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• Instructor Review

• Contact Info

• Website

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INSTRUCTOR REVIEW 
(Originally posted on Salsaweb NY on 2/99)
I consider Carlos Vasquez to be one of Brooklyn’s best kept mambo secrets. Carlos (known as "Big C" to some of his friend) is founder and director of "La Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio" located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (click here for school location). He is director of La Salsa de Hoy Dancers and was a member of David Melendez’s Mambo Elite Dance Company. He has performed for the Puerto Rican Day Parade, Latin Quaters, Tavern on the Green, Side Street, Astoria Park and at Flushing Meadow Park. Carlos founded La Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio in 1982 as a bi-lingual, bi-cultural program that provides instruction to children and adults from 6 and above. He is a man with strong ties to his Latino roots and believes "that there is a strong affinity between self-esteem & knowledge of one’s culture." Carlos likes to use another quote from Agnes De Mille, New York Times Magazine as another way to help illustrate his point which says, "The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music.....Bodies never lie". Assisted by Lourdes Mojica, Raymond Colon & Joanna Colon, his school becomes the gathering point of many neighborhood children seeking to learn how to dance Salsa/Mambo, Cha-Cha and Hip-hop.

The Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio (currently two different schools at this present location) is a 800 square foot dance space and comes equipped with bathrooms, changing areas & a wall-to-wall set of mirrors. The school’s bright, clean and well kept appearance reflects the pride and love Carlos has for teaching mambo. He is a jolly and cheerful man who personally greets everyone walking through the door with a warm smile or friendly handshake. The day I went to review his school, Carlos was suffering from a minor knee injury, but that didn’t stop the man from jumping in with the rest of his students. He just gritted his teeth, crack a smile and let out what I call one of his trademark jolly laughs. He was having a good time teaching, showing others how to have a good time and enjoying every moment of it (even if he was in slight pain).

Carlos begins his class with a 45 minute shine work out done to some fun-jamming salsa tunes. Leading his pack of students, he calls out the name of one of the shines listed on wall above the mirror. Each shine is done twice before moving onto the next shine. Periodically he goes back to review many of the shines done earlier before moving onto the next set of shines on his list. The second segment of the class is dedicated to breaking down several shines to his students. He usually goes over those shines that he noticed students having the most problems with during the first segment of the class. Great detail is given to each shine so that the student can clearly understand how to break down the move according to the 8 measures count of the clave. The third segment to the shine portion of the class is what I call "shines on spot". What Carlos does is ask each student to perform & count out a shine that was covered in class that day. In essence he is putting the student on the spot. The interesting thing is that there is no sense of pressure. Everyone takes a turn breaking down a shine. Each student receives a healthy dose of applauds at the end from the entire class (sort of positive reinforcement). There is no right or wrong. It’s just Carlos’s way to check and see how well people have retained knowledge so that he knows what to review next time in class.

The next portion of the class focuses on partner work. Carlos performs a turn pattern for the entire class to see. After he illustrates the pattern and verbally breaks down the moves for both men and women he has the class form a line and partner off. Students review the turn pattern to Carlos’s count. Partners switch periodically so that they can learn how to apply the pattern to different partners who may have different ‘leads’ or ‘follows’. All throughout this time Carlos is bouncing around the class looking to help out anyone having trouble executing the turn pattern. Bottom line, his goal is to keep everyone smiling and remembering to have a good time. Dancing is suppose to be fun and he makes sure that his laid back approach reminds people of that. Finally, the class wraps up the session with a shine cool down.

Carlos's Style in a nutshell
If I were to compare Carlos Vasquez to other mambo instructors, I would say that he has an old school fun loving style of mambo dancing filled with ‘mucho sabor’. As a teacher I find that his simple, jolly & laid back approach makes him very accessible to even the shyest of students. So if you live in Brooklyn and are thinking about learning to dance mambo, then maybe Carlos Vasquez and his Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio can be the place for you.

Social Dance:

• Mambo Sundays - Contact Carlos Vasquez for more information or surf on over to our Calendar of Events Page.

Website:

• www.lasalsadehoy.com

Articles:

• The Mission & Purpose Behind La Salsa de Hoy 
• List of Salsa De Hoy Dance Steps
• About the Salsa de Hoy Dance School
• Carlos Vasquez (a.k.a. Big "C's" Background

:

Instructional Videos

• None at this time.

Dance Company

• Revelation Dancers of La Salsa De Hoy
  (Director and Choreographer:  CC Williams)
  Check SalsaNewYork.com for Dance Company Performances
  See listing in the SalsaNewYork Directory of Mambo Performing Groups

Contact Info:

• Phone: (718)686-0735
• Pager: (917)933-5118
• e-mail: cvasquez@lasalsadehoy.com
  e-mail: Lasalsadehoy@aol.com   

Privates:

• Carlos is not available for private instruction.

Children:

• The Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio does cater to children and offer children (Beginner, Advanced and Teenager classes).

Class Schedule:

Directions:

• Directions to La Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio from Manhattan:
  By train from Manhattan:
  Take the R or the N train at 14 St. South going into Brooklyn. Get off at 45th street in Brooklyn. Then walk on 4th Avenue to 46th street turn left on 46th Street. Walk up one block up to 5th Avenue. La Salsa de Hoy Dance Studio is slightly of 5th Avenue on 46th Street. (Street level).
  
  By Car from Manhattan:
  Take FDR to the Brooklyn Bridge (stay in the center lane), Exit at Adam Street, approx. 1/4 (.05) miles, you'll make a left turn at Atlantic avenue, for another 1/4 (.07) miles, Turn right on 4th Avenue, for approx. 3 miles turn left on 46th Street to 5th Avenue

• Additional Direction Info Courtesy of Lasalsadehoy.com

• By train from Manhattan:
  NYC Transit
  
  Take the R or the N train at 14 St. South going into Brooklyn. Get off at 45th street in Brooklyn. Then walk on 4th Avenue to 46th street turn left on 46th Street. Walk up one block up to 5th Avenue. We are slightly of 5th Avenue on 46th Street. (Street level)

• By Car from Manhattan:
  Mapquest.com
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Take FDR to the Brooklyn Bridge (stay in the center lane), Exit at Adam Street (Brooklyn Bridge Blvd)., approx 1/4 (.05) miles, you'll make a left turn at Atlantic avenue, for another 1/4 (.07) miles, Turn right on 4th Avenue, for approx. 3 miles turn left on 46th Street to 5th Avenue.
  Yahoo.com: This is the link to the Yahoo maps starting page. According to Steve Shaw, it may be the better of the two Map websites.