Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Cuban Salsa - Rueda de Casino
Cuban is my favourite style of Salsa, and the Rueda de Casino gets even more interesting because its dancing Cuban Salsa style in a circle with a group. If any of you have seen the movie Dance with Me, there is this particular scene where Chayanne and Vanessa Williams go to a Salsa Club. The dance they do there.. that's Cuban! :-)
Lots of people wonder what the difference between Cuban and LA style of Salsa. LA Style is all about the couple, and its about style, and how agile and fleet footed you are.
Cuban style is more community oriented. In Cuba, the dance evolved as a community outing. People go to dance with their friends and family, and hence it's more street style. It's more fun. It's more homely. It's about dancing with everyone in the community. And.. it's much easier to learn than the LA Style
Typically there is a King or the leader who calls out the moves in the Rueda, and everyone dances to the calls. Looks damn cool when people keep changing partners. Age/Sex/size.. none of it matters. The beauty of it all lies in the group..
Addicted 2 Dance (A2D) in Chennai teaches authentic Cuban Style. Infact, it's probably the only dance school in India which teaches authentic Cuban Rueda. I've been going there for the last few weeks and it has been great fun. I can't wait for the day when we take over Havana's dance floor on a Wed night and dance a Rueda!
The Hindu carried the article below on Cuban Salsa today in the MetroPlus Weekend session. Click here to check out the online article.
(yeah, I am in the picture)
The following is a video of how the Rueda looks like. It's a bunch of beginners of different ages performing together! Superb to watch!
And oh, here's the video from the movie Dance with me..
Lots of people wonder what the difference between Cuban and LA style of Salsa. LA Style is all about the couple, and its about style, and how agile and fleet footed you are.
Cuban style is more community oriented. In Cuba, the dance evolved as a community outing. People go to dance with their friends and family, and hence it's more street style. It's more fun. It's more homely. It's about dancing with everyone in the community. And.. it's much easier to learn than the LA Style
Typically there is a King or the leader who calls out the moves in the Rueda, and everyone dances to the calls. Looks damn cool when people keep changing partners. Age/Sex/size.. none of it matters. The beauty of it all lies in the group..
Addicted 2 Dance (A2D) in Chennai teaches authentic Cuban Style. Infact, it's probably the only dance school in India which teaches authentic Cuban Rueda. I've been going there for the last few weeks and it has been great fun. I can't wait for the day when we take over Havana's dance floor on a Wed night and dance a Rueda!
The Hindu carried the article below on Cuban Salsa today in the MetroPlus Weekend session. Click here to check out the online article.
(yeah, I am in the picture)
The following is a video of how the Rueda looks like. It's a bunch of beginners of different ages performing together! Superb to watch!
And oh, here's the video from the movie Dance with me..
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Newbies guide to today's financial crisis
Found this interesting newbie's guide to the financial crisis. For those who're struggling to understand why the "world" is falling apart, use the link below
Why Lehman and Merrill fell
Why Lehman and Merrill fell
Labels: Business
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Flying Cow
Shot this picture last morning at the 3 hour session of Ultimate. Superb weather. It felt like we were playing in an air-conditioned room! Shot at the Marina Beach.
p.s. Before you start imaging things.. NO! I'm not a sports photographer to be able to shoot that during a game.. I play when a game is on. This pic was shot in a photo-shooting session where Cow was making a couple of dives during half-time to give me a chance to get an action pic. I was on my fours on the sand to shoot this picture!
p.s. Before you start imaging things.. NO! I'm not a sports photographer to be able to shoot that during a game.. I play when a game is on. This pic was shot in a photo-shooting session where Cow was making a couple of dives during half-time to give me a chance to get an action pic. I was on my fours on the sand to shoot this picture!
Labels: Chennai, Photography, Ultimate Frisbee
Monday, September 01, 2008
Subramaniapuram
The super hit song Kangal Irandal has been running through my head for the last month or so! My friends are sick of me playing the same song over and over in my car. A great listen to even those who don't understand Tamil.. this music has no barriers. Universally appreciated. I'm yet to meet someone who has heard this song and not liked it!
