London Salsa: Salsa Dance DVDs, Salsa Music Reviews

The Best of London Salsa Classes, Salsa Clubs, Salsa Events in London & the UK
Founder of the Official Fan Club for Latin Music & London’s Carnival de Cuba

We would like to apologise for any weird stuff you are experiencing currently as we are re-launching the site. Weird stuff off-site is your own affair.
Editor: 07979 280 283 editor@londonsalsascene.co.uk

Best of London Salsa: Marchant’s DVD & Studio Launch -Report Tues 15th Jan 08


	MARCHANT BIRCH - ALCHEMY WAY

		Marchant Birch - Alchemy Way Partnerwork Dance: Salsa/Mambo - On1 & On2 versions Website and to buy: www.alchemydance.co.uk Call: 07770 807049 Price: £25, both versions Balancing the elegance of cross body with the instinctiveness of Cuban style salsa, Saffa Marchant Birch has magic when he dances. This is what makes him one of the most popular and sought after dancers instructors and performers on both the UK and international salsa scene, writes Editor, *www.LondonSalsaScene.co.uk* Marchant’s debut DVD delivers 8 salsa routines executed over 60 minutes, infused with Marchant's trademark smooth and fluid style. There are two versions, with the same routines executed On1 (Salsa) or On2 (New York Mambo). Marchant and dance partner Davina Morris offer sequences to challenge intermediate and advanced students. The learning curve is a steep one; expect to slow the DVD down in places to pick up finer points. Sure, you can learn routines parrot fashion, but this loses the heart of Marchant’s approach - you need to drink this one in. This is predominantly aimed at leaders (my partner didn’t feel there was enough for her). To get value for money from this gents, you need a dance partner up to the challenge. If you want to get the hang of melting into the music when you dance, supplement practise with classes with the man himself. Practising with a jumper on a hanger over the door with one hand, a tinny in the other while checking out the footie isn't going to crack this one.

	Marchant Launches New Studio

	MARCHANT BIRCH LAUNCHES The Alchemy Dance Academy in Basingstoke, Hampshire on Thursday on 6th March 2008. Marchant & Davina will teach salsa (On1) and mambo (On2) classes, courses and workshops for all levels at Oakridge Hall For All, Forsythia Walk, Oakridge Rd Basingstoke RG21 5S every Thursday from then on. The venue has a sprung wooden floor, free parking and is close to Basingstoke town centre, M3 Junction 6 exit. Doors open: 7.30pm, 8-9 academy courses, 9-10 Drop in classes for intermediate/advanced and 10-11 Club dancing. ENQUIRIES & BOOKINGS: info@alchemydance.co.uk 07770 807049 and visit www.alchemydance.co.uk

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS DVD?? CLICK HERE TO POST YOUR VIEWS!!

*Best of London Salsa: X-mas 07 Competition*


	Sangre Latina - Reggaetoson

		Crew: Sangre Latina Album: Reggaetoson Available from: www.tumimusic.com Price: £9.95 SANGRE LATINA’S Debut Album Reggaetoson is a fusion of new and old Cuba, the tradition of the sonero and son spliced up with the latest craze to rock the tropical island, Reggaeton. Sangre Latina (Yúnior Pérez Herrera, Leodan García Benítez, Raciel de la Rosa, Menendez and Yaniet Lazar Piedro Flores) deliver Reggaeton with vintage. Reggaeton’s raw, thumping, dum-dum basslines are as relentless and unremitting as anywhere, but there are new, unexpected flavas. Here, there is a mix of blood types; the haunting sounds of Old Cuba and the lyricism of the sonero inject poignancy, nostalia. Sangre Latina’s take on Reggaeton has the right nervy, gangster edge but also dignity and depth of flava. On the other hand, in the mix with Reggaeton, old Cuba gets tooled up with the latest sounds of the Barrio. This is a musical meltdown, a love-hate war of the generations; Reggaeton beats fight it out with traditional, sensual Cuban rhythms, making for compulsive listening and dancing. A rare hybrid of youthful angst and heart-felt ache, with life experience and roots in Cuba not US commercial pop music. Ed

