Thank you everyone who came for the Xmas Salsa/Bachata Party cummmm Iftitah's Birthday Bash!
It was a small party but I am sure the vodka and red wine kept all of us going strong throughout the night... it sure kept me going on... Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
We need to organize more outings and parties like this for us to mingle with each other and have fun. And I am sure everyone loved the games we played. Suck and Lick Game... Blind Bachata... hehehe!!! Was a blast and a real good time! And the food was good. And we had booze........
Can see that everyone danced without much restrictions that night. Nichata... Salsa Cruise Organizer Timothy commented your bachata was good... Ladies, what do you think? Boleh pakai ke?
There was a lot of good dancing... guys and ladies, guys and guys, ladies and guys, ladies as guys with guys as ladies... I do not think we would've done so when we're in a salsa club. But what is important is that we had fun.
Ladies, see how important to learn guy steps? Then you know how tough it is for us... and you can also dance without the guys coz there's only so many guys on the dance floor. Guys... I know you all loved to dance with each other. Hehehe!!! Especially the bachata...
Keep the flame burning everyone. Keep the passion alive. And keep the team spirit together.
Viva la Salsa!
Viva la Bachata!!
Viva la Wild Parties!!!
Yeah!
Jaxen
"Salsa Daddy"
It's always a happy feeling when I see my students out on the dance floor dancing and having fun. That's the way it should be. Especially for the new ones. And I am especially happy that Bill went to ask a non-RI lady to dance. That takes guts... a lot of guts especially when you are new to the dance floor.
Most of the times, the guys are either too shy or too scared or too... whatever... to ask the girls to dance. This is always the case for those new to the dance floor. They always end up dancing (if they ever do at all) with the people from their same class.
And I am happy that some are already getting their dance shoes (a bit late but better than never) and are enthusiastic about wearing it on the dance floor. Miki, the shoes will make you a different woman. Now Nick won't want to dance with you anymore... hehehe!
Keep coming out to dance. It doesn't atter if you're just doing the basics the whole night. That's how you will learn. Get the timing right, don't think too much, don't hesitate... just dance.
When I first hit the clubs, all I could do was just 5 moves; simple turn (lady turn and then I turn la...), inside turn, cbl, cblt and waterfall. I could dance the whole night with just these moves. Sometimes, you don't need a lot of fancy moves. Well, sometimes you do but what's important is to learn how to dance right and enjoy the dance without thinking too much of the technical stuff. Enjoy the moment and just do it... right or wrong,
Its not What you do, its How you do it.
Jaxen
'Salsa Daddy'
I gotta admit.. I CAN DANCE... hahaha.. :P Right, SIFU???!!
I was learning to dance all over again. Thanks to my Ballroom Latin background, I was able to pick up very fast. Salsa is very different from ballroom, as it doesn't require so much of 'disciplined action' (stiff body frame). Most importantly, you don't need a fixed/permanent partner to dance with, unless you are going for competition or doing performance. Social dancing la babe...
In Salsa, you will learn the basics. You need to master it well, because all the different moves and steps are branched out from it. Different styles and combinations. Its a free flow of movement and leading. And then, comes the 'stunts'. If you look at some of my pictures.. you can actually see my bruises.. Dance with more different partner because it really helps you to be more flexible and you can find your own style.
After few months since I started Salsa, I went for first Salsa-big-thing. The Malaysian Salsa Festival 2007. I was still very much a beginner but Sifu says, "Its time to go".. And he was right. It was the exposure and the experience that you need. It opens your eyes to "Salsa Around The World". Workshops were conducted by the best instructors from all over. So many things to learn in so little time. But it was worth it. Performance = AWESOME! and Sifu became Susanna Montero's promoter since then...
What else.. DANCING, of course! Well for me, it was Ballroom Latin that got me hooked on. It started in 2003, when my mom asked me to accompany her in a dance class. After a few classes, she dropped out. (Alamak, siapa teman aku?) But still I continued with the class. During that time, I was doing it for fun and for exercise purpose. Hey, you really sweat when the music gets faster… heheh..
