8 Week Salsa Intensive Class at Google
Have you always wanted to learn salsa?
Here is your chance – we are going to run a special 8 week salsa intensive course March 1 through the end of April. We will meet every Monday at 5 pm in the Google Dance Studio (CL 3). I will be teaching this LA style salsa (on 1) class with the G2G ballroom team – Gem, Alexander, Heidi, and Derrick! For those who have done cuban rueda salsa at Google before, this is different – we will be teaching the kind of salsa were you dance with just one partner, not in a circle switching partners.
If you’ve never done salsa before, this class will be perfect for you – we will start from the very beginning and explore the basic steps, how to lead and follow, and how to move like a salsa dancer!
For those who have done a little salsa, this class will be great for you as well – we will move beyond the basics quickly and progress through turns and spins, fun variations, shines, and even some dips! This class will be a chance to move beyond the basics that are commonly taught in drop in lessons and get into the really fun stuff.
This class will get you ready for our big Cinco de Mayo salsa party (yes, on the 5th of May). We are hoping to have a live salsa band and really kick off the dance studio here on campus. And you gotta have your salsa ready for a party like that – so get started with our salsa class March 1st.
Check the dancestudio internal link for more information and registration.
See you soon,
Anna
The new Google Dance Studio
Howdy all!
We built a dance studio in Google headquarters, Mountain View, CA!
Seriously – a big, big freaking dance studio, with 23 classes a week – and I get to manage it! I couldn’t be happier (or more busy). More than half of our classes are taught by volunteer Googlers who are experienced dancers / teachers in their particular style. Our Google volunteer classes are in such styles as:
- Lindy Hop Swing
- Bellydance
- Ballroom dancing – Cha Cha and Rumba, Foxtrot and Waltz
- Bhangra Performance Troupe
- Capoeira
- Cuban Salsa Rueda
- Intermediate / Advanced Hip Hop
- Argentine Tango
I am so proud of all the Google volunteer teachers – they are doing a really good job supporting their students, planning fun field trips, and getting new people excited about dance.
We also have classes taught by PlusOne professional staff, and we hope to continue to expand these offerings. Right now we have 2 yoga classes per week, 1 Bollywood dance class with Shaira Bhan, 1 Zumba class with Alicia Langlais, and various classes with myself. We were lucky enough to be able to continue all the classes I was already teaching at Google (Hip hop, Around the World, and Zumba). Further, we were able to add special offerings like “Back to the 80s” Aerobics, and “How to dance at a Club or Party: An Analytical Approach”.
The studio still needs a lot of work before it turns into its fully developed self – we want to decorate the space as a nightclub / lounge, and have dance parties, events, special guest workshops, etc. We are still working out all the details of the facility (changing rooms, an elevation riser for the teachers to stand on, clocks on the wall, etc), but I am very excited about how well everything has gone so far.
If you are a Googler who has ideas / suggestions about the dance studio program, please shoot me an email at my internal address.
Thanks to everyone outside Google who has to be much more patient with me as I have been so busy and haven’t been as responsive in my other classes / arenas.
Hope to see you soon at the studio!
Anna
Christy Funch this weekend
So much dancing to see! I think every company in the Bay Area wants to perform before the holidays hit (and all anyone wants to see if Nutcracker).
There are so many shows going up next weekend, but I am planning to attend the Down and Dirty festival at Dance Mission Theater, particularly to see Christy Funch do her thing – apparently she is a most amazing performer, full of subtle expression and huge emotional impact.
As well, the SF Hip Hop festival is this weekend! Featuring local performers and guest artists from around the globe, this is a fun celebration of the diverse dance styles included under “hip hop”. There’s even a master class at Dance Mission on Saturday from 2-5 if you’d like to learn a little dancing yourself. Sweet!
Music Playlists
Howdy! So various folks have asked for the names of the songs that I use in class… so here’s my playlists as of today (they change every week)….
Current Bollywood class:
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire (warmup)
Chor Bazari from Love Aaj Kal (isolations)
Ishq Hi Hai Rab from Dil Bole Hadippa (stretch)
(Dholi Taro Dhol Baaje from Hum Dil de Chuke)
Dholna from Lau
Wake up Side from Wake up Sid
(Gym Shim from Dil Bole Hadippa)
Discowale Khisko from Dil Bole Hadippa
(Hadippa (the remix) from Dil Bole Hadippa)
Twist from Love Aaj Kal
(Say Na Say Na)
Boro Boro from Bluffmaster
Dhadak Dhadak from Bunti Aur Babli (cool down)
Current Hip Hop Class (with Hindi hip hop included):
Young’n by Fabolous
No Diggity by Blackstreet and Dr. Dre
All of the Above by Maino
Nuthin’ but a G Thang by Dr. Dre
Gold Digger by Kayne West
Replay by Iyaz
Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo
Chiggy Wiggy from Blue
Ego (remix) by Beyonce
Celebration by Madonna
Meet me Halfway by Black Eyed Peas
Tha Kar Ke from Golmaal Returns
Paparazzi (demolition crew remix) by Lady Gaga
Shattered Glass by Britney Spears
Jee Karda from Singh is King
3 by Britney Spears
Ambitionz Az a Ridah by 2Pac
Trade it All by Fabolous
All Eyez On Me by 2Pac and Syke
Whatever You Like by T.I.
