Salsa in New Jersey (NJ): Your Source for Salsa Dance Lessons, Events and Socials, Nightclubs, Performances, Salsa Classes, Videos, Audio and Information
Salsa Thursdays are back at Nova Terra! NovaTerrsdays! Live music starts at 10pm and it goes until 12:30am. The dancing ends early but we gotta go to work on Friday after all, and one can always go to Glo after Nova Terra. Cover charge is $5 only.
Swing Sabroso will be playing on Thursday, June 12th and June 26th. So go to Nova Terra, walk up to the bar, order a drink (mojito, mango martini, or a Dos-Equis beer), listen to the band, and dance salsa with one of the Scarlet Mambo members.
Nova Terra is located in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. 78 Albany Street. Call 732.296.1600 for more info.
Here is another hot event! Victor Manuelle will give a free concert as part of the SummerStage concert series in Central Park in New York City. When I started dancing Salsa, Victor Manuelle was one of my favorite singers. My taste in Salsa has evolved greatly but I still love “pop salsa”. We, the Scarlet Mambo gang, will be attending the concert to dance Salsa. Join us!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
From 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage, New York City
“Latin music’s superstar graces the stage. Presented in association with Globe Star Media. Victor Manuelle is Latin music royalty. The Puerto Rican-born sonero is considered salsa’s leading man. His new album, Soy, features several tracks produced by Emilio Estefan. With seven Sony Music albums to his credit, Manuelle has appeared on the Grammys with Marc Anthony and Gloria Estefan in a tribute to Latina diva Celia Cruz. Manuelle was also invited to the White House in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.”
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Apparently, there is a Salsa movie in the making. The Isla Verde Restaurant (Philadelphia) is holding a casting call for Salsa dancers. Attention, NJ, NY and PA!
Open Casting Call
Every Thursday, 6pm – 9pm
Dates: starting April 24th until June 26th, 2008
Place: Isla Verde Restaurant
2775 N. American St. & Lehigh Ave. (Plaza Americana)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Bring photos and resume. For more info, call Willie Torres at 267-342-3619. He is the person that organizes the Philadelphia Salsa Congress. On a telephone conversation, Mr. Torres also stated that there will be a Salsa musical as well (before the movie). “Come on Thursday and be ready to dance Salsa and your willingness to act”, Mr. Torres said. The actual audition will take place on another date on a Saturday.
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Flash News! Scarlet Mambo starts Salsa Lessons at a new location: IM Gallery Studio in Highland Park, NJ. This place is located very conviniently only 2 minutes away from New Brunswick, Edison, and Piscataway. Please pass this information to your friends!
Full class description in the Class Schedule Page on the top. Classes Start on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008. Register in the Salsa Shop Page before March 24th, 2008 to receive special price $55.00 Regular $65.00. Rutgers Students with Valid ID $45 (see details in Salsa Shop page).
If you missed the 2007 ESPN World Salsa Chapionships last December, now there are plenty of opportunities to watch the show on ESPN. Anthony (from Addicted2Salsa) wrote a post (World Salsa Championship 2007 Results – All Divisions) in which he listed the finalists (and videos) of each category. Now this your chance to watch the whole ESPN special covering the Salsa competition. See schedule below.
I find it remarkable that Salsa has reached this level of popularity. It has been about ten years since the first Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico but so much has happened since. There are now Salsa Congresses in many major cities all over the world, let alone the cities in the U.S. There has been an incredible increase in the number of instructors and performers. Here in New Jersey, I still remember when Eddie Torres was the epicenter of Salsa moves. Now there are so many reputable instructors to choose from.
What is more surprising to me is that Salsa has acquired a professional status. I always cringe when ballroom dancers refer to our regular style of Salsa dancing as “Street Salsa” or “Club Salsa” because that implies that their Ballroom Style is more professional. And so I am very pleased that our Salsa style is the focus of an international broadcast by ESPN.
“Bailamos” was so much fun this year. The RU Salsa Club did a splendid job organizing this event. Angie, you gets lots of kuddos! Let’s review a bit. Swing Sabroso performed live Salsa music. Dinner was excellent. There were lots of Salsa dancers. We had five great performances: Angie (singing), Scarlet Mambo Girls, Scarlet Mambo, RU Salsa Club and Fuzion Creativa. For you that missed it… oh well! Just kidding. Here are two videos of the performances of the night.
Everyone is invited to come out to Bailamos on Wednesday, April 30th 2008. Click on the flier to see the full-size version.
Let me give you a few reasons why it will be a great Salsa event. Free Salsa lesson, Free Admission to the Social, Live Salsa Band (Swing Sabroso Orchestra), Live Salsa DJ, Salsa Performances and Free Dinner and refreshments! Did I mention that everything is free?
Date: Wednesday, April 30th 2008.
Time: 9:00pm Lesson
9:30pm Salsa Social
Location: College Avenue Gym Annex.
130 College Ave, New Brunswck, NJ – Directions
We have two sets of photos from last year’s event “Bailamos 2007″. Photo Album . The performances videos from last year are also available in the Scarlet Mambo YouTube Channel
This year there will be performances by the RU Salsa Club, Scarlet Mambo, and more…
I was in the process of writing a brief history of Salsa. But NJN’s Imagenes has beat me to it with this 27-minute documentary that focuses on the Mambo Golden Era of the Palladium in New York City. The documentary is called “Golden Age of Dance” and it aired on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 6:30 pm on NJN.
Our friends, the Swing Sabroso Orchestra, are featured at the end of the video along with members of New Jersey’s Cultural Explosion group and many other popular Salsa dancers.
Make sure you watch the full episode (27 minutes) because it is full of juicy videos and trivia. I broke down the video into three parts because of YouTube’s 10-minute limit.
The review in quotes below is from an email from our friend Tricia Dougherty.
“Golden Age of Dance” – PART 1
This episode is a 27 minute documentary showing Mambo dancing in New York City at the Palladium in the 1950s. Back then the night began with a free mambo lesson On 2 (hey, just like they do today at some places !) and continued until 4AM. Old footage was displayed of the famous dancers of that era. Their dance style was not quite as precise and polished as today’s dancers but it was fun to watch everyone doing their thing on the dance floor.
“Golden Age of Dance” – PART 2
The Ballet Hispanico dance company performed at the Joyce Theater in New York reliving the days at the Palladium. Each dancer was selected to play a certain “character” from the 1950s palladium days: the socialite, the married couple dance instructors, the underage girl, the hot Casanova, plus the neighborhood people and weekly regulars. And “playing the role of the big band at the Palladium is Ray Rodriguez and orchestra Swing Sabroso !”
“Golden Age of Dance” – PART 3
It was great ! Dancing to “Baila con Swing Sabroso”, side by side footage was shown on the screen of the black and white 1950s Palladium dance floor mixed in with the current Crystals dance floor showing identical dance moves and dress. Footage of the band at Crystals was mixed in with their music video. If you want to fast forward to the Crystals portion of the show, it is at the 3:40 minute mark of Part 3.
Salsa Thursdays are back at Nova Terra! NovaTerrsdays! Live music starts at 10pm and it goes until 12:30am. The dancing ends early but we gotta go to work on Friday after all, and one can always go to Glo after Nova Terra. Cover charge is $5 only.
I find it remarkable that Salsa has reached this level of popularity. It has been about ten years since the first Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico but so much has happened since. There are now Salsa Congresses in many major cities all over the world, let alone the cities in the U.S. There has been an incredible increase in the number of instructors and performers. Here in New Jersey, I still remember when Eddie Torres was the epicenter of Salsa moves. Now there are so many reputable instructors to choose from.