Win A Christmas Present from Us!
TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF THE FAN CLUB FOR LATIN MUSIC - NUEVO RITMOS - WE HAVE LOADS OF GREAT MUSIC TO GIVE AWAY IN OUR CHRISTMAS COMPETITION - SANGRE LATINA’S REGGAETOSON! TO ENTER, JUST CLICK HERE TO EMAIL US, INCLUDING THE WORDS NUEVO RITMOS COMPETITION IN THE SUBJECT LINE WITH YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, PREFERABLY A LANDLINE AND YOUR LOCAL CLUB***. Competition closes: 5th January 2008; 1 entry per person. Ed

London Salsa Review: Thursday 6th September


	Reggaeton: Suggestive Digestive


	DVD: A Beginner’s Guide to Reggaeton Instructors: Damarys Farres and Ramon Diaz Crosdale Produced by: *www.salsatap.com* (01903 823910) Price: £8.00 - Discounted! To Buy: *CLICK HERE* A fusion of Jamaican reggae, Latin beats and hip-hop, Reggaeton is Cuba’s most popular music and dance craze right now and has ignited on the UK dance scene.

   The Reggaeton sound - hard, raw, earthy - has given rise to a pneumatic dance that is raunchy, raw and huge fun.
   You’ve got to have Reggaeton music thumping away when you’re dancing - or even practising in the privacy of your own home!
Without the music, moves don’t make sense, can look... erm... silly, a bit Mr Bean-like or a Latin version of the Village People’s YMCA. But, when danced to the music, the humour, fun and flirtatiousness of the dance come to the fore.
   Damarys and Ramon have an informal teaching style, emphasising fun and natural, authentic

Cuban body styling and movements, demonstrated for both women and men. They focus on key moves, so content is manageable. Ramon does a lot of cool body-popping; this isn’t broken down but worth trying to get. Just don’t attempt high energy moves after a big roast dinner or you’ll do yourself a mischief.
Filmed in Havana by a potting shed in somebody’s back garden, this DVD is like a spontaneous “hey, let’s have a Regaeton party-in the-garden” ; a lot of fun, captures the spirit and the flavour of the dance, beautifully executed by Damarys and Ramon. This also features Alex Wilson’s Reggaeton track ‘Subelo’ from the Inglaterra albumm played at full volume. Anywhere else, this would set the neighbours off, but here you can imagine them all grinding away behind the garden fence.
This is fun, dead sexy and will get your reggaeton started. At £10, this has got to be one of the best value DVDs around. I would love to hear Len Goodman’s comments when Reggaeton gets selected for Strictly Come Dancing. Yuk yuk yuk.. Ed.

Best of London Salsa: DVD Review


	Salsa Footwork & Styling with Alison Hurwitz


	DVD TITLE: Salsa Footwork and Styling with Alison Hurwitz FROM: www.salsacrazy.com or www.salsastyling.com for more PRICE: $39.95 This is two DVDs combined with close to 50 combinations of salsa footwork and styling for beginners/improvers and intermediate/advanced dancers.

   Alison Hurwitz (left) is an effective instructor - and her engaging personality comes across.
   This is well presented and well structured, with demonstrations given via back, side and front views, with and without music.
   Some of the so-called beginners’ footwork and styling are totally beyond the scope of even the most gifted beginner. BUT used discriminately, this will provide oddles of material to keep you going potentially over months and years, up to advanced level.

There is no partner-work, this is just footwork and styling. But this will reinforce what you learn in class and help you perfect timing and shines at home (as usual, everything is given in men's timing, women need to convert). I’m not totally convinced about a very feminine woman showing guys’ styling, but Alison is a good teacher with a good methodology.
Hope someone gets the gorgeous Alison over for a UK Congress soon. Ed

