That’s right!  Carlos Santana, the legendary latin rock artist, will be performing live at Cricket Wireless here in San Diego tomorrow Tuesday September 30th.  

I was lucky to get some VIP tickets for the performance and I look forward to hearing him in concert.  Santana, as most of you know, is credited with popularizing Latin music through the years with many hits such as “Oye Come Va” and “Black Magic Woman.”  Both of these songs are enjoyed by dancers as they follow cha cha cha beat and are club favorites.

I believe that there are tickets still available and you can find out more information directly from the Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre Box Office Website.

Here is another clip of Santana performing “Black Magic Woman.”  Come out and see a Latin legend Santana live here in San Diego!

San Diego is lucky to have another visiting salsa band coming to perform in October, Seattle Salsa Band Picoso.

Picoso founder Eli Rosenblatt began playing guitar at thirteen.  He has played many styles of music including blues, salsa, son, reggae, jazz, Brazilian, Zimbabwean and Malian. He got hooked on Latin Music at age sixteen and has been writing dance music since that time.  Along with the other members of Picoso, the band is well known in their hometown of Seattle, WA.  To get a sense of how they play salsa I’ve included this video clip here for you to check out:

Picoso will be performing live here in San Diego at Miami Grille.  For more information and to RSVP for the event please visit the event page set up at the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup Group.

Santo Rico Dance Company is coming to San Diego as part of a weekend of workshops and performances this November 14^th-15^th, 2008.

The talented dance company, as many of you might know, has been busy since 1996 spreading salsa dancing throughout the world.  The group is credited as being one of the longest standing performance teams in the world with exposure in over 25 countries and over 40 U.S. cities.  They are well known for their famous choreography called the “Santo Rico Spinning Technique” and have influenced a great many salsa performance groups over the years.

Santo Rico Dance Company has performed for some of salsa dancing’s biggest names including Gilberto Santo Rosa, Tito Puente, Marc Anthony, and Victor Manuelle.

We are lucky to have them visiting San Diego in November and I’ve put together a special San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup event for a performance they will be giving at the La Jolla Marriott on Saturday, November 15^th.  

I’ve attached a video here so you can get a sense of the type of performances they’ve done in the past.  Check it out and see you at the La Jolla Marriott!

For many in the Salsa and Latin dance scene, Bachata is not as well known as the other Latin dances.  Indeed, when it comes to this native Dominican dance many of us know very little about the influences that formed what we understand today as bachata.  Fortunately, others have extensively studied the history of bachata dance and compiled their findings. 

I recently was sent an email about one such resource in the form of a book called “Bachata:  A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music” by Deborah Pacini Hernandez.  I’ve included a synopsis from Google Book Search for you all to review.  

An interesting aspect about Deborah’s book is the comparison that she makes between the development of Bachata and Rap music.  She identifies that both genres share a parallel history in the way both became more main stream and respectable.  

Check out the book and share your thoughts about it by leaving a comment.  Enjoy!

It was a busy weekend for San Diego dancers and music lovers as both the San Diego Salsa Festival and Street Scene took place this last weekend. Both events had tons of performers and it would be great to hear from reader’s out there that attended both about your experiences.

Don’t forget that later this week we have Colombian powerhouse Grupo Niche visiting and that we still have our RSVP page set up for the event.

If you’ve been following Ritmo Bello for some time now you know that I’ve written about the upcoming San Diego Salsa Festival covering topics ranging from San Diego Salsa Festival travel deals to tips for first time attendees.  I thought it would be fitting to complete my review of the upcoming festival by including the full schedule and performance line up for the whole weekend.  

Along with the original schedule of salsa dance workshops, this updated schedule below of salsa performers has the additions of Richardo and Michelle (Pretty Boys & Girls Dance Co.), Jo and Jo (Afeenix Dance Company), and Edwin Rivera and Ashley Dawson (From “So You Think You Can Dance?”).  Most if not all of the performers are in competition to receive a coveted spot for the World Salsa Championships.

Don’t forget to RSVP for the San Diego Salsa Festival if you haven’t done so already to find out more information about the event that starts Friday night.  

Junior and Emily of Amicitia Dance Company are back from their competition on America’s Got Talent and are busy here in San Diego with new training sessions.

