Santiago de Cuba is playing host again to the Great Contest of Cuban Popular Dances and Ruedas de Casino this weekend, October 16-17 . Competitions will be held in danzón, son, casino, mambo, pilón. mozambique and rueda de casino. An award will also go to the best overall dance couple. This type of competition promotes the continuation of traditional Cuban popular dances among the youth.

The contest will be held from 7:00pm at Parque de Céspedes. After the competitions, local stars will also perform such as singers Yeline Lafargue and Leodalis Sánchez, the rumba group Oba Tuké, and the rueda groups Salseros de Calle - dir. Yanek Revilla and Rueda de Casino All Stars - dir. Jorge Luna. It may be of interest for those of you who have been following Cuban dance competitions to see that Yanek Revilla is now a judge for this competition!

Santiago de Cuba is hosting the event in tandem with UNEAC's Festival for the Felix B. Caignet Award and Cuban Culture Day. Also supporting the event are the Centro Provincial de Casas de Cultura and Direcciones Municipales y Provincial de Cultura and the Amigos del Danzòn y el Son. The contest provides a great reason for you to take a trip to Santiago this weekend to catch some top-notch, genuine Cuban dancing!

Just for fun, here's another look at Yanek's award winning rueda from A Bailar Casino

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Finally the long awaited new release by Elito Revé y Su Charangón is available on-line! We've seen some great CDs come out this year, but for me "De que estamos hablando" is so far in the lead as best CD of 2010. You really do not want to miss this CD. It has been a grueling and long wait, but in the end it is well worth it. So get yourself the CD today and start preparing for the upcoming European Fall Tour!

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Lázaro Valdés & Bamboleo

Lazarito Valdés and Bamboleo have been on tour in the US with shows in Florida, New York and Virginia. The exceptional combination of Lázaro's music, Ronnys' charisma and Tania's complete domination of the stage, backed up by a stellar group of musicians is not to be missed. Bamboleo has remained at the top of the hit parade since Lázaro founded the group in 1995 and is still the epitome of hardcore timba. You can catch them at their final engagement of the US tour at S.O.Bs in New York on October 9th. Do yourself a favor and don't miss this last chance to see the band live before they head back to Havana.

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Elito Revé y Su Charangón have had a busy year of touring. After the US tour in July they did a couple of shows together with Los Van Van in Peru. This Friday, October 1st they will play the Courthouse in Toronto, Ontario and on October 12 the Charangón starts it's Autumn European Tour with a concert at Back-up in Paris. New dates are still being added so keep checking the Revé Tours page to find your closest venue.

In preparation for the tour, a promotional video has been put together. This video is a little unusual because it focuses on dancers rather than being clips of the band. I really like the approach of focusing on the dance in order to promote the music. It is a fun video where you can see fans dancing casino and rueda to music by Orquesta Revé. The audio track was edited by timba photographer and DJ Tom Bauer. So check out the video below, and see if you can pick up some new moves. It will get you in the mood for a night of dancing with La Revé.

Promotional video for "De qué estamos hablando" tour

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