Best of London Salsa: Review/Competition


	Latin King Conga Invades NYC

Album: SALSA DURA NYC, 2007
Record Label: Music Rough Guides, www.worldmusic.net RGNet 1177CD
Compiler: Pablo Yglesias
Listen to Rough Guide's latest release (to be released on 19 February) - Salsa Dura NYC - and you know where real, hard Latin dance music has its heartland – in the argy bargy of New York City street life.
   Picture of a couple of virtual, King Kong-sized Puerto Rican and Cuban soneros doing the business and re-mixing the City’s hustle and bustle, so horns honk in time to the clave, trash cans bang to the slap of the congas and everybody on the sidewalk steps out to a relentless 8-beat pulse.
   You ain't heard cool until you hear New York City's finest - the likes of Eddie Palmieri, Wayne Gorbea, Jimmy Delgardo, Jimmy Bosch & more losing themselves in the urgent salsa beat.
   You’ve got salsa's frisson, sublime cacophony, irresistible sabor and vitality captured in a 70’s jar but the oxygen’s flowing and so’s the music. It’s like one hellova descarga session and everybody’s tight to the beat – straddling the impossible divide between utter chaos and total control as great salsa music does. It’s made for dancing.
   Maybe some hard core salsa dancers will winge coz there ain't no UK club standards. Me, I say, I love club standards but if you want to keep your dancing fresh, you can’t be afraid to add new, spicey flavas.
Editor, www.londonsalsascene.info

WIN A COPY OF SALSA DURA NYC - FEBRUARY 2007 COMPETITION

WIN A COPY OF THE ALBUM! JUST WRITE US A LETTER ON THE SUBJECT OF YOUR CHOICE - WE’RE LOOKING FOR YOUR LETTERS WITH NY SABOR! EMAIL US HERE WITH THE WORDS “SALSA DURA” IN THE SUBJECT BOX BY March 2 2007 midday!!
WE’VE GOT MORE GOODIES TO GIVEAWAY AT SALSA CALIENTITA’S FOLKESTONE WEEKENDER MARCH 2-5!! Ed, London Salsa Post: 4 February 2007
CONGRATULATIONS RICHARD PENFOLD!!! YOU HAVE WON A COPY OF SALSA DURA.

Best of London Salsa: DVD REVIEW, 4 Dec 06


	Salsa Combinations


	*- 90 minutes with Alf*

Level: Beginner/Improver
To buy: contact: www.method-recordings.com
Price: £15.00
This is a starter DVD for salsa and rueda – the Cuban wheel – with Parisian instructor, Alain Félicité – “Alf”. Alf isn’t so well known this side of the Channel so this is likely to introduce him to a lot of UK salsa dancers.
   Here, Alf teaches rueda as a couple dance, not as a wheel, breaking down moves thoroughly, with real zest and a sense of fun. There are performances of the wheel (but these do not necessarily feature moves taught) plus sections on turns and basic salsa footwork.
   There's plenty of repetition in slo mo and "real time", shown from different angles, so dancers can pick up moves readily. But I’d like to have seen more moves covered, especially some challenging rueda moves.
   Buy this to get your salsa and rueda off to a good start; bluff your way in Cuban style if you’re an LA salsa dancer or - if you’re a nerd – discover maybe a new French rueda move (cortico?) or how to spell dile que no. This is un DVD sympathique, to be enjoyed with a friend(s) over supper and wine – French, of course. www.londonsalsascene.info Thanks to Helen J.

Exclusive Video Clip featuring La Montero Right click HERE, click “save target as as” and download to your desktop and watch as many times as you like. This is a big file so this could take a while. Ed


	*REVIEW - Ladies’ Styling II*

Susana Montero’s New DVD Delivers Serious Style

			Title: *Ladies Styling 2* By: Susana Montero Price: £20.00, plus £2.95 p&p Production by: www.dancepix.net Buy from: www.monterouk.com email: info@monterouk.com

		Susana Montero's latest DVD has got to be the most anticipated release on the UK Salsa scene. For years now, women have been eating up Susana’s 1st ladies styling video and playing it a la muerte.




		*Salsa Diva Susana Montero and Million Moves Man Super Mario - exclusive interview see* *Features*.

