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The winner of the Latin section at the recent UKA inventive dance competition was the Sweet Bay Salsa. My initial response was "Good, a new rhythm to work on." Then I heard that it had been danced to "Pizzerico" by the Mavericks.
Not only is this tune not a Salsa, but at 30 bars/min it is 25% slower than the tempo given in the script. OK, a really hot Salsa may be a bit quick for the older age group but the recommended 40 bars/min is a good compromise and is already used for sequence Mambos.
I cannot understand how the dance won the competition with such a wide discrepency. It's a bit like saying "We have a nice new Quickstep but some of the fancy bits are tricky so we will dance it to a Blues."
I have now seen this Salsa taught and danced to Pizzerico and the result is nothing like a Salsa. The dancers are using the extra time available with the slow tempo to take much to large a step and the result looks very similar to a Mod-Rock/Beat Barn Dance. I'm sure the dancers will enjoy the new dance but it's a waste of the name Salsa, and I just hope this doesn't start a trend!
If anyone would like to try the dance to a reasonable speed (38 bars/min) Salsa tune they could try Gloria Estefan's "Milagro (Miracle)" from her Abriendo Puertas CD, EPC480992-2.
I've put a short RealAudio clip here.
There are two new sequence dance CDs which feature Salsa tracks.
"Keep Young and Beautiful" by David Read (Maestro CDTS118). A nice CD though the salsas are still uninspiring. Both are at a reasonable tempo of 38 mpm. Pizziricco is a version of the Maverick's tune used for the inventive competition. Mah Na Mah Na is better known as the Muppets theme and would make a good Bossa Nova.
"Canadian Capers" by Dennis Hayward (SAV335CD) with Roy Weatherley on piano. Nothing very exciting, traditional sequence sounds. Here are clips of Dennis's two salsas, Livin La Vida Loca and Dance the Night Away. They're both slow, at 34 mpm, and feel more like Bossas to me but see what you think.
