Want to learn ballroom dancing?
Samba (the best rhythm and music) +
With a partner (the best way to dance!)
=
The best ever!
Starting this Thursday (October 1st) I’ll be offering a ballroom dance series at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara. It will be 4 weeks of how to dance samba with a partner. If you’ve never done samba or never danced with a partner before that’s fine, we will start at the very beginning. But over the course of four weeks you will progress through the basic patterns and into some fun and exciting variations.
You do not need to be a member of Decathlon to join, just email “Jenny Rowe” <jrowe at courtsideclub dot com> to register.
Every week we meet from 8-9 pm for lesson, and then we practice, I answer questions and work individually with people, etc. from 9-9:30 pm. It’s generally a nice, small group so you get all your questions answered!
You do not need a partner to join, we generally have both singles and couples in class.
See you soon!
Anna
Two Sambas for the price of One
Hey Latin Dancers,
It’s Samba time! Maybe cause I’m missing my favorite Brazilian I’ve been adding more samba to our classes – and it’s a great workout!
We have one routine to 100% Voce by Chiclete com banana (which means, by the way, Chicklets with Banana – awesome band name):
and with the music:
I am always making comments on the cute lyrics to that song, so here are the lyrics in full in case you’re curious…
“Um céu sem estrelas, uma praia sem mar
Amor sem carinho, romance sem par
Carnaval sem festa, um jardim sem flor
É assim que eu me sinto longe do seu amor
Como enganar um coração tão ligado nesse amor
Como viver a minha vida sem teu jeito sedutor
Não dá mais pra segurar
Tô viciado em você
Não dá… Não dá… Pra ficar… Pra ficar sem te ver
Já estou ficando louco
Não dá… Não dá… Pra ficar… Pra ficar sem te ver
Sou 100% você!
Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê
Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê
Estrada sem rumo, saudade sem dor
TV sem novela, arco-íris sem cor
Chiclete sem Nana, verão sem calor
É assim que eu me sinto longe do seu amor
Como enganar um coração tão ligado nesse amor
Como viver a minha vida sem teu jeito sedutor
Não dá mais pra segurar
Tô viciado em você
Não dá…Não dá…Pra ficar… Pra ficar sem te ver
Já estou ficando louco
Não dá…Não dá…Pra ficar…Pra ficar sem te ver
Sou 100% você!
Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê
Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê Lê”
and in English (apologies if any of this is wrong):
“The sky is without stars,
the beach is without sea,
Love without affection,
romance without a pair (of lovers),
Carnival without party,
a garden without flower,
I feel your love so strongly,
How could I deceive such a heart full of love,
How could I live my life without your seductive skill
I can’t imagine these, I’m addicted to you
I can’t… I can’t… continue to be… without seeing you, already I’m insane
I can’t… I can’t… continue to be… without seeing you, I’m 100% you!
La lalalalaa…
A road without route,
homesickness without pain
TV without novel,
rainbow without color
Chiclete (the name of the band) without Nana,
summer without heat
(repeat of chorus)
Cute, eh?
—-
And then we have another new samba, this one inspired by the dancing of the Northeastern section of Brazil. There is a dance called frevo, very fast, with amazing jumping and use of a little parasol umbrella as a prop. Check out these amazing frevo videos – man those dancers must have strong legs!
Anyways, here are the steps to our frevo samba, Braseira Ardia:
And here is is with a little bit of music:
Thanks to Ben for the suggestions, see you all in class!
Daniela Mercury Samba
Daniela Mercury is a very popular Brazilian singer, specializing in various regional styles like samba, axe, and MPB. We’re using her song “Ile Perola Negra” (the black pearl) for a new samba for ZUMBA class!
Here are the steps:
and here are the steps with a little bit of music:
See you in class!
Latin Jazz routine – Silly Samba!
“I wanna walk like you.. talk like you do.. “ I’m really enjoying doing a little samba that’s just fun and a little silly to “I Wanna Be Like You” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Hope you enjoy these steps as much as I do!
Here are the steps slower:
And a little faster with the counts:
See you at Reach Friday mornings at 8:25 am or at Equinox Sundays at 11 am for more of this routine.
Carnival Inspired New Samba
I really enjoyed dancing in the Carnival parade in San Francisco – Samba Mundial was a really awesome school to hang out with. Just the right balance of organization and chaos. We’ll have to make sure we put together a samba school to dance in the parade next year. =)
Here’s the steps for our new samba to “Paradinha”:
There are lots of steps to this choreography – hope the video helps! And hey – even if you don’t want to dance in the San Francisco Carnival parade you can enjoy the costumes. Always exciting. =)
La Bomba Samba
Okay, so Heraldo would be sad that I’m calling this a samba.
It’s not from Brazil, it’s not in Portuguese, and it doesn’t have all the samba instruments.
But it is d*mn fun to dance to.
Here’s the steps:
and here’s the same with the music (Ricky Martin’s La Bomba):
Latin Jazz routine to Pon de Replay
Pon de Replay by Rihanna – it’s a great track and a great samba (ballroom style samba that is). Did you know she was only 17 years old when she recorded this track? Not bad for a first attempt at an album.
Here’s a little video that goes through the steps that we’re using. I go kind of fast – let me know if you want a slower break down:
And here’s the same routine with the counts (feel free to travel more than I did – I was scared of running off the screen the whole time):
Equinox Fitness – New Website
Hello Equinox Dancers,
Welcome to the new website. Hopefully this website will make it easier for your to access information. Just head to the class updates tab for Equinox news. Or you can search for a particular dance style or topic for the relevant post. Enjoy!
I’m looking forward to our new meeting time – Sundays at 11 am! We’ll be starting in May with Latin Jazz choreography to “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna – a super fun samba!
In case you want an idea of what kind of choreography we do, here’s the breakdown of the steps for “Hip Hip, Chin Chin”:
And here it is again with the music (Hiphip, Chinchin (featuring Brenda Boykin) by Club des Belugas):
See you in class!
If you’ve been coming to class since the beginning and would like to look at routines
we did awhile ago, Check Here for old videos.
New Website for Reach Fitness in Palo Alto
Hello Reach Dancers!
Welcome to the new website! Hopefully this site will allow you to more easily access the information you are looking for with new searchability and blog like structure.
Are you ready for ZUMBA???
If you want a great cardio workout with lots of fun follow-along moves, come out
on Monday at 8:20 am for a Zumba party! If you have friends that think they
“aren’t dancers” bring them along – everyone can enjoy this class because you
don’t need to remember tricky steps or sequences, just follow along and dance, dance, dance!
I will post the Zumba videos for new choreographies here on the website. Just look under the Reach Class Updates Tab. For older videos of the steps we did awhile back, check the history post!
If you are looking for a choreography class, come out on Friday at 8:25 am for
our Latin Jazz class. We’ve been working on a samba to Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay”. This is a fun infectious song and we’ve got lots of latin technique, jazz kicks and spins, and good old hip hoppin shaking going on.
Before this, our last choreography was a faster samba:
“Hip hip, Chin Chin”
And with the music (Hiphip, Chinchin (featuring Brenda Boykin) by Club des Belugas):
See you in class!
