| Rueda
de Casino (Cuban Salsa)
Sunday
August 23, 2009
 Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
27 year-old Alejandro
Bouza never thought
he would end up a dancer in New York City. Raised
by an Italian mother and a Spanish father,
he claims he had two left feet for a long
time. After twenty years in Argentina,
Alejandro left his country to move to New
York. He now works as a building
manager and a dance instructor, and lives
in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Shortly after arriving in New York, Alejandro
decided to act on his fascination for dance
by signing up for a few classes. He started his dance
training at Dance New York, where he quickly excelled in the American and Latin
ballroom curriculum. His involvement in ballroom took shape through
not only the classes he took himself but also through his assistance in
other classes taught at the studio. Styles of dance Alejandro studied while
at Dance New York include Cha-Cha, Swing, Foxtrot, Hustle, Salsa, Tango (American
and Argentine), Rumba, Waltz, and Samba. He feels extremely fortunate to
have had experience studying with and learning from ballroom champion Edward
Simon during his time with Dance New York.
Eventually Alejandro expanded his repertoire to focus more specifically on Salsa,
and in particular on Cuban style Salsa through Casino and Rueda. Over the
past several years, he has taken numerous Cuban workshops and classes both
nationally and internationally. Furthering his involvement in the Salsa
scene of New York, Alejandro began performing with a professional Casino / Rueda
performance group two years ago. Notable recent appearances with this
group include performances at Saks Fifth Avenue, Havana Central, Columbia University
and Iguanas. In between traveling to Salsa Congresses, teaching Cuban Salsa
classes, rehearsing and performing, Alejandro also teaches workshops in
and around new york city.
It is safe to say that Alejandro no longer has two left feet. His original
passion for dance has now become more than just a passion. It has become
a reality and a way of life that he plans to continue with for a long time to
come. |
Rueda simply means "wheel".
Casino refers to the kinds of turns and breaks you might normally see in ordinary
partner Salsa Dancing. What makes Rueda unique is that the dancing is done in
the "wheel", as a group, with the "followers" being passed in the wheel, rapid
exchanging of partners, and many complicated moves -- sometimes done as wheels
within wheels -- and all done in time with "hot" Salsa music. Each move, or "call",
has a name, and is called by a leader of the Rueda, sometimes in very quick succession.
Many of the moves also have hand signals as well as names, in order to be able
to dance in a loud club setting. The Rueda can be as small as two couples, or
as large as a space can hold -- as many as a hundred couples.
When dancing Rueda, there is
a new group dynamic that happens. What is not obvious when watching Rueda, is
the new level of awareness required to have a group dance flow smoothly, and
look sharp AND keep it fun! Dancers learn to open their sphere of awareness,
their peripheral vision, beyond the normal restricted "bubble" of solo or partner
dancing. In this way, dancers coordinate and adjust their individual feel and
timing and style so as to make the Rueda "click". When this happens, it is very
exciting indeed! A unique group feeling develops, and you can feel the whole
wheel ebb and flow, and "breathe" to this wonderful AfroCuban/LatinAmerican music.
The result is an exciting Dance, exciting to do, exciting to watch!
Casino Rueda scenes may be seen
in the movie Dance with Me and in the music video clip No me dejes de querer
by Gloria Estefan.
Our program is structured in
Levels. You start on level one and moving up learning a carefully planned syllabus
of moves that build on each other making it very easy to learn and letting you
go out and dance right after the first class
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Salsa
Fever On2 Dance Academy, LLC |
83
Franklin Street, Jersey City, N.J. 07307 | Tel: 201-792-1616 | Fax:
201-792-1688 |
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