Salsero Question: Where would you spend 30 Salsa Dollars?

After two beautiful South Florida Salsa nights in a row, I got to thinkn, and came up with this question that I want to ask Salseros: If you were given 30 Salsa Dollars, in the city of your choice, where would you spend the Salsa Dollars? Obviously there is no such thing as Salsa Dollars, but if you only had 30 of these fake dollars in your pocket, where would you spend them? You can choose any place, anywhere, anytime, any day or night of the week, in any city, state, or country, but the place of choice must be somehow Salsa related. Why did you choose these two places? The Salsa Dollars wouldn't have to be spent in one night. How would you spend your dollars? On workshops? On a Salsa social? Details, please include details! I really, REALLY hope people will take the time to comment on this question. It's just a random question that I thought would be fun to ask Salseros. I hope to travel to as many Salsa venues around the world as I can, so with the help of readers, I can accomplish my goal by knowing where people LOVE to dance Salsa at!

I will answer my question about where I would spend my 30 Salsa Dollars by writing about the South Florida Salsa venues I attended the last two nights.

Thursday night I went to Seductive Salsa/Bachata Thursdays @ The Well, located at 444 W 41st in Miami Beach, FL. I found the event info for the party via the Born to Salsa website which lists various South Florida Salsa events, classes, socials, etc. The party at The Well is FREE for ladies before midnight and $10 for gentleman all night. The beginner's Salsa class led by Nelson Fritz, aka Negro Fino is FREE. I took the LA Style Salsa class led by Ricky Torres. This is where the first half of my Salsa Dollars were spent. I enjoyed the lesson very much and learned some new moves and pointers for my Salsa dancing. The social dancing started promptly after lessons were over with DJ Calderon spinning the Salsa hits. I didn't stay too late for the party that goes until 3AM, but to no surprise, the dancers here were beautiful, just like the hosts and organizers of the party. For Bachata lovers, there is a separate room where Hervin Alvarez teaches a lesson before the party starts. This coming Thursday, December 6 will be a big birthday bash for DJ Calderon and friends, so if you are in the Miami area, and you love Salsa, I would be sure to make it to The Well!

Friday night, after arriving in West Palm Beach, I went to Salsa Essence Dance Academy's Friday night social. Here, I spent the second half of my Salsa Dollars. I took a lesson from the owner and lead instructor of the academy, Kathy Sarria. I must say, the Salseros at this party were some of the friendliest, most hospitable Salseros I have ever been around. There were dancers of all skill levels out on the dance floor and nobody had a problem dancing with someone who perhaps was not quite as advanced. The instructors shared the dance floor with the students, and everyone just shared an awesome Salsa filled night. I left this party with one of the biggest smiles on my face that I've had in a LONG @ss time! Salsa Essence's next social dance will be this coming Friday, December 6, so if you are in the West Palm area, and you want to get your Salsa on, I would highly recommend attending this party!

So far, my South Florida Salsa experience has been unforgettable! Everyone that I have met has been really supportive of the purpose of my Salsa blog. I am getting a lot of yeses to my interview requests, so stayed tuned to my blog to read about what's happening in the South Florida Salsa scene. And, DON'T forget to answer the question: Where would you spend 30 Salsa Dollars?

Salseroblanko, Huntsville, AL

Today is a good day because I will be posting my first interview. I am so excited to have this opportunity to write about a fellow Salsero! His name is John Salseroblanko Morey of Huntsville, AL. When I was in Atlanta for the Hotlanta Salsa Congress I got to see this Salsero perform with his men's team. It was only three guys dressed as Cowboys, so it wasn't hard to remember their faces. After I was home from the Congress, I sat down to friend request everyone I could recognize from my weekend in Atlanta. Of the people I was able to find, Salseroblanko graciously accepted my request. Lucky for me, he quickly responded when I put the Facebook shout out looking for interested interviewees. So after doing some research on the guy, Salsera Elena (SE) asked the following questions and Salseroblanko (SB) provided the following answers.

SE: "Your bio says your first lesson was in 2000 in Dallas, TX. Was this your first ever encounter with dancing to Salsa? If not, when was?"

SB: "I was first exposed to Salsa dancing at a Latin club by a friend of mine when I was 30 but that didn’t get me excited to take lessons. I was enjoying the music and atmosphere but that was the extent of that. It was 10 years later in Dallas is when I saw two men passing a female back and forth taking turns dancing with her is what got me interested in taking lessons."

SE: "What was it about Salsa that inspired you to start taking lessons?"  

