Hi Vera ,

What a pity that you cannot dance salsa.But still I hope that you could sway a little at the salsa parties.
Latin dance music is not only from/for the Carribean.

In South America , in all these countries they also dance and listen to salsa and merengue.Even in Brazil they know the salsa.

Also in Mexico - Nicaragua - Honduras.

Yes I know the Dominican Republic but I never visited it.
I must admit , that you need a little bit of practice to dance the salsa.

But when you know the basic you can dance the whole evening.There are differences with the salsa and the merengue,

The salsa in counting your steps is : 1, 2, 3 - 4 is a pause ; 5, 6, 7, - 8 is a pause .

With the merengue it is : 1,2 - 3,4 - 5,6 - 7,8.There are no pauses in between.
So because all steps from 1 till 8 are the same , we only count 1,2 in the merengue dance.

For 5 1/2 years non-stop , I was with the Latin dance school.I have danced with absolute beginners and the more advanced classes.

Here in Holland , there are also not enough men , who want to learn the salsa.So , I was 1 of the men , to fill in this shortage.

After my daily work , I would rush home , shower/refresh and then go to the dancing school.No time for dinner , because sometimes the lesson would start at 18:30 PM.

For 7 days a week I was dancing sometimes 5 or 7 lessons.One lesson was 75 minutes.I could only have dinner after the last lesson , that I had to dance (21:30 or later 23:00).

And then the next morning go to work again.But work was getting more demanding , and so I had to take a time-out from the dancing school.

Now it's a couple of years that I have taken a time-out.
But I still think that I should be able to teach you the salsa.If you were not living so far away.

There is 1 dance style , that I did not mention.And that is the Zouk dance.Also very famous in the Carribean and in all the Spanish speaking countries.

Listen to this famous band from Guadaloupe (is a French sort of colony).The band's name is Les Aiglons.
They have made some really great dancing songs , and they are also my favourites.

Yo Vouai Ou - les_Aiglons - is just a fantastic song to dance.When you hear that melody can you sit still ??
I can not !!

Maybe they did play their songs in the hotel were you stayed.

One of the most famous Zouk songs is the Lambada.I'm sure you know that melody ...

One more example , this song is a bachata : La Pared - Joe Veras .

I want to make it clear that I am not only on Latin dance or pop/disco.

I also have records of a Russian men choir , I have Kossac music and I also have some records from Iwan Rebroff.

The very famous singer - he was well known here in the West in the time of the Cold War.
So , I did invest to learn about some Russian culture.

Some of these records I bought myself.Others were given to me.I still have all of them ...

Maybe a little long my reply , but now you may know a little more about Latin dance.

Ok one last example - this one is a merengue : Celosa - la Makina ...

Now you can practice a little ...?  

Eric