Given today is addicted2salsa's 4th birthday, it is time for a new salsa dance video. There have been several salsa dance videos of patterns and steps over the years, however, I wanted to address a few fundamentals that sometimes are not addressed in some salsa dance classes. Hopefully, for some of our beginner dancers, this video will make your basic step look and feel more comfortable at the club. For our fans looking for something more complicated, don't worry - it is on its way.

The prisoners and guards at Kirkham jail near Preston, Lancs (UK) are treated to salsa dance lessons on Wednesdays by an another inmate who is an expert salsa.

This weekend I took some time to revisit the great musical called "West Side Story". For those who have not seen the play or movie, its plot is very similar to "Romeo and Juliet" except placed in the era of the mid-1950s during which time there was a period of migration from Puerto Rico to New York. The two lovers in the film are not only separated by race, but also by the gang violence between two feuding groups: The Sharks and The Jets.Given the popular social discussion of foreigners and immigration nowadays, I find this particular musical performance interesting as it highlights the fact that history always repeats itself and is often expressed through great art forms! For those who watch "So You Think You Can Dance", you will notice that this was the choreography used in the audition process during what is called "Vegas Week".

While we may have a long ways to go, salsa is definitely becoming more mainstream in India. A few months back I ended up experimenting with my life by renting my first full bollywood film. While not the best film to be encompassing of the bollywood experience, I thought it was a good start. While the plot won't win any "Oscars" like Slumdog Millionaire, the soundtrack and music video production was spectacular. It features an amazing music fusion of Bhangra music (I believe), with other genres like Spanish, Latin and Hip-Hop. As Latin sounds fused with 'Bollywood' is becoming more popular, I thought I'd give our viewers at taste of the catchy beat that made me buy the whole soundtrack. The clip below is from the movie (they play music videos between specific scenes in the movie). The song name is called "Touch Me, Don't Touch Me". You should notice that they sing all three languages in the song: English, Spanish and Hindi. (how cool is that?)You can see most of the dancers perform salsa-like moves in the very beginning of the video. As for the music, pay attention to the rhythm section of the song. Enjoy!

Our friends at iLIVEsalsa had the chance to attend the Washington DC salsa congress, and have written a wonderful review! With photos and video, this review provides an excellent recap to those who couldn't make this congress. For those who are thinking about attending a salsa congress for the first time, this will give you an idea of what to expect. Here is one of the many videos they took at the salsa congress.You can see more of the workshop and interview videos on their website!