There I met my new best friend, Cindy. Classes seem much more fun and interesting when you have friends who share the same enthusiasm. We got so focused and serious about it, that we spent most of our after-work hours at the studio. Practicing and perfecting our skills. Before we realized it, we have been doing this for 3 years. Wow, how time flies… (never admit you’re getting older, remember!)
I’ve never got the chance to go further into latin dancing, as I need to get a permanent dance partner to practice a lot to become very compatible. Be it for examination or competitions. It’s not easy to find one in a small town like Kuantan. The only place you can find men who loves dancing so much was in that studio only. And most (all) of them were old men. (ooppsss..!) It was in my 3rd year that I almost lost hope and wanting to give up on this little hobby of mine. It was so hard to it let go when suddenly, something new has come to town.
It was early 2007, Rhythm Identity KL, came to Kuantan to conduct a ‘Beginner Salsa Workshop’. I met the founders, Jackson and Sanddie. I began to develop new love. Not at the founders but the dance! SALSA…. It was a 2-day workshop that covers the basics, some combination, and 2 new dance, Bachata and Merengue. There was about 6 participants, with 5 girls and 1 guy (huh.. lucky him) All that, brings a new level of latin dancing for me. My exposure to the ‘real’ world of latin dancing.
Olivia, one of the participants of the workshop, also got hooked on to Salsa. Soon, we (Cindy, Olivia and me), were on the dance floor in Salsa Havana. THE PLACE TO BE if you wanna learn salsa.. We spent 2 nights in Federal Hotel, and it was INCREDIBLE. We got our hearts drawn further into it. We were so shy but it didn’t stopped us from having great time on the dance floor. The moment you see the instructors doing their moves… wow… you help falling deeply in love with the dance.
That night we saw something. A dance which we, Kuantanese, always feel uncomfortable and awkward about. It was Bachata. There was this malay girl, wearing her White short pants, and a sleeveless White blouse, dancing Bachata. Wah…………. Our eyes were stuck on her while she did her hip. Jaws hanging almost touching the floor, salivas dripping already.. See la… it happens to girls also… hahah.. I felt my feet pulling me to the dancefloor, wanting to do THAT!! But I don’t know how… :( but she was damn good. I WANNA LEARN THAT!!!
This time it's about how much fun I'm now having when I dance. Finally made up my mind to just do it...enjoy the dance enjoy the music enjoy the dancing partner n b sensual also... ;) i finally gave up on the notion to b overly conscious of my movement n worry about if the girl can feel my lead...cos i finally got the frame bit in now. it's so much the easier to do n i did SHINE TWO WOO HOO hahahaha n some rojak shine steps...hahahaha...so much fun last nite can't stop shouting about it
now with the new heels i feel good on the footwork...now need to practice even more on the steps so i'm get as light as a feather when i move can't wait to get there...guys n girls v must not stress ourselves when we dance...b free feel free to d owatever s long s u enjoy it
great to see adelle out but too bad v keep getting into the same issue with the younger ones...send them home so early that dey get into trouble...sigh..must b more sensative to that d...shud v hav somekind of social nite in the studio on friday also? hehe
I have this problem, whenever I dance with someone more professional I get intimidated. I begin to be oversensitive to my timing and my signals and leads, that I end up messing up the dance even more and not allowing both parties to enjoy the dance. But when I dance with a lady who's an international world renowned dancer (I think) I was comfortable I was not fearful I just danced.
Maybe it was Bachata rather then Salsa, as I m more confident when it comes to dancing Bachata. There are some steps that I never used at all on the dance floor except for certain partners as not all my dancing partners knows all the lil cheecky moves I have learnt. I think it's time to stop choosing partners and just dance.
James T K Khoo
"Dancing - The Vertical Expression of a Horizontal Desire."
I was on facebook and saw an email from Bachateroes group and went on to their site to read up on their write ups. It suddenly came to mine why I really didn't stop dancing.
Dancing to me is about expressing the emotions of the song into your dance moves, it's about creative freedom and a hell may care attitude to what others may think of you when you dance. It's about two persons moving as one, to feel the music as one and not to do all the fancy and funky movements that defeats the purpose of enjoying the dance. I've again been told off by one of my dance partners, "Just relax, enjoy the dance, don't worry about your steps." I was in the mind set of getting all my leads and signals to be correct and timely. I just WORRY too much at times when I dance.
