Salsa open diary

DJ Yuca said:
I own 2 copies of Breezin' too. Or I used to. The reason being the break. It's also one of his best tracks imo.
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Once i got into more bebop/post bop, I found this a bit Too vanilla. My jazz phases are like that. I have the Kenny Dorham Afro Cuban record. Pre-dance me loved the Bebop/Cuban blend. Now that I dance, it's like eating Rice Cakes that smell like Steak but still taste like Plain Rice Cakes.
 
DJ Yuca said:
Well it is a brilliant track. But is it a cha cha cha? No and I can't imagine that that's what the artist was aiming for.


A very strange choice for a Latin music event, considering the 100s if not 1000s of good cha cha chas available.
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Oh, the original track in good quality sounds very different, much better of course. On Sabrosuras Video the sound is so metallic, that the rhythm is hard to recognize (hint: use a 30 euro extra microphone to plug into the smartphone, the smartphone microphones really suck). I didn't even hear it as a Cha Cha.

So yes, hearing the original you can dance Cha Cha to it. The video shows very few people (it was so early or so late?), so the DJ was probably experimenting with unusual music, and so was their dance. Recorded with a better microphone it would come clearer.
 
1derpalm said:
Once i got into more bebop/post bop, I found this a bit Too vanilla. My jazz phases are like that. I have the Kenny Dorham Afro Cuban record. Pre-dance me loved the Bebop/Cuban blend. Now that I dance, it's like eating Rice Cakes that smell like Steak but still taste like Plain Rice Cakes.
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As a b boy I thought you might appreciate the breaks on Breezin' and all those other jazz funk tracks.
 
GentleDancer said:
Oh, the original track in good quality sounds very different, much better of course. On Sabrosuras Video the sound is so metallic, that the rhythm is hard to recognize (hint: use a 30 euro extra microphone to plug into the smartphone, the smartphone microphones really suck). I didn't even hear it as a Cha Cha.

So yes, hearing the original you can dance Cha Cha to it. The video shows very few people (it was so early or so late?), so the DJ was probably experimenting with unusual music, and so was their dance. Recorded with a better microphone it would come clearer.
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Yes the audio on the vid is terrible so it doesn't do the track justice. But I still cannot see how it is a good choice for dancing cha cha cha at a salsa event. Even early on in the night.
 
TikiTaka said:
Ever heard german cha cha cha-schlager with Eminem rapping on it?
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Interesting: when you start at the beginning of the video he wears a mask we all know now - but back in 2009, and they joke about swine flu! I can't remember having seen those masks at that time. So Eminem was a trendsetter back then already...
 
GentleDancer said:
The video shows very few people (it was so early or so late?), so the DJ was probably experimenting with unusual music, and so was their dance. Recorded with a better microphone it would come clearer.
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Yep it was the end of the night. To me it felt like a sensual and "intense" kind of rhythm.

terence said:
There comes a point in "dance" when it is stripped of basic context . Playing with music is good, but the old "less is more " applies in this case. I know you will say you enjoyed it, and that is OK but it does not reflect the true essence of the dance.
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Well it's not really a cha cha. To Cedric's credit, he led plenty of non-cha interpretation in the dance. If I was leading I probably would have danced it entirely without any cha cha basic steps, so, more like the simple & playful way we were dancing it when we were not doing the cha cha basic.

So, @terence I guess you have nothing to say about the other video with him I posted from this weekend, maybe something nice since it's Christmas and all :p
 
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Sabrosura said:
Yep it was the end of the night. To me it felt like a sensual and "intense" kind of rhythm.



Well it's not really a cha cha. To Cedric's credit, he led plenty of non-cha interpretation in the dance. If I was leading I probably would have danced it entirely without any cha cha basic steps, so, more like the simple & playful way we were dancing it when we were not doing the cha cha basic.

So, @terence I guess you have nothing to say about the other video with him I posted from this weekend, maybe something nice since it's Christmas and all :p
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Have not seen it but I will take a look. All the other vids were fine..
 
DJ Yuca said:
As a b boy I thought you might appreciate the breaks on Breezin' and all those other jazz funk tracks.
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Got much deeper into jazz well after I stopped bboying. I still loke Jazz Funk (Black Byrds, Cymande, Lonny Liston Smith, etc.) But for some reason Benson is a bit blah for me. Although I love his intro on "You can Do it" by Nuyorican Soul.
 
terence said:
And, the music was very uninspiring to me and if the DJ thinks that was a good song, I really would not like to hear his salsa !
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DJ Yuca said:
Well it is a brilliant track. But is it a cha cha cha? No and I can't imagine that that's what the artist was aiming for.


A very strange choice for a Latin music event, considering the 100s if not 1000s of good cha cha chas available.
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The music is very catchy and would perfectly fit if it were at blues dancing.

I don’t know why DJ played it at the event. But it is far better than some insipid English language salsa music that gets played occasionally.

As a dancer should I sit out just because the music doesn’t fit in? There are many ways to interpret the music from dancing perspective. Irrespective of what the musician intended, it has enough catchy groove to cha cha (when it starts) or boogaloo to it or WCS. I won’t mind partner dancing to it but cha wouldn’t be my first choice.

I think whether a music falls into a certain genre is an academic debate. How dancers should interpret the music in dancing is artistic freedom. You can either like it or dislike the interpretation. But there is nothing right or wrong about it. That is why many of us dislike BS. We don’t argue whether it is right or wrong to dance that way.
 
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Bostontraitor said:
chacha indeed.
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This is very typical of what the BR would use .That's about as latin as a quickstep . Rhythm inclusions with a standard syncop. in the arrangement that fits that of Cha for EG. falls way short of the norm.

And yes, one may dance whatever one chooses but "steps" alone do not qualify its name usage taken from a standardised dance genre. This only encourages those who are new to this or any other site that ANY music will do . If you really like using this style then maybe you should do the BR garbage ( altho, it has got somewhat better in some cases ) .
 
Offbeat said:
As a dancer should I sit out just because the music doesn’t fit in?
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Good question. The typical dance evening during the week is only 2-3 hours long (the time when it is full) - not much time to sit out frequently if you came to dance. So I nearly always dance, and it happens quite frequently that I say to my partner at the beginning of the song: "This song doesn't sound really appealing to me, but I like to dance anyway". Most of the time they answer "For me the same". If we have a good connection, it's fun anyway. So the DJ might think "Everybody's dancing, so I must be doing great" although the truth might be different. But when I start sitting around and grumbling it will be worse for me.

Exception are songs I already know and where I really feel uncomfortable with - especially when they are long songs.
 
terence said:
This is very typical of what the BR would use .That's about as latin as a quickstep .
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When I realised what the track was I instantly thought of BR. As I said earlier: I do like the track. But for cha cha cha? No way. Maybe the DJ has some ballroom experience. No excuse though.
 
So the social for tonight was cancelled yesterday, due to covid situation. Some of the socials happen, whilst others get cancelled a day or two before. It is not really forbidden in Switzerland, but depends on the organizers, if they feel like doing it or not. I can imagine it is not an easy decision for them. This way it is always hoping and checking latest Facebook postings before driving to the venue.

Actually the numbers are already dropping here since three weeks, but governments fear Omikron coming and making it worse again.
 
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