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JOEL and ANA TINAJERO MASSICOT

Photographer:  Steve Bellew

Setting:  Wherever your imagination takes you
Theme:   Stepping Outside the Box
Music:     Take Five by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond
Costumes:  Design by Joel and Ana
Debut:     November 2003

Photographer:  Ricardo Nelson

Reviews:

"Best Musicality"

--   Apple Tropical NY
      LA Salsa Congress 2004 Review
      www.TropicalNewYork.com

"One particular performance touched me more than others: Ana & Joel Mazacote from Boston danced salsa to a jazz classic Take 5 written decades ago by Paul Desmond and made immortal by the legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck.  They did not even choose a Latin arrangement of this tune.  They stuck to the original composition written in 5/4 beats – uneven number theoretically impossible to dance to, especially salsa that needs 4 beats.  But they did it!...I started noting only the very best performances that stood out in any way.  Ana & Joel are certainly on that list."

--  Maya
     SalsaLand: A Review of the 2004 West Coast Salsa Congress
     www.SalsaCrazy.com

 

Analysis:

At the time of this choreography, Ana and I were looking to break boundaries and step outside the box.  In searching for songs to choreograph to, we ran accross Tito Puente's version of Take 5.  We almost decided to use it, until Dave Brubeck's original jazz version inspired us -- "What if we danced salsa on the count of 5?"  Talk about a challenge for something that hadn't been done before...Needless to say, we went with the original version and decided to learn how to dance on 5.  So what do I mean when I say 5?

Tito Puente’s version of Take 5, as well as every other salsa song, is written in 4/4 in music terms.  This means that in one bar you have 4 beats.  One bar of 4 beats for musicians is equal to 8 beats for dancers.

For example:  

Musicians' Count:	1		2		3		4
Dancers' Count:	1	2	3	pause 4	5	6	7	pause 8

 

Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond's version (the original) is written in 5/4, musician terms.  So in order to choreograph to it, we had to change our count from 8 to 10.

Example:

Musicians' Count:	1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	4	5
Dancers' Count:	1	2	3	4	pause 5	6	7	8	9	pause 10

 

Now, we danced this on 2, so what used to be our 2 and 6 was now our 2 and 7.

Example...

Dancing in 8 (Ladies' timing):

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
R	L	R	pause	L	R	L	pause

 

Dancing in 10 (Ladies' timing):

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
R	L	R	L	pause	L	R	L	R	pause

 

Once we figured out what the step count would be, we ventured into the choreography.   This routine is what ensued from our interpretation of the music...

 

Photographer:  Steve Bellew

 

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