Glenn Weiss & Barbara Gore - City Lights Ball organizers

This weekend offers an exciting treat for those interested in world class ballroom dancing. The City Lights Ball, hosted by Glenn Weiss and Barbara Gore of Menlo Park, is a three-day event full of competition, workshops, and general open dancing for the Ballroom enthusiast. From Friday, January 29th through Monday, February 1st, the Doubletree Hotel at 2050 Gateway Place in San Jose is the location for hundreds to attend dance camps and cheer on competitors from amateur to professional in American Smooth, International Latin, Standard, and Rhythm dances. Juniors, adults, seniors, and teams will compete for a chance to win in their division this weekend.

Take this weekend and watch the exciting world of Ballroom, because it’s more than just a dance, it’s a lifestyle!

For more information on the City Lights Ball:

Online: City Lights Ball

Call: 1-650-223-4950

John Narvaez & Liz Rojas

John Narvaez and Liz Rojas, directors of the world famous SalsaMania Dance Company, are hosting the 2nd San Francisco Salsa Festival on March 25th through the 27th. For three days, The Westin Hotel at 50 3rd Street in San Francisco will host dancers from the Bay and beyond. Workshops, performances, and competitions are the highlight of this event and allow Salsa dance enthusiasts to see the best of what the Bay offers. Vendors such as AC Dancewear and Danscents! will be present to offer attendees dance fashion and fragrance. Additionally, there will be live music as well as DJs spinning classic and contemporary Salsa until 2a.m.

Get ready for the Salsa heat wave and get fit with Salsa dance. Because it’s more than just a dance it’s a lifestyle!

For more information about John and Liz Productions visit them online:

Website: John and Liz Productions

AC Dancewear - Designs by Ava Childs

Dance fashion is strong in the Bay area with Ava Childs leading the way through her custom designs. AC Dancewear, founded in 2009, is Ava’s new business that retails her sleek and sexy costumes for theatrical performances, competition, and special events. She will showcase her fashions at the 2010 San Francisco Salsa Festival presented by John & Liz productions. Keep a look out for this rising star in the dance fashion scene.

For more on dance lifestyle through food, fashion, and fitness, visit Danscents! online, because it’s more than just a dance, it’s a lifestyle!

Ashanti Altovese - professional dancer and instructor

Fake. Definition: To be false. Why is it that being false gets such a bad wrap? There are so many great things that come from fakeness. Fake breast, hair, nails, tans, fur, eye color and lashes, lips, butts, curves, jewelry, handbags, etc. What difference does it really make in the end? After all, the eye is trained to pick up on the prettiness, the glitz, and the glamour. It doesn’t really care that it’s not what you think it is. It’s true that American society has idealized beauty standards to make women go the brinks of insanity to accomplish this image of perfection. But the smart ones know that it doesn’t take millions to achieve “The Look”. In the end, fake is fabulous because it’s economic and it gets the job done.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that women should sell their souls to the Beauty devil. Simply that there is nothing wrong with looking and feeling good and fakeness can help you get there. My motto is it takes millions to look cheap and cents to look like a million-heiress. As long as you now how to take care of them, fake items can last a long time and pay back a hundred times over what you spent.

Let’s start with the foundation that every woman must know: no matter what you look like on the outside, if the inside is ugly, the outside follows suit. So the key to true glamour is working on developing the inner goddess of confidence, self-love, and spiritual balance. With these in line, you can change your outer appearance to whatever your mood is on any given day and still be completely true to yourself. To begin fostering a healthy inner goddess, dedicate a minimum of a half hour for alone time, light some candles, turn off the lights, get in front of mirror and turn on some slow, mellow, relaxing music. Close your eyes and let your hands follow every curve on your body while breathing deeply and meditating on positive thoughts. Repeat this process once a week or more to build and maintain a strong inner spiritual core.

