found this sweet tune courtesy of DJ Condorito so if you like it, let him know :) Resources mentioned in today's show: Maslow's hierarchy of needs Mike Johnson &...

Over the past few days, one of our LDC posts has gone crazy viral! So naturally we turned it into a podcast episode :) Calling it Quits: Why Some Social Dancers are Hanging up Their Dance Shoes a powerful piece on the Latin dance community and why some dancers are opting out. And it has truly struck a chord with our readers. Hopefully it will do the same for our listeners. Enjoy! This week’s song is Mango Mangue by Los Totos, a salsa/chacha old school tune. Don’t forget to check out the...

This week's show is an awesome interview with Daniel Caicedo. It really just evolved into an awesome conversation about salsa dancing and the community. Denny's at it's best. Daniel is a native Colombian but a world traveler, currently living in Canada, eh. He's a salsero, teacher and salsa enthusiast and he shares his story and his views on the latin dance community on the show. Enjoy! Resources from today's show: Arthur Murray 1950's commercial on cha cha TED talk - The Power of...

Today on the show concludes my three part interview series direct from the Orlando Salsa Congress. This interview is with DJ Suave Beats who was the DJ in the bachata room on Saturday night at OSC. Ever want to get inside the mind of a DJ? Here's your chance! Enjoy :) This week's song is Hechicera Tú by Wuelfo and here's a beautiful social dancing rendition of the song by Andres Giraldo and Selene Tovar.  Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes & Stitcher…and if you enjoy it...

Continuing our coverage from the Orlando Salsa Congress, I sit down with Leydi Barros of BAILA Society (BASo). She is an incredible dancer and performer up in NYC and we discuss how she got into salsa, her growth as a dancer and some of her experiences along the way. But mostly, it's just a fun conversation between two friends about something we both love, SALSA! Resources mentioned on today's show: BAILA Society TED talk about building confidence Orlando Salsa Congress (mark it on your...

Today's podcast was recorded at the Orlando Salsa Congress over July 4th weekend. It was a blast to record and epitomizes what I consider the congress experience. Hanging out, talking salsa and bumping into friends from all over. The conversation takes some twists and turns, starting out with Jonathan from Agape Dance Studio (Orlando) and Rey Collazo from Tampa. Later on in the conversation, Latin Swag members Marco Molina and Josbell Quiros stop by and hilarity ensues. Enjoy! Resources...