Saw the movie about 1.5 months back. Excellent movie. A little too violent for my taste though, which is what would stop me from seeing this movie again. But, amazing performances by the actors. The actor Jay playing the character of Azhagar does an amazing job. I love the way he has a special smile reserved for the heroine Thulasi (actress Swathy) as seen in the video. Jay's debut was in Chennai 600028 as the guy who moves from Royapuram to the RA Puram Rockers team. The heroine has also emoted her character beautifully. Apparently the director/producer Sasikumar (who also plays the 2nd lead character Paraman) gave Swathy minimal dialogues 'cause she's a Telugu heroine and could not speak Tamil. He has shaped the character beautifully so that Swathy can give maximum performance just with her acting. Nice support character selection too!
The music director James Vasanthan deserves a special mention. Name sounds familiar? Yes, it's the same guy who used to host the Top 10 movies which runs on Sun TV on Sunday mornings. Didn't know he could direct music.. but he's done an amazing job at it. There's an article on him on today's Metro plus.
A must watch movie.
Saw the movie about 1.5 months back. Excellent movie. A little too violent for my taste though, which is what would stop me from seeing this movie again. But, amazing performances by the actors. The actor Jay playing the character of Azhagar does an amazing job. I love the way he has a special smile reserved for the heroine Thulasi (actress Swathy) as seen in the video. Jay's debut was in Chennai 600028 as the guy who moves from Royapuram to the RA Puram Rockers team. The heroine has also emoted her character beautifully. Apparently the director/producer Sasikumar (who also plays the 2nd lead character Paraman) gave Swathy minimal dialogues 'cause she's a Telugu heroine and could not speak Tamil. He has shaped the character beautifully so that Swathy can give maximum performance just with her acting. Nice support character selection too!
The music director James Vasanthan deserves a special mention. Name sounds familiar? Yes, it's the same guy who used to host the Top 10 movies which runs on Sun TV on Sunday mornings. Didn't know he could direct music.. but he's done an amazing job at it. There's an article on him on today's Metro plus.
A must watch movie.
Men and women in humor
One of those forwards that everyone receives.. but I like the creativity shown in these images below, in expressing the same facts :-).
Okay, before people start accusing me of being chauvinistic, I'd like to make the disclaimer that I'm not one. On the contrary I am a big fan of the fairer sex.
Having said that, these are undeniable facts.. There's no right or wrong about the way men and women are.. they're just.. different. So, lets just look at it in good humor and appreciate how men and women are built so differently.
The first one, I never believed was tru, but now that a lot of my friends are engaged/married, and I've had a chance to observe these transitions rather closely :-). Whoever made this must've been totally experienced.
The second one, at least the men's route.. that's surely me!
And finally, the last one.. no explanations required. I wish though that I could flip the picture order.. and put the men's controls below the women's. Just to tell the women that men aren't really that complicated, and so don't have to be worried about so much!
p.s. In my opinion, none of these are true for the whole of mankind or womankind. But in general, for a majority of the people in either sex (meaning more than 50%), these observations hold good :-).
Okay, before people start accusing me of being chauvinistic, I'd like to make the disclaimer that I'm not one. On the contrary I am a big fan of the fairer sex.
Having said that, these are undeniable facts.. There's no right or wrong about the way men and women are.. they're just.. different. So, lets just look at it in good humor and appreciate how men and women are built so differently.
The first one, I never believed was tru, but now that a lot of my friends are engaged/married, and I've had a chance to observe these transitions rather closely :-). Whoever made this must've been totally experienced.
The second one, at least the men's route.. that's surely me!
And finally, the last one.. no explanations required. I wish though that I could flip the picture order.. and put the men's controls below the women's. Just to tell the women that men aren't really that complicated, and so don't have to be worried about so much!
p.s. In my opinion, none of these are true for the whole of mankind or womankind. But in general, for a majority of the people in either sex (meaning more than 50%), these observations hold good :-).
Labels: Creativity, Life