Seattle Rueda

El Papi que te gusta?? (check this out)

Selena’s Saturday Nights

It’s going to be a great night for dancing !!!!

MUEVETE w/DJ Baracoa
An Evening of Cuban Flavor
Dance Music For Your Feet
For your dancing pleasure we present…..Salsa, Timba,
Son, Son Montuno, Casino, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata, Merengue,
Poquito Reggaeton y mas de Cuba y el todo Mundo…tu sabes ¡!

The place is
Selenas Guadalajara
1715 N 45th St Seattle WA – (next to Babalus)
Every Saturday Night 10pm till 2AM
21 w/ID
Ladies Free Before 11 PM

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IJO AYANMO (Nigeria, Cuba & Soul) Vibrant song, drum and dance ensemble that celebrates the Spirit of African and Afro-Cuban music and dance.

Sunday, June 15, 8-10pm

HIDMO, 200 South Jackson Street, 98144, 206-329-1534

www.hidmo.org

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Hello

I used to dance with you guys, although how many of the old crew are around? I am in from Berkeley for a few days, is there anything going on? I leave on Sunday morning otherwise I would love to come to rueda practice. Don’t dance as much in Cali but I go out with Rachel sometimes for timba nights! Century?

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Hello Seattle rueda-philes!
I don’t know about you, but I thought last Sunday was a blast! And it was sunny, too!
In an effort to ensure that everyone who joins us on Sunday gets something from the practice and goes away feeling good and with a warm heart, I am re-posting the below excerpt from a blog posting from May. Back then we were trying to figure out a way to organize the Sunday practice sessions so that both beginners and more experienced dancers could all join in the fun, while keeping it engaging for everyone as new people joined, and as veterans returned.

Let’s continue with this now that the Sundays have moved to the outdoor location at the Wallingford Steps:
PRACTICE
From what I remember, everyone who participated in the conversation on the blog though was reasonable – please feel free to comment if you did not see this before. The proposed scheme was to have:

1. The first half-hour of practice reserved for BEGINNER PRACTICE. Ruedas will involve a short set of building-block calls for those who need practice. All are welcome to attend—those of us who enchufla in our sleep may practice calling, answer questions, and focus on movement and music. The idea is that everyone can learn something here.
2. The second half-hour of practice is reserved for TEACHING EACH OTHER moves—both moves the original group used to practice but has forgotten, and moves that are new to everybody. This half-hour will be aimed at dancers who are familiar with basic rueda, but it will also be a chance for new dancers to learn moves from the ground up, along with everybody else.  I am thinking we can watch some of the videos that are being posted, learn it, and bring those moves to teach on Sunday.
3. The second hour of every practice is reserved for DANCING RUEDA! Those of you who have hesitated to come to practice because you don’t know who will be there, or what calls the group can handle, come on down for the second hour—we will be dancing, dancing, dancing! There will be no “teaching moves” during this hour unless the caller can teach it in motion, without stopping the rueda, or the dancer can watch and imitate without stopping the rueda. Dancers who need more practice before they can stay with the rueda (without stopping the rueda) are welcome to practice on their own (there’s plenty of space), watch and/or shadow the rueda from outside the circle. And, last but not least, there will almost always be people who can to teach it do you during the breaks, so no one should feel like they’ve missed the boat.

I hope this helps to give our Sundays some form of structure so that it is fun for everyone and everyone gets something out of it. Oh, and we’re not on Swiss Army time with these, nor are we going to stop a song on the 1/2 hr because we have to switch modes, this is a general timeframe.

Thanks all, and see you Sunday!

