Nuevotec Productions » Salsa Heat

Salsa Stardom - a Salsadynasty article

Posted on February 26th, 2008 by Allan Tabilas

Salsadynasty.com, a salsa media organization based in Orlando, posted an interesting article entitled “Salsa Stardom”. It asks the question (of what are) the next steps for the salsa community. Here’s a snippet from the post:

In a perfect world, salsa dancing would have its own TV channel. A channel that airs on public television, filled with salsa documentaries, travel segments, interviews, competitions, etc. In a perfect world, salsa dancers get paid thousands of dollars to do a show and salsa congresses make millions of dollars in tickets, advertisements and sponsors. Salsa competitions become part of the Olympics. Commercial singers would collaborate more in the salsa dancing community. New movies would come out every 5 months. Brand names such as Nike and Bebe Sport would make ad campaigns related to salsa all around the world. Leaders such as congress men, book writers, and doctors would use salsa dancing as part of their social life therefore promoting it, and last but not least, everyone would actually purchase salsa music and never pirate it.

Can you imagine a salsa tv channel, where dancers are sponsored by a Nike or an Adidas? In addition to several thought provoking articles, Millo Aldea and the staff at Salsadynasty.com have worked hard on building a community at the site, a social network for salsa dancers and salseros. Their main content (dubbed Salsadynasty TV) features interviews with salsa’s most influential personalities such as Albert Torres, Eddie Torres, and the Santo Rico Dance Company. Similar to Nuevotec, they capture the perspectives of both salsa performers, musicians, and social dancers.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some of their completely original intellectual property. They are stepping up the media game with some unique personalities and content that’s homegrown, including “Social Dancing with Pepe” (my favorite social dance video of all time from the 2007 World Salsa Championships, it’s that good), “Car Confessions”, the White Gold persona, and “Salsa Vibrance”. The site also features an active community, who are able to upload their own videos and content, post on the global forum and chat room, and post their favorite schools. Can you imagine that the current site is only in beta form? We are excited for the future of SalsaDynasty.

Oh and one more thing (ok, we’re not Steve Jobs), Millo and Ximea Aldea produced the first Salsa Dancing Reality show, available as an iTunes Podcast. They documented the journey of a student performance group from the Orlando, Florida based Salsa Heat Dance School. Inspired by other reality shows, where nothing is scripted, Millo and Aldea taped students of Andres Echevarria and Julissa Cruz. Watch the high and low moments of the students, who persevere (along with the artistic directors / choreographers) though different obstacles to be very good dance team. Highly recommended.

Millo and Ximena Aldea, and Benjamin Cartagena (Salsadynasty.com) interview with Dimas Mero