Listening to whom you are inside is crucial to defining your own personal style. Once you determine who you are, you can begin taking steps toward creating your own brand of fashion. Remember, don’t keep up with The Joneses, be The Joneses. Decide your brand of chic, sophisticated, sexy, street, modern, urban, or conservative and then accessorize your perfect inner goddess with a trend-setting outer appearance. Costume jewelry, synthetic wigs, press-on nails, and no name shoes can look awesome when you wear it with an attitude of, “Bitches I’m here!” Next thing you know, you’re on the cover of a magazine for best dressed because you’re setting the standards of celebrity.

So take notes ladies, fake is fabulous as long as you’re being your authentic self and wearing confidence, not a name brand. Wearing a name is only making someone else rich! Wearing confidence makes you a million-heiress because of your attitude and positive energy, which can’t be bought. Therefore, fake it out and let the haters hate because you’re doing it well.

Chihuahua

The popular film “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” has created quite a stir for the state of California. It appears that droves of people throughout the state ran out and purchased this cute and cuddly dog after viewing the movie. Once people discovered the amount of personal and financial care that goes into being a pet-owner of the small wonder, owners across the state abandoned their dogs at local animal shelters. Now, California authorities are transporting hundreds of Chihuahuas to shelters in various states across the country for adoption by loving families. Just look at those affectionate brown eyes, perky ears, and that pouty nose. You know you want one! Bring a little sunshine into your life with a special pint-sized friend; not because it looked cute in the movie, but because you have the means and desire to provide a loving home to man’s best friend.

Motorists

What is your biggest concern when you enter your car? For most, safety during transport is of the utmost importance, but a growing population across the nation have shifted their priorities from proper vehicle safety to mobile entertainment transport. With the invention of devices such as the iPod, PSP, Droid, and the iPhone, drivers have become extremely distracted with behaviors usually reserved for home entertainment. There was a time when the most you had to worry about while driving was drunk drivers, but now texting, eating, make-up application, talking, and grooming have taken over as some of the most distracting habits for drivers. Is plain driving just to boring? Are there not enough seconds in the day that we need to complete home activities in our cars? What we need is a motorist make-over. Drivers of all generations but especially the latest that have grown up in a world of individual entertainment technology must understand the importance of focusing solely one activity at a time while driving, and that activity is driving – not with one eye on the road and the other on the iPhone watching the score, or one knee on the wheel, one hand with a coffee cup, and the other hand checking a text message. Think about it. Isn’t your life worth driving for?

Charlie Sheen - actor

Who is the luckiest man in the world? Michael Jordan? Tiger Woods? Obama? Bill Gates? None of the above! Charlie Sheen takes the cake in my book as he continues to ride the roller coaster of hitting rock bottom and coming back again to rule on top. For as long as I can remember Mr. Sheen has been in the news headlines not for his acting prowess but for the public ousting of his personal needs and afflictions. From battles with drug addiction to paying for sexual favors and now accusations of domestic violence, Charlie has fought with many demons during his past and present. Regardless of the demons, fine women continue to come in and out of his life, vowing to spend forever with the troubled actor only to dramatically end the relationships in a trail of broken glass. Where is the love? The latest wife to call 911 is Brooke Mueller Sheen, a real estate investor and the mother of Sheen’s twin boys. Mr. Sheen is currently out on bond and awaiting trial on the domestic violence charges. Let’s see where this trail leads as another hot woman bites the dust of love gone wrong.

Ashanti Altovese - professional dancer and instructor

Damn! It’s getting cold out there. That can only mean one thing, summer is gone, fall is here, and winter is coming. Who’s got it lucky? Florida? Texas? Nope! Ain’t nobody got it sweet like Cali baby! Why is that you ask? Because we bring sexy all year long. That’s right – when the temperatures fall outside, things heat up inside. And here’s a look at how you can heat up in the winter West Coast style.

First off, let’s clarify that the West Coast is where it’s hot because it literally is hot. This place has been burning all summer long! Smokey the Bear is like a Bolt running from the burning brush in Cali country, and we’re all high off the contact smoke from the imported Cannabis planted in the public parks from our neighbors to the south. Muchas Gracias Amigos! So truth be told, we know how to hold it down when it comes to the heat. Winter’s approach doesn’t dampen our spirits, just our lawns, roads, bridges…well, you get the point.