But back to Bachata is LIFE! The post gave me more inspiration to continue doing what I've been doing thus far, which is to DANCE! One other dance partner told me, "You don't need to do any fancy moves, just the basic steps is enough." Now after saying that I would like to make a quote "When two bodies joins in unison in a dance. Let them enjoy the beauty of that union through the ecstasy of the dance." Now this doesn't sound like what I wanted to type cos I lost the thought process just now.
What I'd like to say to all my younger brothers and sisters is this. Do not worry about stepping out of timing and looking odd or not knowing your steps. Just keep on doing it, keep on dancing (but not in class only), come out and dance with people who are not from your school so that you can learn how other people express themselves through music.
I've been dubbed Bachata lady killer by one of my dance partner, I can agree with that already, cos whenever I dance I want to feel the music and express that in my movements, I want to make the lady shine. She is the centerpiece of my work of art, she is the focus of the masterpiece. She is EVERYTHING!
Dance my friends...dance...for dancing is life!
"When you dance, the lady is the subject of the dance. You are to compliment her."
"Dancing - it’s the vertical expression of a horizontal desire”
James T K Khoo
Bachata... I used to suck at bachata!
I really do. I was so bad that my dance partner Michelle (the one I won the compettition with in 2005) actually complained to me about my bachata.
Ouch!
The first time I saw bachata was in QBa, Westin Hotel. I was wondering what kind of salsa dance is this whereby the hips moved like that and the guy was dancing so near to the girl and they weren't stepping on each other's feet! Amazing!
I learned much of it on the floor and I learn through much trial and error before I became... ok... just ok... no more... just ok.
So how did BachaZouk came about?
Well, I started to grow more passionate about bachata when I got better with it. The songs, the mood it sets me in, the movements, the essence of it... bachata felt... right.
Now, most people do bachata by "crab walking" left to right but because I was used to the circular motion on my salsa dance I actually incorporated the same movement into my bachata and the bachata I danced involved much circular motion and walking about which made it more interesting and beautiful to both watch and dance.
I learned about the syncronization of body movement and how to move together with a partner; I had spent much time learning about bachata and how was it supposed to be. I did my research and all the homework I needed and I was on high on bachata.
Out of Malaysia, many had commented that my bachata was very sensual and since then I had pursued bachata to greater heights. Initially, I had dubbed it Bachata Sensual. Most Malaysians do not dance bachata so sensually and most do not know how. Its very common to do the open position and walking left to right. A minority of Malaysians actually did the bachata name proud but too few to make Malaysia a strong name in bachata.
It wasn't until I met Nestor Manuelian from Modus Vivendi Salsa Productions, Australia that I learned about Zouk and how much Zouk and bachata could blend into each other. I studied much of it and Nestor had guided me much of the way into paving the road to create what I coin as the BachaZouk style bachata.
When Inaki Fernandez came to Malaysia, his bachata style (my students fondly call it Inakichata) was an eye opener to me and I soon incorporated the entire thing into BachaZouk. But at the end of the day, it was still Nestor who had influenced my bachata growth and Rhythm Identity now has their own signature style of bachata which they can proudly dance to and enjoy with.
BachaZouk?
You gotta see it to know it.
You gotta feel it to know it.
You gotta dance to it to be it!
Jaxen
"Salsa Daddy"
When I started teaching salsa, I was very confused with the salsa style I was using. I thought I was dancing Cuban Style. Then again, I was not. I wasn't exactly LA Style either.
It wasn't until I met Cynthia Hung from Taiwan that I realized what was Cuban Style (the smart thing I could've done was go to YouTube and find out... which I didn't...) and that my style certainly wasn't Cuban Style at all. It was LA Style... but danced in a circular fashion instead of a liner one. Imagine my shock and utter disbelief!
After learning from Jaime, I went on to further my LA Style skills with none other than Francisco Vasquez of Los Rumberos. He was one of the pioneer batch of people that made LA Style famous around the globe. Who else better to learn about LA Style other than the ones that made it big?