The Way I Are by Timbaland
Chillin’ by Wale
Om Mangalam by Anu Milik
Current Zumba class:
Guajira (I Love U 2 Much) by Yerba Buena (warmup)
Come Fly Away (Mobbing Remix) from Club Anthems (isolations)
Samba No. 9 by Maya F.S. (stretch)
Lirirrixa by Babado Novo (samba)
El Rey del Mambo from Zumba (merengue)
Como si Na from Zumba (pop)
Bailadora from Zumba (samba)
Drum Oasis by Neena and Veena (bellydance)
Habibi by Aradia and DJ Zen (bellydance)
Move it Up by Zumba (reggeaton)
Don’t Stop by Zumba (samba)
Latinos by Zumba (salsa / hip hop)
Como la Flor by Selena (cumbia)
La Carcacha by Selena (cumbia)
Agustito from Latin Music 3 Dance House (samba)
I’ve Gotta Have You by the Weepees (cool down)
Fidelity by Regina Spektor (stretch)
Current Playlist for Around the World class:
See Zumba, plus:
Riverdance Remix by Bill Whelan (Irish)
American Wake by Riverdance (Irish)
Jenjela Runyenje from Roots! African drumming (African)
I Like You from Latin Music 3 (Cha Cha)
El Ritmo Caliente by Zumba (Quebradita)
El choclo by Villoldo O.S.T tango (Tango)
The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson (Cool down)
Give Me Your Forever John Mayer (Stretch)
——-
So what are you favorites? Let me know if you have particular songs that you want to hear in class – I’m always open to suggestions!
Oracle Diwali videos
Yeah! We finally have some videos of the Bollywood dance performances at the Oracle Diwali celebration.
Here’s the video from Desi Girl performance:
and Here’s the video from Marjaani performance:
All Oracle employees and family members are welcome to take Bollywood dance class at Oracle on Fridays at 3 pm, see you then!
Photos from Oracle Diwali
I had a great time watching the Oracle Diwali show, I happened to sit down right next to one of my dancer’s mother, father, and children! It was fun to chat with Vidya’s family while waiting for the show.
I’m amused by the photos that the photographer took of the crowd – you can see just how many people (apparently 1,500?) that packed into the Oracle basketball court / gym to watch the show. Can you find me? My face shows right over the shoulder of Vidya’s father, and it must be later in the show because Surbhi’s sister, Sugeeti, is sitting next to me. She joined us in time to watch her sister dance in the last number of the show, Marjaani. It’s so fun having two sisters in two different classes – and they each got to dance to Marjaani in their own workplace. Small world, eh?
I’m a little easier to find in this photo – although I have a funny look on my face!
These are the six dancers who performed in Desi Girl: Anita, Archana, Sunita, Vidya, Cathy, and Surabhi. Good job ladies!
Thanks again to Vidya for getting such beautiful for sarees for everyone to dance in – and good job to Surbhi and Vidya and Pooma for getting everyone dressed in the sarees. And they all stayed on just fine! Hoorah for safety pins. =)
I was so pleased that this dance was selected to open the show.
I think the audience immediately got excited by the music and started to clap along, and the ladies danced with great enthusiasm and grace. Good job!
Here are the ladies in the middle of Marjaani: Smita, Anita, Surbhi, Cristal, Pooma, Surbhi, Vidya, and Sunita (sorry you got hidden in the back!)
Thank you for such a clean and energetic performance to end the show. You could tell how much the audience appreciated the dancing with all their clapping and shouts – great job!
Looking forward to seeing everyone back in class on Friday at 3 pm.
Diwali at Oracle
Congratulations to all the dancers / musicians / actors who performed at the Oracle Diwali – what a show!
I was impressed by the content of the “skits” that the actors / singers performed in between the dance numbers. Usually I find skits to be tedious and just want to get on to the dancing. Although some of the skits were a little slow / long, I found the content to be interesting, especially in respect to Indian families and friends and work.
It was also really fun to see how interactive the Emcees were with the audience. The audience was willing to sing along in the microphone, answer questions, and even tell jokes on the fly! I thought the audience was much more willing to participate than audiences I have seen in the past.
