Are you good at dance? Do you like dancing Salsa? If both answers are affirmative, then you have the chance to participate in the First Salsa Congress in Panama. This is the first time that an event like this takes place in the country. Panama Hot was given exclusive rights to represent the World Salsa Open. The festival will start on June 26th and will finish on June 29th.

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 Eleonora Dall´asta was born in Italy.  She was dancing ballet at the age of eight at the “Academy of Ballet Bertolla” in Parma, where she took her first ballet class.  Eleonora began her training in aerial silks in 2002 with Adriana Alvez.  Since then she has been learning and training her circus skills in different places such as: “La Taruma” Peru, “ESAC” Belgium, and “Escuela de Circo CARAMPA” Spain.  In 2005 she joined The Circus Space in London, where she specialized in tight wire.  Eleonora performed in many contemporary circus and dance shows in places like: England, Costa Rica, Denmark, Spain and Panama.

Today Eleonora lives in Panama City, Panama. Eleonora is co founder of the Panamanian circus company La Tribu Performance. La Tribu Performance is a group structured by different young artists that are professionals in different parts of art in general.  Their shows are characterized by the integration of physical theater, dances, movement, music and contemporary circus techniques.

Eleonora is about to start her own aerial dance workshop in the beautiful Panama City. The workshop is for beginners at aerial dance.  You will learn many of the basic teachings of aerial dance such as: how to go up, learn basic falls, different knots, classic dances postures with aerial silks, etc. 

Eleonora counts with a safe procedure to guaranty you won’t get hurt and a vast diversity of classic music for her teachings of aerial dance.

In this aerial dance workshop, you will learn how to warm up your body; you will gain flexibility and physical fitness.  The aerial dance workshop will be on Saturdays and Sundays, starting on May 23rth to May 31rst, from 14:00 until 17.00.  The cost will be of: $150.00 for the whole workshop (pay must be the first day of classes).

The aerial workshop will be taking place at La Casona which is located in Plaza Herrera, Casco Viejo. The space is limited!  Learn the basic techniques of aerial dance. You don´t need any previous experience on circus training or aerial dance.

Don´t miss the chance to have fun working out with Eleonora Da´ llasta in Panama City!

An incredible mix of technique, stage presence, artistry, choreography, professionalism, costuming and star quality make up the dynamic performances of belly dancer Jillina. Jillina Carlano is the choreographer and artistic director of the Bellydance Superstars and Sahlala Dancers.

Jillina was a jazz and hip-hop dancer for most of her dance career, but one day she signed up for a belly dance class with Diane Webber and fell in love with the music, the movements, and the self-expression.  Jillina decided to concentrate in this dance and she began training more seriously in Oriental dance to further her career as a belly dancer. She studied with Oriental dance masters like Hallah Moustafa, Zahra Zuhair, Sahra, Feiruz, Angelika and at home she practice with instructional videotapes.

While performing her solos, Jillina becomes completely mesmerizing and you cannot take your eyes from her because you are fixating on each movement. Each hip shimmy, each torso contraction, each twirl and pirouette is worth individual attention. And Jillina is just so sexy!  With her beautiful, soulful, and passionate style, her dance becomes remarkable, soulful and absolutely dynamic.

Jillina Bellydance Superstar will be performing for one night only in Panama City, Panama, at the Ascanio Arosemena Theater on Sunday April 5, 2009.  Jillina will be teaching two workshops during the day: Oriental Fusion and Drum Solo at the Hotel El Panama.  I had the pleasure to enjoy her performances twice before, and all I can say is you cannot let the opportunity pass to watch on scene the most complete belly dancer of the 21 century.

For more information visit: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=48392513425 or www.jillina.com.

Dance therapy uses movement to improve mental and physical well-being. It is a recognized form of complementary therapy used in hospitals and comprehensive clinical cancer centers, Down syndrome patient, Cerebral Palsy, and others. Here in Panama City, Panama, Taller de Arte Guilde teaches dance therapy at the Children’s Hospital for kids waiting for a kidney transplant.

Dance Therapy can help patients the following ways:

• Dance develops positive body image
• Dancing improves self-concept and self-esteem
• Dance reduces stress, anxiety, and depression
• Dancing decreases isolation, chronic pain, and body tension
• Dance increases communication skills
• Dancing encourages a sense of well-being

or some cancer patients, dance therapy is an effective form of exercise. However, dance therapy has not been studied enough to know if there are any unique health benefits to cancer patients, or to confirm the effects on prevention and/or recovery of illness.