   Video recorders everywhere too have eaten them up – I’ve lost two copies to the jaws of steam driven players, biting the dust with that chilling scrunching sound. Nobody could be happier than me that somebody invented the DVD player.
   Well, now she’s done it - and it’s not for the faint hearted. If you take your Salsa seriously, want a one-2-one in your front room with one of the foremost instructors and performers on the international stage and are prepared to work at it, this DVD is for you.
   Susana on DVD is exactly like the real


	Susana you get in lessons and workshops – down to earth, thorough, friendly and focused. For starters, she takes you back to your Salsa infancy and deconstructs the basic Mambo step with the help of body isolation

techniques. As Susana often says, styling can only look good if it comes from a beautiful, totally fluid body movement incorporating every part of the body. If you’ve been dancing for a bit and think you know your Mambo from your Cucaracha, this might be a bit disconcerting at first. It’s enough to turn your common or garden Mambo basic step into a mini-shine.
Once you’ve recovered from all the body isolation, you’ve got Susana all to yourself delivering 8 juicy shines. These are chokka with enough creative footwork to keep the most dedicated and disciplined dancer going from now 'til Susana releases her 3rd DVD!
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced dancer, you will benefit from an on demand, 60 minute-long, endlessly repeatable, private workshop with one of the UK’s premier teachers and choreographers. Buy it. Enjoy it.
Editor, www.lonsalsascene.co.uk


	*Exclusive Interview with Susana Montero - Click* *HERE*

Best of London Salsa: Latin Music Review


	Grupo-x’s Gourmet Feast Food For Your Latin Soul

REVIEW: FOOD FOR YOUR LATIN SOUL: GRUPO-X
To buy: www.grupo-x.com or from www.kudosrecords.co.uk
There ain’t nothing wussy about Grupo-X’s hard edged grooves. Grupo-X’s Food for Your Latin Soul means business, it’s in your face, beating up on you with earthy Afro-Cuban beats and hard core salsa, fused with cool Latin jazz and soul, spiced up with Brazillian samba, Puerto Rican and Afro-Peruvian flavas.

Grupo-X are the dogs’ wotsits;
they serve up Latin fusion cuisine like nobody else. You can taste the graft, the heat, the sweat of the kitchen in the multi-layered rhythms and cock-sure musicianship. An incredible concoction of Latin flavours, with depth, complexity, matured over 10 years working together and five years alone on this album. This album launches UK Latin Soul from Cape Canaveral, firing on all boosters. Without a doubt, Food for Your Latin Soul firmly establishes Grupo-X as one of the UK’s top Latin Bands. Does what it says on the tin….gets to that place inside, hits the spot where the Latin blood flows, gets you off your backside, your feet pumping across the dance floor.
Oracle, London Salsa Scene

DVD REVIEW - SalsaTap’s Rueda With Style


	Rueda with Style


	Produced by: Salsatap Website: www.salsatap.com Tel: 01903 823910 Price: £25.00 Guest Reviewer: Moe Flex


	This is authentic Cuban Rueda, filmed as live dance performance by great Rueda dancers with all the key moves you need, writes guest reviewer Moe Flex. You’ve got some of the best Cuban Rueda dancers taking part – Leo Henriquez, Damarys Farres, Osbanis Tejeda & Claudine Baker, with music by Alex Wilson and Osvaldo Chacon.

   Three Ruedas and one Salsa Casino are performed live, with 40 moves including Dile que no, Enchufla and Setenta.
   There are three levels for beginners, intermediates and advanced dancers, with each move is shown from four different camera angles. It’s interactive so you can check out moves as they’re performed and learn at your own pace. The downside of learning by watching live dance is that moves are not broken down. This doesn’t make this DVD ideal for absolute beginners/improvers.
   This is great value, with great production values and gives students a way of remembering moves they learn in class. It was useful seeing the names of the moves written down – I had no idea they were spelt like that! Moe Flex

Moe Flex has released a new set of Rueda, Funky Salsa & Reggaeton DVDs
You can save oodles of dosh if you pre-order - £40.00 for a boxed set of 4 plus goody bag - individual DVDs will retail at £18. More from Moe: info@moeflexdamce.com We will post a review shortly! 15 Dec 07