I was very proud of my groups who performed the opening number to “Desi Girl” and the closing number to “Marjaani” – they did very well with their steps and looked great because they smiled and enjoyed themselves!
I don’t yet have photos / video from the show – I am sure I will get them soon. In the meantime, I was pretty happy with the new blue lengha that I had for that day. It served well at Oracle Diwali, and I wore it later that evening at Cheryl Burke Starlite to teach the beginner’s class (salsa, rumba, and waltz). It was fun to dance in, but I forgot that they would have a hard time seeing my footsteps in such a long skirt! Oh well, it was still fun to swirl around.
If you have videos or photos from the show, please comment and post them below – I would love to see them!
It’s really nice having my favorite photographer back in town – missed you bebe!
G2G Classes at Google
I got tasked by Google to put together a series of “G2G dance classes” that is, Googlers teaching other Googlers how to dance. It’s been really fun giving my friends a chance to shine. There are so many Googlers that are talented dancers and experienced teachers, and it’s great to help them with the back end business so they can enjoy teaching.
I’ve known Rebecca since right after college, when I met her through the Stanford dance community. She taught with me at Starlite Dance Club for many years before joining Google, and she was always a super pro at working with new dancers. I teamed her up with Stephen Ames, who I’ve also known since he was my teacher at Body Therapy Center. He was such a good teacher I knew that the two of them would be excellent together teaching beginning swing. If you haven’t checked them out yet, they’ve gotten great reviews so far teaching their swing classes on Mondays at noon.
I’ve known Alexei since he was a student of mine at Starlite and fellow compatriot at Jeffrey Lynn’s dance camps. Since then Alexei has become a rock star Argentine Tango dancer – he goes out tango dancing 5 nights a week! We couldn’t find any experienced ladies who were free to be a demo partner with him – so I’m enjoying partnering with him to teach this tango class, Tuesdays at 7 pm.
I only recently met Rasika, but she’s been dancing her whole life. Her mother owns a dance studio, and Rasika grew up with traditional Indian dance. I was so impressed with the choreography that she put together for the Googlemela show, it’s great to give her a chance to teach some more! Her Bhangra class on Wednesdays at noon have been awesome so far!
Dobromir has been teaching G2G salsa longer than any of us have even been at Google! I had heard a great deal about Dobromir from my husband, Heraldo, as they worked on similar teams. I first met Dobromir at the Google Holiday party in 2005 when we had a grand time dancing during the party, and we got to hang out even in Tokyo! We’re happy to have Dobromir continuing to teaching salsa on Thursdays at 5:30 pm.
Both Stephanie and Dounia have taught G2G bellydance before, and it’s really fun to have them teamed up to teach together! Sadly both of them were out of town last week so I had to cover the class myself – hopefully it was helpful to the people in the class, even though it’s not really my style. But it was lots of fun and quite a workout. The next two Fridays at noon the class will be with Stephanie, and the last two weeks will be with Dounia.
I’m excited to get to help bring more dancing to Google!
Diwali Dandia and Garba Performance
Thanks to the IGN for inviting me to help out with Diwali 2009 at Google – there were many aspects to the Diwali celebration: IGN made a beautiful display of candles in the shape of temples and stars all over Charlie’s Patio, great food in Charlie’s cafe, and of course, dancing!
We had only 2 weeks to put together a dandia / garba performance. At first we were just going to demonstrate a few interesting dandia patterns, and then teach dandia. But it developed into a whole four song medley and choreography – it’s always hard to “Keep it Simple!” Thank you to Ramya, Sugeeti, and Jatin for helping me find the right music to edit together (and thank you to the group for putting up with my rough draft edits!) Thank you to Sahil for helping remind me to K.I.S.S. whenever possible. =) Also thank you to Jatin, Vandana, Piyush, Sugeeti, and all the dancers who gave great suggestions for the choreography / dandia and garba patterns.
Big thank you to Vandana, Meghna, and Sai for helping organize costumes. The jewelry for the ladies was so much fun! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much volume of jewelry on at the same time!
Bollywood Medley at GoogleMela
Special thanks to this awesomely fun group of dancers who dedicated so much of their time to learn this long and challenging choreography. The performance at GoogleMela was well received, and I can’t believe you learned so much in just 5 weeks.
I enjoyed laughing with the dancers as we figured out the King and Queen lifts for Marjaani, how many times to run in a circle for Aaja Nachle, helping me understand the lyrics to Desi Girl, learning how to jump and push your hands up for Mauja hi Mauja, and such enthusiasm for the ending of Deewangi Deewangi. You guys were a really fun group to work with – looking forward to many more fun evenings of poker, monopoly, movies, and food!
