If you are new to San Diego or are just new to the San Diego dance scene, you should check out the San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup Group.  Founded way back in September 6, 2005, the group is San Diego’s most established and largest growing Meetup group focusing primarily on all types of Latin dance. (If you’ve never heard of Meetup here is a short explanation of the organization.)

The group’s events are organized by some of San Diego’s hottest dance studios such as A Time To Dance, Ooh La La Dance Company, Deseo Dance, Majesty in Motion, Salsa Inferno, and Alma Latina.  Events range from dance workshops to new club openings and everything in between.

The San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup Group is also a great way to meet other like minded dancers who share your passion for music and dance.  It gives people an opportunity to find friends in the scene and keep connected with the growing dance population.

Sign up for the group is FREE so what are you waiting for?  Join today!

John ;-)

@RitmoBello

I’m very excited to share news about a new Wednesday night option for salsa dancing here in San Diego.  Spin Nightclub will boast San Diego newest and biggest night club for salsa and Latin dancing that we’ve ever seen.  Hosted by Salsa Susie’s Ooh La La dance company every 4th Wednesday each month, the new venue will feature  3 levels, 2 rooms, over 10,000 Square Feet and a 24 hour license to allow till dawn salsa dancing to your heart’s content.

Ritmo Bello and the San Diego Salsa & Latin Dancing Meetup Group welcome you to attend the Grand Opening of the new venue this Wednesday February 23rd 2011. You can RSVP for the event here at this link (click here please).

Here are some important items to keep in mind when you go:

Doors Open at 9:30pm

FREE BEFORE 10pm, After 10 there is a $10 Cover Charge

Open until 5am or when the Party Stops

Plenty of Free Street Parking right off the 5 Freeway

21 & Up with Valid ID

State-Of-The-Art Sound System

Awesome Lighting

Lounge Areas & Pool Table

Drink Specials & All Night Restaurant

See you all at the new Old Town Latin Wednesdays at Spin Nightclub!

John :-)

@RitmoBello

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!

Many of us know the health benefits from dancing tango, salsa , samba, merengue, and other forms of Latin dance.  But did you know that simply listening to these types of music can improve your health?

Recent studies show that listening to music of all types has the great effects of lowering your blood pressure, improving your concentration, and overall stimulating your brain.  Many studies also show that listening to music can improve performance on standardized tests.  For most salsa, tango, and other Latin dancers, the music can simply put you in a different state of mind and allow you to restart your day on a fresh note.

Tango Alma , a local San Diego tango group and friends of Ritmo Bello , was recently highlighted in a short documentary regarding the health benefits of music.  I posted that video here for you to watch and you’ll see both Todd and Marizabel of Tango Alma explaining how tango dance and listening to music is good for your health.  Enjoy!

What if we could start having our kids learn to dance early on as well here in San Diego? Well, its already happening.

Dancing After School (DAS) , a 501c3 non-profit organization, is dedicated to providing comprehensive life changing dance programs to youth in under-served areas throughout San Diego County. Dancing After School has been able to make tremendous strides in educating and inspiring youth to learn dance. Based locally here in San Diego and founded by Walter Meneses, the organization serves all of San Diego including the border regions teaching dance to thousands of elementary school children.

Why teach kids to dance? There are lots of reasons I can think of including giving kids a positive role model to follow in terms of instructors, giving them something to master in their free time, and getting kids up and moving around. Indeed, with obesity rates rising every year with our youth I think it’s paramount to give kids another outlet for meeting their needs.

The video I’ve posted here is from an Argentine Tango dance class taught by DAS instructors. They also teach other types of Latin dance including salsa, merengue, bachata, mambo, Cha Cha Cha, and Jazz. After the students are taught the dance for a term they are given an opportunity to showcase their work. This next video shows a performance by a group of kids who’ve gone through the classes.

Ritmo Bello and The San Diego Salsa and Latin Dancing Meetup Group will be supporting DAS at an upcoming event to raise money for the organization. For anyone interested please visit the special RSVP page that has more information including how to contact DAS .

Please come out to support a great organization!

If you’ve followed Ritmo Bello in the past you may remember a saying that I used to post on my old website that read “If you can walk, you can dance!” Well, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been wrong all this time.  Let me explain.

Absolutely Dance Sport, a specialized dance studio catering to the disabled here in San Diego, opens its doors on August 5^th , 2008. The focus of the new studio is to bring more attention to a growing movement called Wheelchair DanceSport .  Wheelchair DanceSport is a partner dance competition where at least one dancer in the pair is in a wheelchair.

Wheelchair dancing is not actually new. Since 1977, international competitions in Wheelchair Dance Sport have been organized and supported by organizations like the International Paralympic Wheelchair Dance Sport Committee and International DanceSport Federation.  There is even an American Dance Wheels logo similar to the NBA’s iconic sign as seen below:

Wheelchair dancers participate in combination style dancing with an able-bodied partner or duo dance with two wheelchairs. The dances that are performed with wheelchairs pretty much are the same ones that a non-disabled couple can perform. That means that a wheelchair dancer could dance salsa, samba, cha cha cha, rumba, paso doble, and other popular Latin dances.

I found this tango video especially captivating to watch:

My immediate reaction to all this is that I am very thankful that there are people in the community concerned with bringing dance to the disabled population. Indeed, if I were ever in a position where I needed to rely on a wheelchair I would most likely seek out this studio to be around empowered individuals passionate about salsa and latin dancing.

Please visit the Absolutely DanceSport Studio here in San Diego for more information and let them know you heard about the organization from Ritmo Bello .  Thanks.

Just a reminder that the new improved Ritmo Bello will be launching by July 1st!

What this means is that the current feed will expire and you will need to subscribe to this new feed for Ritmo Bello.

(For those of you not familiar with subscribing or RSS feeds I found this useful Google Reader tutorial created by Andy Wibbels that will help.)

Along with the new feed, you’ll also notice that the new address for the site will be www.ritmobello.com . (Note: The old site address of www.sandiegosalsadancing.com will still get you to the new site as well once the changes take effect.) This is in line with my efforts to start adding in more Latin dance information covering samba, tango, cha cha, merengue, and bachata along with the same San Diego salsa dancing information you’ve come to enjoy reading on my website.

If anybody has any questions feel free to contact me direct at bello_jf@ritmobello.com . You can still find me on on my Twitter page for Ritmo Bello as well.

Thanks for all your support!!!

John ;-)