Best of London Salsa: REVIEW


	My First Rumba Review

DVD: My First Rumba
Instructors: Iris de Brito and Osbanis Tejeda
To buy: www.irisdebrito.com
Price: £20.00
MY FIRST RUMBA is the UK’s
first ever instructional DVD on this traditional Cuban folkloric dance, delivered by twice UK Salsa Champion Iris de Brito and UK Rueda Champion Osbanis Tejeda.
Osbanis and Iris are probably two of the world’s most beautiful exponents of
rumba. Osbanis is in a class of his own - I think his eyebrows move in time with the music - while Iris is fluid femininity in motion.
This outlines rumba footwork, shown from the front

and back. A huge plus is this is demonstrated to live congas and clave, rare on salsa instructional DVDs. This is dancing; the rhythms of individual instruments and footwork at at one, not arbitrary moves set to a count.
   One of the most compelling aspects of rumba is its fluid body movement. But this is covered practically as an after thought. I’d like to have seen this as the introduction, with a comprehensive breakdown of the body isolation and styling for men and women, taking up at least 40 per cent of the DVD. This was a wasted opportunity with two of the best talents around and a real disappointment.
   It’s amazing to see these graceful dancers strut their stuff but examples aren’t integrated and there are too few of them. This works an introduction to rumba; think beautiful coffee table book rather than instructional manual.
   This isn’t a quick fix. Rather use long term to grow your familiarity with rumba body movement, footwork, the rhythms of individual instruments, alongside weekenders, workshops and lessons with Osbanis and Iris. To see a clip RIGHT CLICK HERE and click “save target as” download! To view, you need Quick Time, to download go to: www.apple.com Ed, London Salsa Post: 14 June 2007

DVD REVIEW - LOS VAN VAN’s CHAPEANDO

Los Van Van by Miguel del Foto at the La Linea Festival at the Coronet.

Chapeando - A Masterpiece

Buy Chapeando available through: Kerry Ribchester, www.key2Cuba.com OR send your address and a cheque made payable to John Ribchester (J Ribchester), 3 Carr Grove Milrow Rochdale OL16 3DX
Price: £16.50 (includes p&p)
More info: email johnrib@gxn.co.uk
Los Van Van have been around for 30 years but their flava is still as fresh and startling as your first mojito. Tired comparisons to the Rolling Stones don’t come close; Van Van are unique. In the UK, we don’t have anything like them. They are Cuba’s first family of music, a kind of tropical, funky cross between the House of Windsor and the Beatles - if they’d stayed together.
Led by bassist Juan Formell, these guys have been reinventing themselves and their music every step of the way from the 1960s. Their rolling cast of musicians includes conservatoire-trained horn players and rough-edged Havana street vocalists who along the way have created their own dance rhythm songo and become one of the main creative engines behind Timba - the frenetic brand of Salsa.
This isn’t an album with a couple of good tracks with the rest duds; Van Van’s energy and dynamism holds true to the last. The rhythm section has all the muscular cockiness you’d expect from a 14 piece big band from Havana but the vitality of the Van Van sound depends on more than this.
Chapeando brings Havana into your front room, there’s a God almighty all night party breaking out around you and everybody’s dancing on the carpet. You can smell the street, the sweat, the Cuban rum and Van Van give it all they’ve got, playing with the kind of raw edge, freshness and frisson you go to live gigs to get. They lurve what they do and it spills over; there’s an earthiness, a spontaneity springing from deep musical roots in African spirituals.
Chapeando is a celebration of the Santaria, Cuba’s spiritual tradition, so it gets right to the core of all things Salsa. If you like, this is the Cuban version of happy clappy music – yeah, like it ever sounded like this.
Lee Knights, Editor, London Salsa Scene

DVD Reviews - Super Mario’s Super Moves 1


	MAN AND SUPER MARIO...