For those of you not familiar with the brother and sister salsa duo, the video here is a promotional training video about them.  (Although I don’t support one studio over another, Junior and Emily definitely stand out amongst the crowd for their national exposure.)  

To find out more information about the group, I know that Alex Tiger is part of the Pro Team and is also an Assistant Organizer with the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup.  Feel free to sign up for the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup group if you are not already a member!

The San Diego Salsa Festival is almost here!  Day one of the salsa festival begins this Friday night and I know many of you are excited to attend.  I wanted to give you all a sneak preview of the salsa band that will be playing at the event on Saturday night.  Salsa band Lucky 7, shown here in this video, is a multi-ethnic fusion of 1950’s and 1960’s Spanish Harlem.  The band is known for bringing the high energy sounds of the classic mambo to those ready to dance.

To find out more information about the band you can visit their myspace page here.

Also, don’t forget to RSVP for the event with the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup Group.

San Diego is lucky to have Grammy nominated Latin Jazz and Cuban salsa artist Maraca performing Live later this month.  For those of you not familiar with Orlando Valle ‘Maraca’, he is one of Cuba’s premier flutist and has been very influential in the Afro-Cuban band genre. 

He was nominated in 2003 as the “Best Salsa Album” at the U.S. Grammy Awards, making him the youngest Cuban artist ever nominated by the U.S. National Recording Academy. 

Maraca will be performing at Little Italy’s Anthology and there is a San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup event set up already for you to RSVP. 

Here is a video of Maraca in action:

Come check out one of Cuba’s best!

San Diego has a new dance team under the direction of Susie Nguyen and Juan Garcia.  Renamed as Ooh La La Dance, the duo help direct a number of dance teams including the Cosabellas and Hot Tamales. 

In 2007, Juan and Susie participated in the 3^rd Annual World Salsa Championships as the first San Diego couple to represent America’s Finest City.  The video here in this post showcases their performances at the Championships. 

This new dance company, along with many other local favorites like Majesty in Motion and A Time to Dance Studio, will also be participating in the upcoming San Diego Salsa Festival later this month.  Make sure to check them all out if you attend!

What’s a great way to learn salsa dance in an environment where there is little pressure?  A salsa dance party!  Salsa dance parties are usually hosted by instructors and studios as a way to allow new students to interact with other learners in a safe environment.  I say safe because for many just learning to salsa dance, making an entry into a club setting can be overwhelming to say the least.  

A couple of studios around town host these salsa parties regularly and I wanted to highlight one that is going on this weekend.  The Salsa party will be held at Pattie Wells Dancetime Studio from 8 to 10:30 pm.  The event is hosted by Jose, the salsa instructor at Pattie Wells, who has great experience teaching salsa dance in the Colombian style.  He’ll be teaching an beginner’s and intermediate salsa class that is included with the paid admission.  

For more information please visit the Pattie Wells Dancetime Website.

Salsa dancing lives to see another night at Aubergine Nightclub!  After a successful inaugural night on August 22, 2008 the club decided to extend its Friday night salsa dancing, at least on certain specific nights.    The next salsa night is scheduled for 9/26.  I’m happy with the decision and already have an event organized for the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup where you can RSVP.

Check it out and let them know you heard about it on Ritmo Bello!

As the San Diego Salsa Festival approaches, I’ve received numerous emails from people that are attending the event. For many of these folks it will be their very first salsa festival or congress that they will be attending. Many of these dancers are unsure about how someone can maximize their time at a salsa festival given that there will be so much to experience.

Apart from taking advantage of the salsa workshops that I mentioned in a previous Ritmo Bello article , I think it’s vital for new attendees to the salsa festival to fully integrate into the event by simply dancing and interacting with other attendees. I know from my own experience that it can be a little intimidating to arrive at a salsa event of this magnitude and be overwhelmed by the big names in attendance when you are just starting out. The Unlikely Salsero (aka Don Baarns , a friend of Ritmo Bello and online salsa dance resource, recently wrote about the upcoming San Diego Salsa Festival and addressed some of these issues. In particular, he’s written a 2 part series with tips and recommendations for those attending a salsa festival or congress.

Check them out and feel free to offer up any comments here to help out those attending the San Diego Salsa Festival for the first time.