Jasmine Bryson
Jim Watson
HUMA 1153
15 April 2018
El Mundo de la Salsa Caleña
My experience at the Hispanic Flamenco Ballet concert in Houston, Texas was absolutely phenomenal! At the concert, I learned all about the Latin American countries and their different cultures. For every Latin country, they displayed a short slideshow explaining their culture and the roots it derived from. After the slideshow, dancers came out dressed as if they were in that particular country and performed a cultural dance that came from that country.
For example, they performed the Samba from Brazil, La Marinera from Peru, Salsa Caleña from Columbia, Bachata and Merengue from the Dominican Republic, and etc. Along with the dancers, there was also live musicians
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The History of Salsa Caleña and The Colombian Culture Some people may wonder, what exactly is salsa caleña? Salsa caleña is a dance that involves movements of the legs, especially the knees down, and subtle movements of the torso, hips, and shoulders. This style of dancing focuses on emphasizing quick footwork while still maintaining a smooth torso. Salsa dancing is usually a follow/lead dance, meaning that this dance normally involves two people. Salsa caleña originated in Cali, Colombia in the early 1930s. Cali is also known to be the salsa capital of the world not only because it is the home of salsa, but also because it has over 200 registered salsa dance schools, salsa clubs are located all throughout the town, and they still host numerous salsa festivals all throughout the year. Although it originated in Columbia, it is still very popular in many other countries such as; Mexico, Cuba, America, and many more. It is especially popular in California. Just like Cali, Colombia, California, United States have numerous amounts of salsa …show more content…
That's right, I said meet new people. Believe it or not many people met their spouses at salsa dancing clubs and pubs. Salsa is a very social activity. With it being popular all over the world and a partner dance, it would hard to attend a salsa club and not meet new and interesting people. Usually, everyone at salsa clubs love salsa and are interested in picking up new moves and different styles, so you will already have something in
Regardless of the difference of culture, language and customs, I learned so much about the Brazilian culture in the United States. For example, they have huge families like Dominicans and they stay together as a community one hundred percent. In addition, I myself might incorporate some of their traditions onto mine, maybe not for myself but for my cousins and even for my future daughter. I like they way in which everything was very detailed and organized. Also, I liked how everything had a meaning and a reason for being there. This party has motivated me to go out there and explore all the different cultures that exist in the society that I live in. This event has also taught me a lesson about life, in order for us to find ourselves we need to identify with our ancestors and continue our traditions. There is nothing more pretty than being able to bring our beliefs and customs with us. This is what identifies who we are, and who are children would be.
All around the world, there are thousands of cultures. Although they are different, every culture partakes in dance. Dancing is something known worldwide. Every culture has traditional cultural dancing they partake in. Mexico has many cultural dances. La danza del venado is one traditional dance from Northern Mexico. La danza del venado, is known as the deer dance.
The Latin Americans never wanted to be left in this music development. The Latin Americans had their own music, Jazz (Gordon, 2005). They wanted to influence in the development of the music. Soon, Salsa was born out if mixture from the Jazz music and Mambo. Salsa took the bodily movements and the Cuban beats as a contribution from the Caribbean culture. The Latin America contributed the wording of Salsa music. Diversity necessitated the growth of Salsa as Mambo had been viewed with suspicion as it was linked to ghetto status hence it was
Rave culture can be traced back to Native American religious ceremonies. It can be traced back to anarchist revolutions in Italy and France. It pulls energy from many different directions. It had its origins in Chicago and Detroit disco clubs and gay dance clubs. England and America traded musical influences back and forth during the late seventies-early eighties until techno finally started to be formed. The actual rave movement, however, combining this new music with dancing, occurred in England. At almost the exact same time, raves started popping up in Manchester and Ibiza, a noted English vacation spot, in late 1987 and early 1988. At this same time, the rave phenomenon was taking hold in Germany, most notably in Berlin. The popularity of raves grew in both countries, and soon the intimate all-night dance parties were drawing thousands of kids. The first U.S. raves were held in San Francisco, long noted for its liberal and psychedelic culture. From here, they moved to Los Angeles and the rave scene was born in California.
