In the beginning...

In the beginning, there cha-cha-cha, mambo and boogaloo (not in logical order)...now there is salsa, merengue and bachata... :)

This is the first of a few blogs written about dancing, more specifically Latin dancing (Salsa, Bachata and Merengue if available) from a social aspect.  The author is not a professional but rather an amateur and passionate about the music and the associated dancing.

A word if I may regarding the last type of dancing, Merengue.  For some unknown reason to this author, Merengue has fallen off the cliff of the planet (relatively speaking as of 2024), and from the social dancing scene.  Reasons for this are probably a few, and beyond what is intended from this blog, however it still shows up in between whenever DJs are interested in "pumping up a crowd" or trying their hands at "tropical music" for what seems like 5 mins anyways.

A much more fascinating opinion and potential explanation came from the words of an anonymous German dancer which confessed: "Merengue is not challenging enough, therefore boring".  Despite what anybody may believe, Merengue is quite fun and still very much popular in the Caribbean hence, if anybody sees this, please search for Olga Tañon, Limt21, La Maquina, Melina Leon or Grupo Mania.  You'll be happy you did. :)

In terms of what the reader may expect... hopefully some content, a summary or description of the social dancing scene, and if possible some multimedia (e.g. photos, videos, etc. of the location).  Any photos of location are random and not meant to be full descriptions.

Ultimately the goal of this blog is to expand on the knowledgebase apart from having to search endless "google/yelp or other site's reviews" or fetch random 'facebook posts' about location A, B or C and try to share a qualitative but informative description thereof.

Enjoy!

Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

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