Title: Super Mario Super Moves 1
Price: £12.95
Buy from: www.salsa-uk.com

Are you a man? Do you do salsa? Buy it! You want more? This is Super Mario’s first offering and it’s an essential reference work for all Salsa leaders, from beginners to the best.
Like the man when he’s teaching for real, this doesn’t talk over your head, goes through all the technicalities, in detail, (cross body lead, simple right turn, inside pivot turn, in and out, plus variations). Then, assisted by Susana Montero, the Million Moves Man gets cracking on all the moves you need to get onto the dance floor in short order.

Mario’s down-to-earth instruction is pitched just right to get a bloke feeling confident about the size of his repertoire and leading technique. The DVD format is brilliant mainly because you can look pants in the privacy of your own home and also because you can skip back to bits you want to review.
There are shedloads of sequences that get progressively tougher, with enough to challenge intermediate and advanced level dancers. To get the most out of it, you need a real, live follower to help you out - jumpers on hangers on the back of the door only get you so far. This is like a private lesson with one of the UK’s best instructors, lasting for as long as your brain can resist going into meltdown – or your follower can stand it!
Verdict: Don’t tell your mates you bought it – just impress ‘em.
(Thanks Max for your help and feedback, much appreciated).

Best of London Salsa: Salsa Celtica Review


	SALSA CELTICA: El Agua De La Vida

		The first time I heard Salsa Celtica, they took the top of my head off. Mixing up Scottish folk music with Latin rhythms, they’ve created their own genre, an electrifying, tingling, hair standing on end, frenzied musical experience that just doesn’t let up.

   Next time they’re around, don’t miss your chance to catch the best noise that’s come out of Scotland....ever.
   If the thought of tartan crossed with hot chilli peppers makes you screw up your nose, think again. Their latest album - El Agua de la Vida – is an absolute must for any self-respecting Salsa lovers’ collection. Hot with sexy Salsa grooves, snazzy jazzy horns, foxy fiddle and wicked vocals, this is the kind of musical spark you need for a dance floor explosion.
   Salsa Celtica play honking Salsa with raw energy y mucho sabor, so much so you’ll never look at a bagpipe in the same way again. A spicy mix of Celtic and Latino musicians (Celtinos), Salsa Celtica is a stunning marriage of musical styles, exuberant soloing, Cuban Son, Cumbia, Rumba and Salsa, Scottish reels and ceilidh tunes.
   A fiery, addictive blend of Scottish whisky and Latino rum, these guys are great live. I saw them at Brighton’s Komedia Club - it was torture to be in a packed venue with only just enough room to twitch to the klave beat.
More from: www.salsaceltica.com
Clave rating ,,,,,. You know when you’ve been Celtino-ed. Lee Knights

London Salsa: CD Review Monday 3rd March 2008


	Hasta Siempre Commandante


	This is a musical tribute to Che Guevara, featuring 13 songs from well known Cuban artists, recorded in Cuba during 30 years from 1967-1996.


	Marking the 30th anniversary of his death, this includes the original recording of Che’s letter to Fidel, read by Fidel Castro on 3rd October 1965 read in La Plaza de la Revolucion, Habana, Cuba. This CD is short on conventional dance music.


	With charged paeans to “El Commandante”, it’s long on Cuban revolutionary spirit, urgent Cuban rhythms and vocals of unusual depth. This is for anyone looking to connect more deeply to Cuba, its history, people and spirit. CD TITLE: Hasta Siempre Commandante PRICE: £10.95 TO BUY: www.tumimusic.com

London Salsa News: Wednesday 20 February 08


	Fidel Castro Retires

	HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he will not return to lead the communist country, retiring as president 49 years after he seized power in a revolution and became a central figure of the Cold War. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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©London Salsa Scene is an online, independent magazine guide covering salsa and the Latin lifestyle in London and beyond. The views published are not necessarily those of the Editor. All rights reserved. London Salsa Scene retains Copyright over all the articles and photographs published on this website - it is an infringement of that right to use this material elsewhere without our written permission. Disclaimer: London Salsa Scene publishes information on behalf of promoters, organisers, dancers and others in good faith but is not responsible if these events are cancelled, altered or if performers and instructors billed not not appear; this is exclusive liability and responsibility of the event organiser.


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