We all know that winter brings weight. You stay inside munching on those cookies and watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta and next thing you know; you get up for a drink and find 20lbs following you from the couch to the fridge! Don’t let the cold get you plumped up and porky. What you need to do is make it hot with some bump and grind. I’m not talking about in the bedroom, but if you got it like that, I’m not mad at you. Dig in and save room for seconds and dessert! No I’m talking about the fitness fire of Samba Cabaret at Hot Pink Feathers Showgirl Academy by Kellita Maloof. To read more click here.

Ashanti Altovese - professional dancer and instructor

Hola Salseros!

I’m an avid lover of the rhythm and dance of Salsa. The feeling it gives me when I’m moving to the music can’t compare to anything else. Whether at a dance studio social, a congress, or at a nightclub, you can feel the energy of the music and expression of that through the people dancing. For me, it’s not just about the music or the dance, but also the style that we bring to it, and by style I mean fashion.

Salsa Fashion is one of my favorite things to talk about because who doesn’t love fashion in some way. It’s an expression of self. And as dancers, we often want to show our personality through our dance fashion. When I survey the Salsa scene, I notice a more casual approach to fashion versus one that brings fashion to fore-front as much as the dancing itself. Now, this isn’t right or wrong, it’s just an observation. Which makes me wonder if Salsa has become more of a casual dance because of the popularity of the dance, commercialization of the music, and casual approach to the fashion side of it. I invite you to share your opinion and perspective if this topic interests you. =)

Fashion is a reflection of culture, socioeconomic status, and other factors, and in dance, this is no different. In the US, our culture is definitely laid back and casual. With jeans and t-shirts, designer and generic store brands, leading the way. And why not? It’s easy to “Throw and Go” and still look good with jeans and t-shirts if you accessorize with jewelry, sun glasses, and other items. For salseros, this is convenient because a dancer may go out around 3 times a week, and with the cover charge to get in the club, the toll to get into the city if your coming from afar, the gas for the car, and maybe a drink at the venue, it can get expensive really fast. But with the casual approach, is Salsa losing finesse, class, and suave that it could have if we upped the ante with our attire? I mean isn’t it nice to walk into a club, a social, or a congress and see people dressed to the nines like ladies and gentlemen while dancing to the hot rhythms of Salsa, Mambo, and Cha Cha Cha?

Now, there’s the other side to this. Some could say, “Well, wouldn’t dressing up every time you go out be damn expensive, make the scene snobby, and intimidate people who are just coming into contact with the scene? Wouldn’t that in fact make the dance more distant and less accessible to other dancers looking to explore Salsa? Additionally, it’s the the music and dancers themselves who make Salsa classy. Fashion has no influence and if so, it’s secondary to the music and dance. ” Hmmmm….these are all valid points. But I would argue that it’s the whole package that makes the difference.

The music, the dance, and the fashion draws you in like a moth to a flame. And once you’re in, it’s addictive! At least that’s been the case for me. So I ask all my fellow salseros, use your creativity and self-expression that you channel through the dance to fashion as well. Let’s be Salsa’s ladies and gentlemen on the dance floor through our dance etiquette, our dance style, and our dance fashion to develop the next generation of dancer’s to be sexy, sophisticated, and Salsalicious!.

by

Ashanti Altovese

Ashanti Altovese - professional dancer and instructor

So, everyone wants to know the secret: The secret to becoming rich and famous. The secret to living a long life without debt, disease, divorce, or death. The secret to having everything your heart desires. Can you imagine living a life where what you dream becomes reality? Where your daydreams are actually premonitions of what’s to come? Well, that’s living “Rich, Pretty, Happy, and Healthy”. Really there is no secret to it. If you think of it, we all have a salvation. For some it’s a friend, or a family member, a pet, a television show, a book, a religion, take your pick. For me, it was Salsa. The dance and the rhythm captured my soul and lead me to this place. My story is The Salsa Salvation….

Ashanti Altovese Griffin