At first glance you probably wouldn’t think that San Diego has much going on apart from the traditional surfing and other recreational diversions for which this place is known. It takes a simple look under that well known surface to see that San Diego is a teeming hot bed of salsa dance talent.

Much of that dance talent is due in part to the myriad of salsa dance competition teams that offer a wide array of styles and philosophies of salsa dance. San Diego is fortunate to have a salsa scene influenced by such a great group of performers that help inspire those new to the scene to learn more about the dance.  Here at Ritmo Bello I’ve been privileged to get to know these performance groups over the years and I wanted to highlight some of them here.

Well known performance groups like Majesty in Motion and dancers from A Time To Dance Studio have excited audiences through the years through innovative dance. Newer dance companies such as Alma Latina and Salsa Susie’s Cosabellas & Hot Tamales have done a great job of expanding salsa dancing to a wider group of people. Some local San Diego talent has seen great national exposure such as Junior & Emily’s Amicitia Dance Company and Serena Cuevas Deseo Dance.

These and many other dance teams which I haven’t mentioned here all deserve to be recognized for the great exposure they give salsa dancing to the general public. For many people here in San Diego, joining a dance team is a great way to accelerate your learning of salsa dance while expressing yourself through performance.

If you’ve had a good experience with a local San Diego dance team feel free to leave a comment on this post.

John ;-)

Ritmo Bello

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!

If you’ve been following the television program America’s Got Talent you know that salsa dancing has been in the spotlight in a big way.  Junior and Emily of Amicitia Dance Company here in San Diego are still in the competition and need your help now.

The brother and sister salsa dance duo are wild cards on the program and need your online votes to position them back into the main competition. You can help decide who joins the quarter-finals out of the judge’s wild card picks that remain (a total of 8 remain).

In order to vote online you’ll need to visit this special VOTING PAGE for the competition.

Voting ends at 4:00 PM EST Friday, August 15, 2008.

Watch the performances, choose your favorite (We hope it’s JUNIOR & EMILY) and vote now! The winner of the wild card vote will be announced in the September 3rd broadcast of Americas Got Talent.

The remaining 8 acts include Donald Brazwell (Operatic singer w/throat injury 11 years ago), Victoria (little-girl contortionist), Junior & Emily ( Salsa/Ballroom dancers), Lil Country & Page One (dancers from New Orleans), Sword Swallower, Kyle Rifkin (R&B Singer), Xclusive (Robotic Dancer), and Miss Pussycat (grinder girl).

Live shows from LA start after the Olympics. Watch to see if your favorite "Wildcard" act advances on September 3rd, 8/7c.

To find out more information you can visit Junior and Emily’s website regarding their standing in the competition.

Help salsa dancing make an impact on the national broadcast stage!

Junior and Emily from Amicitia Dance Company were recently on the new show "America’s Got Talent" . The local San Diego salsa talent are featured in this video that includes a short intro and their dancing in the competition.

Good job to Junior and Emily!