The benefits of dance therapy come through physical activity are known to increase endorphins, which create a general state of well-being on the body.  And total body movement such as dance enhances the functions of other body systems, such as circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, and muscular systems. Dance therapy not only helps you to stay mentally and physically fit but it also gives you pleasure by creating rhythmic art with your body and express them dancing.

Panama has received visits from many celebrated people in its history and it has had several notable celebrities decide to remain here as residents.  One such notable was the prima ballerina assoluta Dame Margot Fonteyn of the Royal Ballet of Britain.  Dame Margot was born Margaret Hookham in Reigate, Surrey on May 18, 1919.  As a child, she studied at dancing schools in the London area until she made her way to school attached to the Vic-Wells Ballet the precursor of the Royal Ballet.  Dame Margot made her debut in 1934 with the Vic-Wells as a snowflake in “The Nutcracker.”  She initially borrowed her mother´s maiden name and danced as Margot Fontes, but soon modified her stage name to Fonteyn.  In 1935, Dame Margot received her first solo in “The Haunted Ballroom,” a ballet by Ninette de Valois, the founder of the Royal Ballet.

Dame Margot most memorable portrayal came at age 30 in the Sadler´s Wells Ballet production of “Sleeping Beauty” as Princess Aurora, which stunned the audience at the Metropolitan Opera House with her youthful performance.

In 1955, Dame Margot married Dr. Roberto Arias, a Panamanian diplomat to London and a philanderer.  Their marriage was tumultuous due to his frequent infidelities. In May of 1964, Dr. Roberto Arias was elected to the National Assembly, his first foray into active politics.  A year later tragedy struck the Arias family, as a rival Panamanian politician, Alberto Jimenez, shot Dr. Arias on a street corner in a suburb of Panama City.  Dr. Arias was treated for 18 months in British hospitals and spent the rest of his entire life as a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair.

Due to the enormous medical cost amassed by Dr. Arias´s medical care, Dame Margot continued to dance until 1979, her sixtieth year, despite from suffering from an arthritic foot.  She remained loyal to Dr. Roberto Arias until his death in 1989.  The artist that too many represented “Eternal Youth,” and whose blend of refinement and passion redefined 20th-century ballet passed away at age 71 on February 21, 1991 in Patilla Hospital in Panama City.

The Nutcracker is the all time favorite Christmas ballet and the most popular ballet among children.  The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” written by E.T.A. Hoffman. Although what is seen on the stage today is different in detail from the original story, the basic plot remains the same; the story of a young German girl who dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads.  When Marius Petipa had the idea to choreograph the story into a ballet, it was actually based on a version by Alexander Dumas.   Lev Ivanov was Petipa assistant and finished choreographing the ballet after Marius got ill. 

The music of the Nutcracker was composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. An interesting footnote to the score of The Nutcracker is the famous use of the celesta in the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy. The celesta was a new musical instrument which had just been created by Auguste Mustel.  Tchaikovsky premier in March 1892 an eight part concert of the ballet and become so popular the music score was published even before the opening of the Nutcracker.

December 18, 1892 was the grand first performance of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Choreography by Petipa/Ivanov, music by Tchaikovsky, décor by Botcharov, Antoinette Dell’ era as Sugar Plum Fairy, Paul Gerdt as the Prince, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofei Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer.

In Panama City we will have presentation in Anayansi Theater, Atlapa, the 27 and 28 of December.  Saturday the 27 the function is a 7:30pm, and Sunday the 28 at 10:30am and 4:30pm.  Tickets can be found at Blockbuster and cost range is from $10 to $50.

In last week show in La Huaca of Rasheda Arabic Dance Studio a special guess took everyone breathed away.  In an amazing display of beauty and strength the aerial dance group Gramo Dance.  Gramo Dance has been promoting art appreciation since 1997 through shows, workshops and classes.  They are actively   involved in promoting and sharing this dance form in children with economic need from Chorrillo, in Panama City, Panama, through scholarships provided with the help of Club Kiwanis and General Bank.

Ximena Eleta de Sierra was the opening act dancing in the hoop together with shadow box belly dancing, a truly lovely combination.

Later on, Raquel Arrue, former ballet dancer and belly dance instructor, solo performance in exquisite display of precision and beauty.

Finally, Bestlie Pineda performed in the hoop together with fire dancers Mitchelle Quiñones and Carol Espinosa.

Gramo Danse is the Aerial dance foundation that takes you to another dimension, breaking boundaries, full of energy and unconventional beauty of modern dance.