The cultural event that I went to and reviewed was the Remembering Yuri Kochiyama Through Grassroots Art exhibit that was held in Cross Cultural Center. The event was basically a tribute to Yuri Kochiyama and how she helped contribute greatly to both African American and Japanese American liberation movements through some artwork displayed in the exhibit. Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese American activist who spoke out against the harms against not only the Japanese Americans but to also African Americans. The event itself was not as big as I expected, as it was only one table of some artwork in the center but, those few pieces of art was just enough for me to learn more about who Yuri Kochiyama really was and what she believed was right or wrong.
Every once in awhile there comes along a rhythm that is highly loved by both young and old, high income and low income and locals and immigrant. Right now that rhythm is Bachata. Here in Curaçao Bachata has evolved from “muzik di snèk” to become the rhythm everyone dances or are taking classes to learn how to dance it. Everywhere you turn, whether it is a Dutch bar, Chinese bar or a dancing place the one rhythm that you definitely hear is Bachata. Not only that, if you take a look at the dance floor the couples dancing is as diverse as our society.
Colombia’s third most popular city called “Cali” is one of the oldest cities in the Americas and is also known as the world’s Salsa capital. Many people today are familiar with the Salsa which is a dance that requires quick footwork all while still moving the upper body along with the beat of the music. The Cumbia is the National dance of Colombia which was created by mixing African rythyms with melodies. It is the dance that represents the country and their culture the most. The classical version of this dance was performed with musical instruments alone with no singing whereas now they...
Cuba has had a great majority of influences upon the growth of the world of dance compared to other countries. Most of the major Cuban dance styles come with an origin from “Danzon,” the country’s official music genre and dance. With time, the Danzon evolved out of habanera, a dance with English styles, and later mixed with Afro-Caribbean influences. Around the mid-20th century, mambo, which added folk rhythms, cha-cha-cha, syncopated the fourth beat, and salsa, incorporated elements of swing dances, were born due to these new African
Cultural social dancing has been a vehicle for expression and communication for hundreds of years. While seemingly worlds apart, Line Dancing and Salsa serve a similar function. Within their own respective cultures, both movement styles grew from socially popular music styles that brought people together.
Finally, I feel extremely lucky that I can now use this information to educate people about different cultures. I also loved that I was able to share this experience with my all students, and my Spanish students could not believe that I had been to Plaza Fiesta! They loved talking about Plaza Fiesta with me and they hoped I would visit again! It moments like this that have made a huge difference in my classroom culture and I will treasure them for the rest of my life!
The Flamenco dance performance I went to watch took place in a restaurant located inside Hotel Albuquerque. The restaurant has a very unique setting. The people can enjoy amazing flamenco dance performances while also have great Mexican food. The restaurant was fairly dark focusing all to the bright and colorful stage. There were total of five performers; the dancers were Tacha, Bailaoresevarez Encinias, & Giovanna Hinojos, the vocalist was Vicente Griego and the Guitarist was Calvin Hazen. The Flamenco performance was communally involved where performers cheered for one another and communicated through time, space and energy.
Dance is a part of every culture. Whether it is the fire dances of the native Hawaiians, or the Tango from Spain, dance is a part of every culture. This event is not an event I would usually attend. I am not into art of any kind except music. At first, there were two reasons I went to this performance.
On Monday morning, the very first thing we did was go on a field trip to the Midtown Global Market. This was an incredible experience and I really enjoyed it. We spent the day dancing, learning, cooking, eating, and exploring the place. Although the whole day was great, my favorite part was trying all the different food from all the different stands. I loved seeing the differences in the foods, when we went to different stalls. I really liked learning about the history of the building and how after it became a vacant building, it was saved to reflect ethnic diversity. Another one of my favorite things was Cuban dancing. It was really cool to see that dancing was a big part of Cuban culture, because dancing is a big part of my culture as well. It's amazing how cultures are so different, yet so similar. This was a great way to start i-Term and I had so much fun.
The final type of dance that will be explored will be ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing is a traditional type of dance usually performed with a partner. Types of ballroom dancing include the waltz, swing, salsa and latin dances however there are many other types of ballroom dancing.
For my paper, I chose to go to the Menara Moroccan restaurant that features a decorative Moroccan atmosphere and a traditional dance performance from experienced belly dancers. I have never been to this restaurant, nor have I seen a belly dance performance before, so this experience was very new to me and I like that I got a chance to experience a completely different culture.