Jamaican Salsero in L.A.

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With Usain Bolt breaking Asafa Powell’s 100 meters world record last week, Jamaica now has the two fastest men alive. Also three of the top 10 times ever posted in the 100 meters have been by Jamaican-born sprinters (Donovan Bailey being the third). I have to figure out a way to watch the Jamaica Olympic [...]

The 22nd Annual UCLA JazzReggae Festival was held over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a “weekend of peace, love and music.” Sunday was Jam day with performances from acts such as The Roots, Immortal Technique, Tribal Jazz and Goapele. Monday was the Reggae day and featured act such as Stephen Marley, Mr. Vegas, Selena [...]

I just remembered that I have this video of the 2008 Mayan Salsa Champions, David Nieto and Charlene Rose, previewing their 1st place routine. It was at Anna Celestria’s Pink Birthday Bash held at Silhouette’s. This was a little over a week before the finals. It is essentially the same routine they preformed at the [...]

The final two videos from the Aavaa: Middle Eastern Performance Group Showcase performance.
The rest are here.
“Sayyajna Libnan”
Choreographers: Deema Saad & Amanda Rizkallah
Dancers: Leena Ameripour, Faisal Attrache, Walid Ismail, Elias Massoud, Amanda Rizkallah, Deema Saad Maher Abdel-Sattar
From the program: “Dabke is a traditional Lebanese group dance with historical roots in the villages of Lebanon. It is [...]

Yesterday I checked out the 2008 Cuban Music Festival in Echo Park. Despite the heat, it turned out to be a well supported event. Most of the RITP family was in the house, so there were a Rueda going every few minutes. The bands, food performances and all round atmosphere was great. I don’t have [...]

The finals of the Mayan Salsa Competition was this past Saturday. Earlier in the evening they had a semi-final round for the “International/Out-of-State” competitors. This made no sense to the audience (yours truly included) as all three couples that competed made it to the finals that were held an hour later. The professional division was [...]

On Thursday, I went to the 1st Annual Aavaa Show. It was a showcase of Middle Eastern dance and music performances. The program included, live music, traditional Persian, Turkish, Lyrical Sufi and Persian salsa dancing. Below are some of the performances:
(more videos after the jump)

“Tamanna”
Composer: Shahriar Habibaghagi
Musicians: Shahriar Habibaghagi (santoor) and Hooman Tavakoly (tonbak).

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“Fusion Bellydance” [...]

Congratulations to the all the competitors in last night’s finals of the 2008 Mayan Amateur Salsa Competition. Six couples made it to the finals from the semi final round. Below are the performances of the top three.
Third Place - Ashley Barba and Eddie Sadiwa

Second Place - Vivian Chavez and Edgar Martinez

First Place - [...]

The UCLA Ballroom Dance and International Folk Dance Club held their second Annual Salsa and Latin Culture Night.
Michael Espinoza and his partner performing Argentine Tango

Redondo Beach High School performing at
UCLA Ballroom Dance Club - Latin Culture Night

Last night was the 1st Annual College Salsa Production held at Steven’s Steakhouse. It was a joint production by Salsa Clubs and Societies from different Southern California colleges and universities. The night featured workshops by some of LA’s premier instructors, as well as, performances from a host of college salsa teams. It was a fun [...]