Ballet is a standard art form today, known and loved by audiences across the world. It is a formalized form of dance developed in the early 1600s as a concert dance form. It is an elite form of dancing that requires foot muscle movement, and suspension on the toes. This kind of dance requires strength, resilience, elegance and grace all at once, while making the different movements. In ballet, dance is performed purely to an orchestral accompaniment; there is no singing. Early forms used long skirt; today’s dances use both tutu skirts and tutu bodices. Learning ballet requires perseverance and hard work. Ballet technique is considered to be the basis of training for all types of dance like salsa, tango, cha cha cha between others.

Today exist the classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. The classical ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles; it adheres to traditional ballet technique, is generally structured on a narrative pretext they can be based on traditional stories. Neoclassical ballet describes the ballet style using a traditional ballet vocabulary and is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet, because is more varied. The modern or contemporary ballet is influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. The concepts of the contemporary ballet came from the ideas of today’s’ modern dance.

Here in Panama City, Panama academies were formed to pass on the fundamentals and traditions of this popular dance with a great quality of dance training. In the different academies that exist in Panama City, Panama you can learn the different ballet steps and the fundamental movements and positions you need to get started in this classical dance.

Merengue Dancing is a Latin America style dance and it’s the national dance of the Dominican Republic. Merengue is a combination of two dances, the African and the French Minuet. Merengue dancing is a couple’s dance, eventhough the original was not dance by individual couples and the original movements were only the shaking of the shoulder, nowadays it’s dance in 4 beats or 8 beats, and with a sensual movement of the hips. The basic steps counting on 8 beats is the most popular (1, 2, 3, 4 – 1, 2, 3, 4) and only after completing those eight steps you can change to some other movement. Merengue dancing is composed of three basic movements; they are the Side Basic Movement, Forward Basic Movement and the Back Basic Movement. The combination of these three movements, with small variations in body position, makes up the steps of the dance. In this dance you move in every beat.

From all the dances, merengue is the easiest to learn, if you can walk you can dance merengue. One important rule of all Latin dances is “feel the music”, is important to enjoy the music in order to make your movements look natural. The music indicates what to do, just feel the music, because dance is based in listening and moving to the rhythm of the music. Another important rule is the tempo of the music, the tempo indicates dancers how fast or pause they should make the movements, displacements or turns. The tempo is the important component that differentiates merengue from salsa, mambo and other kind of dances. The music tempo is about 120 – 160 beats per minute.

Here in Panama City, Panama merengue is one of the most popular dances and there are many academies where you can go and learn in the different workshops, more of how to do the merengue dance, the important steps and movements such as the position,  the correct posture, and men’s and women’s basic steps. Learning how to dance merengue is a great way to start familiaring with Cuban Motion.

Even though the Tango dance is not categorized as part of the group of erotic dances, it is known as the most sensual dance in the world, followed by the flamenco and then salsa. However, people are starting to realize that it is indeed a dance that requires a lot of eroticism and sensuality.

When people hear Tango, they only think about Argentina. Why? As many of you will know, its origins are from Argentina, but according to the region it spreads into, it also had its origins in Uruguay, United States and Europe. People also don’t know that there are over 10 different types of tango that are also dance to different types of music. The most popular tango is, of course, the Argentine Tango. The Uruguayan tango, the Ballroom tango, and the Finnish tangos are also very popular. In every type of tango, it is pretty essential to dance with a partner, although there are some interludes where you can do some solos.

The popularity for this dance has been increasing so much that you may see it being feature in many films. Also, many gentleman clubs, nude clubs and even escort girls are starting to use this very provocative dance as a way to fill the environment with eroticism and desire.

Here in Panama, the most known type of tango is the Argentine Tango. In this type, you can either dance with a “frame” or dance very close to your partner. The eroticism of the dance lies in the expression and passion that is shown by the couple. To be great dancers, the couple has to be able to show true dramatic feelings that will make everyone get really involve with the story-telling dance. The steps for this dance consist of very complex figures that can be broken into smaller and not so complicated steps.

The tango has become part of the sexy dances in Panama. If you wish to enjoy a good tango night, you can go to the social club in El Panama Hotel on Wednesdays where you can enjoy a Buenos Aires TANGO Show or go to Pizza Piola on Fridays for another tango show or dance lesson. Both of these events are performed and organized by the “Academia de Tango Argentino en Panama”, Academy for Argentine Tango in Panama, which is located on Balboa Avenue in Panama City, Panama that specializes on the teaching of this type of tango, so you can learn more about the sensuality in this dance that is just starting to rise here in Panama City, Panama.