SB: "It was those two guys I saw dancing with one girl as I mentioned earlier. I found that really interesting. I wanted to learn the moves the men where doing."

SE: "How did you decide on DC as your first Congress location?"

SB: "The was the first congress I heard about and it was close to Greensboro, NC that I could just drive to."

SE: "How did you first hear about Congresses?"

SB: "It was from an instructor living in Greensboro, NC."

SE: "Which Congress has been your favorite so far?"  

SB: "Back in the day it was the Los Angeles Salsa Congress."

 

SE: "Which Congress has been the most memorable for you?" 

SB: "Right now it is still the LA congress. My team will be performing at the NY Congress in 2013 so I am hoping that will be very memorable."

SE: "Can you tell me about your experience with Super Mario? What was your dance relationship with him like? What about his style of dancing inspired you to learn from him?"  

SB: "I met Super Mario BEFORE he was even a big star. He stayed at my home every time he came to NC. We are close friends. We still email each other keep tabs not just on our salsa lives but our lives in general. He is a very smooth and fun dancer. I love that about him. He also exhibits great leading which has inspired me to be a specialist meaning I teach leading and following techniques. That is not the easiest to teach. Most don’t stress that. They just teach combos. I teach combos and stress leading and following techniques."

SE: "Was your move from Dallas, TX to Greenville, SC because of Salsa, or other life reasons? If because of Salsa, how did you decide on Greenville?"

SB: "It was because of work."

SE: "When did you decide you wanted to become a professional Salsero? What did that decision involve? Did you ever have to choose between Salsa and a different career?"

SB: "Being a pro came with the territory. I do not make a living on Salsa. It is my passion. I am fortunate I can enjoy this dance without having to worry about making a living out of it. I am an engineer by trade."

SE: "Tell me about your training? You’ve named your instructors, how did you go about learning from them? Did you take private lessons? Did you attend their classes regularly? What was your training schedule like? How much time did you commit to training?"   

SB: "I met most of my instructors at the congresses I attended early on. Edie the Salsa Freak and Super Mario have had the biggest influence. I took private lessons from them. When I was first learning I went dancing 6 nights out of the week, practiced every day at home and took 2-3 lessons a week and it was expensive then, $20 an hour!"

SE: "How did you get your first teaching gig in Illinois? How’d you end up there?"

SB: "I ended up there because of work. There was NOTHING there! Lol so I decided to each at the workplace which then expanded to a studio then ended up having a salsa night! That was fun!"

SE: "What was your experience in Greenville like? What methods did you use to bring the Salsa scene to Greenville?"   

SB: "When I arrived in Greenville, there was no salsa scene. They had Latin clubs. I looked for a studio and started teaching. I started with one class which grew to 4 classes in less than 1 year. We had socials at the studio but then the students wanted more. They wanted a place where they can buy drinks. I found a club called Dockers. I had to find a DJ which I did. I instructed the DJ as to what type to play and what format. That place was never in the red. We broke even the first night. We had salsa night every week average 80-120 people at this place that the max capacity is 160. It was so much fun!"

SE: "When did you start performing? How did you get recognized as a performer?" 

SB: "It was in Greenville SC. I did a Steve Urkel routine. It was funny! Here is the video"  

SE: "How did you end up in Huntsville, AL? What were some of your methods to bring Salsa to this town?"

SB: "Work brought me to Huntsville. As always I search out salsa nights or dance lessons. I found one person who was teaching rueda at University of Alabama Huntsville. The class was very small. I found a studio and started teaching. I decided to host a FREE SALSA SOCIAL on the 5^th Tuesday of the month to give the students a way to practice and it is my way to say thank you for taking lessons and telling others about Salsa. I still do it today (going on 5 years). Then I stepped it up and looked for a club. Found one (it is not easy to find a nice place for salsa in Huntsville). It was a newly opened club called CLUB RUSH. We started salsa nights there Aug 2009. We were there for 2.5 years. Change of ownership, we were gone. So we are in the process today of looking for a good home for our salsa nights. We are currently hosting our salsa night at a nice fitness center."

SE: "Which Congress has been your favorite to perform at?"

SB: "Right now the Hotlanta Salsa Congress."

SE: "Tell me about the flash mob. How often do you conduct a flash mob? What does it involve? Per the flash mob video on the homepage of the Salseroblanko website, did you know the people that were joining in or they were just joining in?"  

SB: "We did our first flash mob in Jan of 2011. That was fun. We have only done it another time. We do not do this very often but we plan to.  Doing a flash mob is not that difficult unless you want to turn it into a production. I pick a song, create a simple routine of about 13-15 eight counts, teach it to those interested and set up where to perform. I generally try to teach it in 3 hours and perform it that same day. So far it has worked. I set it up as if we do not know each other. As you saw in the video."

