Latin Flavor’s First Latin Party!

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As they say, “No pain, no gain”. We got our butts kicked with this dance. Matt and I especially, who were newbies in a way, started off in such a rough spot. I was absolutely amazed how in a few short weeks Matt, who had never taken salsa before, pushed himself and ended up looking the way he did. Dave, who didn’t know NY style salsa but was good at picking things up quickly, was a life saver who we depended on to help us practice off the salsa floor. 

Throwing a party as Latin Flavor was awesome. These people are passionate about the group, and the party was so beyond our expectations. Around 120 showed up, I think the biggest foreign based salsa party. 

The best was having people from my church come and volunteer to help with the fundraising that we were doing for Not for Sale. Read the previous post to learn a bit more about this anti-human trafficking group. 

The first dance is the salsa song I’m in and the second is the awesome sexy bachata song the others in our team did. Enjoy! ^_^

Sonora Carruseles – El Gato Boogaloo

Toby Love – Tengo Un Amor

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A Week in Photos #2

The week started off with a beautiful powerful storm Monday morning, and it wasn’t so bad because it was like a summer storm. It was awesome seeing the dark clouds move over the mountains and bring the sun. 

It’s been a noisy busy week this week as supporters have been filling the streets pushing for voters to vote for their favorite candidate on Election Day, April 11th. There are 7 candidates running for Congress / Parliament. It wasn’t fully explained to me, and the people I talk to don’t really seem interested in politics enough to explain it. 

My friends have complained how the volunteers for each candidate have been driving around in these small trucks, dancing and chanting. These #6 Candidate supporters are wearing the candidate’s face. Memorable. 

Found the biggest book bag EVER! I want to crawl inside and have someone carry me haha

Snorted and choked on my breakfast when I realized what the name was. What a funky name .. heehee. Does it exist in America?

Massively stalkerish of me, but I love seeing Koreans wearing Brooklyn shirts. Plus see all the old people exercising at like 7 in the morning. They rock! … I wish we were more like that at home. 

They finally arrived!! (^_^) I love the cherry blossoms!

This place really hit the spot. It’s so popular, you often wait in a long line just to get in. Paper thin dumplings, a Daegu specialty, with a Busan-style gochujang, a hot paste made from chilli peppers, along with fish cakes and rice cakes (Ddeokbokki – 떡볶이). Sooo so good! 

My cast mates and I went for a night out, and I got to try out a new Western restaurant downtown. The theme that night was Hawaiian but clearly we lacked in that department. Needless to say, it was good bonding with them. 

My home for the past week and this coming week until our show on the 14th. Ouch how my body aches (ㅠ_ㅠ) but gotta make this show awesome! (^_^)

Salsa Dancing for a Cause – April 14!

Latin Flavor 

My body slightly aches … and I kinda want to curl into a ball under my desk right now and sleep (^_^). I’ve been dancing hardcore lately getting ready for the first salsa party thrown by the renamed Salsa English-speaking group here in Daegu. We are now called Latin Flavor!

As some of you remember, I started taking Cuban salsa within the first few months of being in Korea. We had a great performance that year, it’s always fun dancing in a rueda and switching partners through calls and responses. 

I recently took up New York-style salsa, which…. though I know I should know more about it, I feel like a kid who just lost his training wheels. Some time within this year I think my body changed. I suddenly get easily dizzy from being spun..which is clear red flag in this current performance we are trying to perfect. Slowly, but surely I have to learn how to spot turn, and become the dancer all little girls want to be. I just have to get over the fact that I want to pass out every time we practice (^_^;)

More info!

We have set up our classes at Babalu Salsa Club in Downtown Daegu.  We are currently teaching SALSA (new york style) and BACHATA.

The classes run from 7:30-9:00pm and a social dance from 9:00-2:00am.
Schedule looks something like this every SATURDAY @ BABALU:
Class + party + drink = 10,000 won

7:30-8:00 – Beginner’s and review of previous steps
8:00-9:00 – Salsa class (Beginner’s will have someone helping them separately)

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Sex Trafficking in Korea

We teamed up with an organization called Not for Sale that “creates tools that engage business, government, and grassroots in order to incubate and grow social enterprises to benefit enslaved and vulnerable communities.” We will have a booth there that will be accepting donations for the Not for Sale Korea group. 

• “Korea is both a destination and source for human trafficking. The Korea Women’s Development Institute said in a 2007 study that the sex trade industry was worth 14 trillion won ($12.4 billion) and consisted of 269,000 Korean prostitutes.” [source]
• Statistics and documentation say that there are over one million South Korean women alone that are being forced into red light districts and other forms of prostitution in South Korea. [source]
• South Korea is a destination country for women trafficked from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.), the Philippines, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries for sexual and labor exploitation. Some women and girls were trafficked to become brides for South Korean men or to work in child sex tourism. Some victims were recruited by false promises of employment in the entertainment industry but were later coerced into exploitative conditions [source]
• In South Korea the sex industry accounts for 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. [source]
• For more info 

Free to Dance

For those in the Daegu area, I invite you to come out and try something a little different. I know it can be intimidating, but we would love to have you there. And to all my friends…you best be there, or you will get cut 😉

Here is our article from the Daegu Compass: