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Salsa & Mambo Video Reviews

Salsaddiction (Brian & Mechteld)

Intermediate

Level: Int

Style: On2

Content: Turn Patterns

General Comment: A couple of years ago our friends in Curacao told us to keep an eye out for a fellow countryman dancing in Holland for Salsaddiction; as usual they were right, we searched YouTube and watched in amazement. Now Salsaddition can be invited to your home via this DVD, highly recommended.

Their dancing has all the features you want to admire, spot-on technique and flamboyant styling from the lady (Mechteld) and the heartily afro-latin touch so dear to us from the male dancer (Brian); similarly, the DVD has many features you may be after: 9 turn patterns, one shine, very clear teaching, all elements shown from 2 views, interpretation with counting and with music and an additional side and top views, albeit very small, in case you want to probe into further details.But the value of the DVD lies in the quality: the turn patterns are really good and some elements very innovative; they are fairly short, which makes them easy to remember and adapted to your standard repertoire. Although we have not tried them yet, they also look fairly leadable. They are taught in a clever fashion, broken down in manageable chunks and put together in an intuitive way.

The DVD is spoken in Dutch but the counting and name of the elements are given in English using (mostly) standard salsa nomenclature and the explanations can be followed via English subtitles. The product is fairly short (35 minutes) and surely a couple of extra shines could have been included to make it slightly longer, but this should not deter you from purchasing it, both dancers and turn patterns are really worth watching. A recommended addition on your on2 collection.

Reviewed by Fabio of SalsaIsGood - Reccomended

Advanced

Level: Adv

Style: On2

Content: Turn Patterns

General Comment: With exactly the same structure as their ‘Intermediate’ volume, Brain and Mechteld bring to us three more combinations each with variations, for a total of 10 turn patterns plus one shine. Most turn patterns are based on the idea of leaning the lady into sudden changes of directions. This is an idea which is elaborated cleverly both in the way it is lead, where the change of direction is placed and its general look and feeling. But the real value of the DVD, in my opinion, lies in simply looking at Brain and Mechteld dancing: I could do this for hours and I caught myself with a smile on my face while I admired the way Brian interprets the music with surprising simple body gestures.. for me that is worth the cost of the DVD in itself. I hope this couple will produce many, many more products. As the ‘Intermediate’ this DVD is also Danced on 2, this time to a very catchy timba groove and spoken in Dutch with English subtitles.

Reviewed by Fabio of SalsaIsGood - Reccomended