SALSA CUBANA DVDs
1.- CASINO CUBANO . Casino Cubano" is your introductory guide into the original Salsa from its roots or what is known in Cuba as “casino” the exciting popular dance style that draws heavily from Cuba's rich cultural traditions.
DVD
video type: instructional & demonstration
dance level: beginning - intermediate
45 minutes
filmed in Havana, Cuba
part one - casino dance instruction
Lazaro explains and demonstrates the basic steps, turns, and style of casino dancing accompanied by two members of his dance company, Ivan and Dayami.
part two - Cuban dance movement
These exercises, led by Dayami, are helpful in learning how to move and groove in the Cuban style.
part three - living Cuban dance traditions
The video concludes with a powerful performance of three traditional forms of Cuban dance that have significantly influenced contemporary casino dancing: orisha dance, rumba, and son. Ivan and Dayami end the video with an exciting casino solo.
"Casino Cubano" is in Spanish with printed notes in English explaining in detail all the dance instructions and content on the video.
3.- MUEVE LA CINTURAT. "Move Your Hips" DVD focuses on Cuban salsa dance styling as well as other Cuban dance forms that have been the inspiration and foundation for all the different salsa styles danced throughout the World.
DVD
video type: demonstration & instruction
dance level: intermedi
ate - advanced
66 Minutes
filmed in Havana, Cuba
dance genres: Cuban salsa casino
in Spanish with English subtitles
part one - dance couples with live band
Features seven remarkable Cuban dance couples (professional and amateur) who dance together as a group, and who also dance as individual couples demonstrating their personal
styles, at slow and fast dance tempos.
part two - the roots of salsa Cubana
Isaias Rojas, Director of the dance company "Ban Rara" demonstrates and explains the most popular Cuban dance forms in Cuba: rumba, danzon, son, cha cha cha, and mambo, and demonstrates how these older dance styles have influenced salsa.
part three - salsa Cubana basics (very brief)
Isaias demonstrates and explains the basic steps, turns, transitions, hand placement, and dancing to the clave or the melody.
part four - exercises
Isaias leads a series of exercises that help to loosen the body, giving that mobility for moving in the Cuban style - mueve la cintura !s
5.- U LAKA LAKA LA. Carnaval La Habana, a spectacular festival that incorporates an extraordinary array of Cuba's diverse cultural traditions. For an entire week the city's Malecon seafront drive was awash with hot rhythms & colors
DVD
52 Minutes
filmed in Havana, Cuba
genres presented: comparsa, orisha, abakua,
2003 was the 180th year anniversary of Carnaval La Habana. A celebration of gyrating bodies mingling with the rain showers and spray from the sea. The wind and rain were overwhelming at times, but carnaval prevailed and became its own force of nature, blending with the elements.
special features of U Laka Laka La include:
- children's carnaval with dance groups and clowns
- ten of Havana's most outstanding parade comparsa groups
- costuming of incredible color and style
- carnaval floats (carrozas)
- salsa Cubana street dancers
- percussion and folklore ensembles
- giant puppets (munecones)
- interview with Director of La Jardinera
- slideshow of performing artist
7.- RUEDA COLLECTION. “Rueda de Buen Ache” features a group of dancers from Santiago de Cuba who demonstrate how they dance together at their own spirited house parties doing rueda de casino, one man dancing with 2 and 3 women
2 titles in one DVD
video type: demonstration
dance level: intermediate - advanced
89 minutes
RUEDA DE BUEN ACHE - title #1
Rueda de Casino is a lively popular Cuban dance form in which couples partner dance in a circle and perform routines that are called by a leader.
special features
- original rueda turns created by the dancers
- scenes from the "Fiesta Santiaguera" dance party with a live band
- son dance styling
- suelta line dancing
- a slow motion section for learning complicated turns
- written notes to help track all the rueda moves
RUEDA FRESCA - title #2
Rueda Fresca (Fresh Wheel) features two amateur dance troupes of young people from Santiago de Cuba whose specialty is rueda de casino. These dancers are representative of a growing number of Cuban youth who are reconnecting with this dance tradition and making it their own by inventing new turns, moves, and stylings. While still popular as a fun party actively, the latest wave of rueda de casino from Cuba is designed for performance.
The performance style demonstrated in Rueda Fresca is highly inventive and complex. A single call represents not just two or three moves but an extended series of turns and dance maneuvers that often reflect a theme, as does the call "Festival de Jumping". These new calls are best described as rueda choreographies.
9.- DANZA CHARANGUERO. “Danza Charanguero” is a spirited celebration of Cuba's popular music and dance heritage focusing on the danzon, son, mambo, chachacha, and salsa-casino. Accompanying the DVD are extensive interviews with several of the participants who talk about their artistic lives and go into depth about the evolution and rich history of their music and dance tradition.
DVD
73 minutes of dance & music
52 minutes of interviews with English subtitles
filmed in Havana, Cuba
genres presented:
danzon, son, mambo, chachacha, casino
subtitles in English
It is these evocative music and dance genres that, in different eras, have erupted onto the world scene, making Cuba one of the few countries whose music and dance has become adopted and practiced internationally.
DVD chapters:
1. contradanza (music only) - La Comparsa
composer: Ernesto Lecuona
2. danzon -Virgin de Regla
composer: Pablo O'Farrill
3. son (slow tempo) - Tocoloro
composer: Arsenio Rodriguez
4. chachacha - Goza Conmigo
composer: Tregar Otton
5. son (medium tempo) - El Paralitico
composer: Miguel Matamoros
6. bolero - Si Te Contara
composer: Felix Reina
7. mambo (Cuban mambo) - Mambo America
composer: Antonio Sanchez
8. danzon - Fefita
composer: Jose Urfe
9. salsa-casino - La Escoba Barrendera
composer: Rodulfo Vaillant
10. danzon - son - conga - Popurri Cubano
composer: various
featured dance artists:
many are members and alumni of
Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cubat
.
11.- 50 YEARS ON. AfroCuba de Matanzas has been produced to showcase the work of one of Cuba's most famous music and dance groups - Afrocuba de Matanzas. Nine of the group's major works are presented in this superb, visually stunning, 80 minute performance, filmed and recorded live in highly dramatic locations around Matanzas.
DVD
80 minutes
filmed in Matanzas, Cuba
genres presented: Congo, Lukumi, Carabali, Arara
The nine performance pieces on this DVD provide an overall view of the pantheon of Afro-Cuban cultures maintained in Matanzas province, located in the western end of the island of Cuba. These ritual dances, with their accompanying music and song, represent the cultural heritage of many of the vast numbers of African slaves who were brought to Cuba over the long and painful history of transatlantic slavery.
This DVD includes a twenty page booklet containing background information and details about the pieces.
DVD chapters
Palo (Congo) 13:39
Ochun with Oggun (Lukumi) 6:57
Abakua (Carabali) 11:40
San Lazaro (Arara) 11:21
Yemaya (Lukumi) 9:25
Oggun (Lukumi) 3:36
Bricamo (Carabali) 9:48
Chango (Lukumi) 5:09
Makuta (Congo) 8:07
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