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I made up a list of calls I knew before coming to the practice today and it helped a lot. Then I added to it everything I remember hearing today. I’m missing a few and some of them are missing a word. Anyway, here is my list, I hope it helps:

p’al medio
guapea
dame (no me gusta), dame dos
dile que no
suena, no suena
un fly
exhíbela, exhíbela doble
enchufle, enchufle doble, enchufle triple
enchufle p’al medio con dos
enchufle p’arriba
enchufle peluquería
enchufle con cuba
príncipe malo, príncipe bueno
guaparía
una bulla
una foto
un tarro (¡mentira!)
siéntese
dame con uno, dame con dos, dame dos con dos
caracol
pásela con las manos
la botella –> con tapa
la flor
el uno, el dos
abanico
sombrero
adiós
adiós con la hermana
dedo
vacila
setenta
la momi
toca la cabeza [u otra cosa]
candado (candao)
espace needle

Other calls I remember doing:

cucaracha
el gnomo
reggaé
mata la mosca
paseo
kentucky
coca-cola
montaña
yogurt

Please add calls that I’m missing in the comments. Perhaps we can someday put a basic list in our about section?

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Hola Casineros!

Last Sunday, I took video coverage of our first rueda practice at the Wallingford Steps. It was a great combination of new folks, seasonal rueda folks and diehard rueda folks. I taught a new step called “El Space Needle” ( a combination of “el dos” and “tornillo”). I am ready to teach some new steps today. One I saw in a video called “Enchufla con Cuba.” I plan to teach that one today. So come on down to the Wallingford Steps today because I only have one more weekend to be around and then I am off traveling to learn rueda in Miami and Atlanta and spending some well deserved vacation time in la Republica Dominicana.

So here is the video. You can’t really hear the music very well. My friend, martin was videotaping for me. He brought his cute little kids and so you hear him talking a little bit. But enjoy the first of many videos I plan to download so we can see how we look dancing. It’s a great tool to help improve our moves –maritza

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This video is guaranteed to make you want to shake something! It inspired me to buy the CD (by Sama y El Expreso de Oriente) that has Guarachando on it. Don’t miss the arms at 4:00.

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Selena’s Saturday Nights

It’s going to be a great night for dancing !!!!

MUEVETE w/DJ Baracoa
An Evening of Cuban Flavor
Dance Music For Your Feet
For your dancing pleasure we present…..Salsa, Timba,
Son, Son Montuno, Casino, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata, Merengue,
Poquito Reggaeton y mas de Cuba y el todo Mundo…tu sabes ¡!

The place is
Selenas Guadalajara
1715 N 45th St Seattle WA – (next to Babalus)
Every Saturday Night 10pm till 2AM
21 w/ID
Ladies Free Before 11 PM

Coming in June…

Starting Saturday June14th Eglis (de La Habana Cuba) y Ruthie (de Cienfuegos Cuba) and Guests will be teaching a 30 minute beginning introduction to Cuban dancing and movement for you and your friends who want to join in from 9:30-10 PM. The cost is 5 bucks both girls and guys which also includes your cover for a night of dancing.

Coming Soon also…Fashion Show de las Dos Cubanas. Fashion with a touch of the Cuba.

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So I’ve copied a bunch of pictures from the old-old website and from the old flickr account over to our own gallery. You can get there by going to:

http://seattlerueda.com/gallery

There are duplicates and stuff we probably don’t need.

Any volunteers to clean up / reorg the albums / rename picture titles /etc ?

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Since October, the exhibit, American Sabor:  Latinos in US Popular Music, has been at the Experience Music Project (EMP.)  It is at the musuem until Sept 7th.  It is full of photos, posters, music listening stations, interpretive films, oral history kiosks, CD cover art, and my favorite:  a dance floor.

If you haven’t been, make a visit this Summer and/or if you want to see it again, keep in mind that first Thursdays are free access nights from 5-8pm (June 5, July 3, August 7, Sept 4.)  Otherwise, it is open daily 10-7pm.

Tonight is a free access night (Thurs, June 5th, 5-8pm).  I’ll be there with a couple of friends to see it again.

For more information, check this link:  http://www.empsfm.org/exhibitions/index.asp?categoryID=164&ccID=198

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