SE: "Tell me about the events you have going on in Huntsville?"

SB: "I have two “big” events, Salsalabama Jam (OCT) and the Spring Salsa Fiesta (APRIL). These are well attended. Not huge like the bigger cities. The Jam is about 250 and the Fiesta (two years old) is about 180. We are in Huntsville, it takes a long time to generate dancers and interest in the events."

SE: "Do you teach by yourself?"  

SB: "Yes."

SE: "Do you have a dance partner?"

SB: "No."

SE: "How many days and hours a week do you teach?"

SB: "I teach every Tuesday, beg I and beg II, one hour each class. I also teach a 4 hour boot camp once a month."

SE: "Do you have another job?"  

SB: "I am an Electrical Engineer."

SE: "How often do you get to travel around with Salsa?"

SB: "Not enough! Lol!!  I am allowed by my wife to attend two congresses a year. I travel once in a while to teach or dance in Nashville (visiting our salsa friends there)."

SE: "What is your favorite place you have traveled to? What other places have you traveled?" 

SB: "I have no specific place that is my favorite. As long as the music is good, I love it!"

SE: "How’d you get the name Salseroblanko? Did you name yourself or someone else named you?"

SB: "Well at first I was called salsero loco. I did some crazy wild moves early on then I decided that Salseroblanko was good for me. So I stuck with that."

SE: "What are your current and future goals as a Salsero?"  

SB: "Right now I just want to keep building the scene in Huntsville. We have a long ways to go. I compare the scene like a baby learning how to walk. The scene is born, now the baby just needs to learn how to walk and eventually be a marathon runner."

SE: "What advice do you have for training and aspiring Salseros?"

SB: "If money and time is not an issue, take as many lessons as one can afford, give yourself time to practice, practice often and concentrate on techniques and not the moves, and travel to experience other dancers."

SE: "Who are some of your favorite Salseros to dance with?"  

SB: "Joby Brava, Magna copal, Randi Pearson. I call these ladies Ferrari’s lol. Easy to drive."

So if you live in Huntsville, AL or happen to be passing through, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Salseroblanko. Clearly he can dance and he is your walking source of all things Salsa in Huntsville, AL. To Salseroblanko, thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. I could go on all day asking questions about your experience in the Salsa world, but I figure the interview has to end at some point. I do plan to get to Alabama sometime soon to check out for myself the Salsa scene. Until then let's keep on dancing! 

If you would like to get in touch with Salseroblanko, check him out at Salseroblanko.net or at www.alabamasalsa.com. Also check him out on Facebook or send him an email at salseroblanko@yahoo.com.

Licensed Zumba Instructor

These days, who doesn't know what Zumba is?  If your answer is me, well you'll only find a brief description of everything the Zumba program has to offer in this post. Today I'm writing about my experience becoming a Zumba instructor. In a nutshell, Zumba is a dance fitness workout designed to tone, shape, and strengthen your body by moving and dancing to various international rhythms. Check out Zumba.com to find information about everything Zumba. There you can find out what Zumba is, where classes are offered near you, instructors near you, DVDs, apparel, and so on.

This summer, after having attended many Zumba classes, I finally decided to get licensed as an instructor. Becoming licensed to teach Zumba is pretty simple. The first step is to pick a date to take the Basic training. The earlier you register, the less you pay. The cost ranges from about $220-290 (all this is found on the website). The training class is a one day event, totaling about eight hours and includes a lunch break. During the course of the day you learn so much great information like the four basic Zumba rhythms (Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, and Reggaeton), the history and structure of the Zumba program, about the founder Alberto "Beto" Perez and his journey to making Zumba what it is today, how to grow and market yourself as an instructor, and so much more. 

Once you finish the basic training you can join the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN). The ZIN membership costs $30 a month and is meant to be an investment for your journey to becoming a top notch Zumba instructor. The membership gives instructors the tools necessary to continue to develop and grow as an instructor. As a member instructors can take more training classes like Zumba Gold, Toning, or Aqua training. Being a ZIN member allows you to receive marketing tips and tools to get the word out to new students that you are an instructor. 

If you or someone you know is looking for a Zumba instructor, look no further. I am available, ready, and licensed to show you how to party while working out. If you are new to Zumba, I can assure you that once you try it, you will love it! If you are looking for more Zumba, Salsa, or Latin dance information, you have come to the right place. Just ask and I will provide you an answer. As always, thank you for reading!