El Cantante

Though they don't look much alike, slight actor-singer Marc Anthony was born to play robust salsa sensation Héctor Lavoe. In addition to similar ancestry and vocal skills, Anthony has been building a respectable cinematic resume with roles in Big Night and Martin Scorsese's Bringing out the Dead. The title of El Cantante comes from a number Rubén Blades wrote for The Singer. Lavoe would make it his signature song. In the film, Anthony's wife, producer Jennifer Lopez, plays Puchi, the Nuyorican beauty who won Lavoe's heart. She narrates their story from the perspective of 2002 (the real-life Puchi passed away shortly afterwards). Leon Ichaso (Piñero) contrasts Lavoe's rise from Puerto Rican street singer to New York superstar with his fall from innocent immigrant to heroin-addicted ladies man. By the mid-1980s, Lavoe's popularity hit its peak, and Ichaso spends the rest of the time ticking off the tragedies of his final years: the break with trombonist Willie Colón (John Ortiz), stay in a mental ward, etc. It's a dynamic portrait, and Anthony and Lopez work well together, but despite the urban setting and Latin-flavored soundtrack, El Cantante follows virtually the same trajectory as Ray and Walk the Line (Ichaso has also directed biopics of Jimi Hendrix and Muhammad Ali). His movie looks and sounds authentic, but Lavoe's story might've been better served as nonfiction. There's a sense that there was more to the man than what appears on screen. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Review: El cantante sings!
I loved this movie and I also love JLo and Marc Anthony! I think this movie was underrated. If you are truly interested in Hector Lavoe, you will love it. If you buy it just cause you want to see JLo and Marc, you probably won't like it. They are good in the movie but the story is what made it for me. Of course, it goes without saying, Marc Anthony's voice is supberb!
Customer Review: WONDERFUL....
I rented this film recently and was surprised at how good it was. The story depicts the stormy life and tragic end to the great salsa legend Hector Lavoe. This movie hits you in the heart from the start. It makes you care about the character and his music. I now own a cd of Hector Lavoe and I never knew I could like salsa. Who knew?? His music is amazing and the tragic events of his life makes you want to know the person behind the prose of his songs. My ears know good music when it hears it and this man was a icon. Hector Lavoe.......rest in peace! I'm not much of a fan of Jennifer Lopez but she played a good role. However, another actress (a more popular one) would have made this film more marketable to the non-Hispanic population ( mass audience).

The difference between the Basic, the Intermediate and the Advanced levels of dancing proficiency are defined by more than just their core curriculums. In the aviation world, for example, it is the difference between driving an airplane and flying one! A basic pilot can fly straight and level, climb, descend, and turn. An intermediate pilot can combine these basic "stick and rudder" airwork fundamentals with good airspeed control and make acceptable take offs and landings; however, only an advanced pilot can take full advantage of his airplane's capabilities by being able to fly it safely to the edge of its performance curve. Switching our focus now from the cockpit back to the dance floor, let's put the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels of swing dancing into their proper perspective by looking at them within the context of the four stages of awareness in the process of learning to dance.

1) UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE: At this first stage of awareness, a dancer has never given the subject of swing dancing any conscious thought. He has never been formally introduced to it and, although he may be quite adept at other styles of dancing like freestyle or Country and Western, for example, until he takes his first Basic level swing dance class, he is really at a stage of unawareness because he is simply unconscious of his incompetence.

2) CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE: At this second stage of awareness, the new male dancer or "leader," has been formally introduced to swing dancing at his club and he now fully appreciates its social and recreational potential. He has taken several Basic level classes but he realizes that his performance is marginal at best and that he needs to take many more swing dance classes and workshops to sharpen his skills. He is grateful for any helpful tips that might improve his dancing; for example, he may determine his lead hand by looking to see which thumb and forefinger form the letter "L." This is the awkward stage for the new swing dancer. His hand-leads are generally too strong and his body movements tend to be too stiff and mechanical to suit all but the least experienced of his female partners or "followers." At this point in his training, he is more prone to be repeatedly answering the question: "how long have you been dancing" rather than "where do you dance." All in all, the conscious incompetent clings to his patty-cake, the think-step pattern like a new western horseback rider clings to his saddle horn.

3) CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE: At this third stage of awareness, the male dancer has completed all of the Basic and Intermediate level classes offered by his club, and he is now an accomplished, well rehearsed dancer. He almost always executes his triple step footwork flawlessly in every direction to varying tempos of the music; he seldom misses that important "3 and 4" count of his footwork that often eludes less experienced dancers, and he has developed a gentle yet firm lead that guarantees him a willing partner for every dance. All in all, he has developed into a smooth dancer who confidently performs the different swing patterns that he has learned over the years. The conscious competent leader knows what he is doing!

4) UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE: At this final, fourth stage of awareness, the male dancer has achieved the highest level of proficiency where he has cultivated a signature style that transcends being well rehearsed; instead, he has become just as intimately familiar with each inherent part of the patterns that he has learned over the years, as he is with the overall patterns themselves. As an advanced dancer, he can intuitively "mix and match" the specific handwork and footwork elements of different patterns to create new patterns, and he has the versatility to frequently intersperse steps from other dance disciplines to physically embrace the beat of the music. His extensive knowledge of the dance, combined with his fluid lead authority enables him to maneuver his partner to the edge of her capabilities so that as a couple, they are able to consistently deliver award winning performances. Simply put, the unconscious competent is the dancer that the dancers enjoy watching!

TEACHABILITY INDEX: How quickly a new dancer progresses through these four stages of competence depends upon how "teachable" he or she is! All of us may compute our own Teachability Index (TI) which is the product of the following two variables that are rated on a scale of "1" (lowest) to "10" (highest): our Willingness To Learn (WTL) and our Willingness To Change (WTC). If our willingness to learn how to "dance centered," for example, is a 10, but our willingness to change our body positioning to accomplish this goal is just a "5," then our Teachability Index is only 50% (WTL x WTC = 50)! In other words, the maximum effort that we made in class to LEARN the correct way to "dance centered" is half wasted if we are not willing to CHANGE the way we lead our partner! Always remember that both learning and change are the inseparable, twin handmaidens of dance proficiency.

Copyright 2008 by Skip Culver, Certified Swing Dance Instructor. Member of the West Count Swing Dance Club and author of the manual: Imperial Swing Dancing - visit: http://www.ImperialSwing.com

Henry H. "Skip" Culver, Jr. is a member of the West County Swing Dance Club in St. Louis Missouri. He is a Gold Seal Instrument Flight Instructor and the author of the bestselling book on navigation titled: IFR 'Pocket Simulator' Procedures that was selected as the Main Selection of the Jeppesen Aviation Book Club. In 2000 Skip turned his attention from aviation towards the dance floor. He became a Certified Swing Dance Instructor in 2004, and then with over seven years of detailed notes from various classes and workshops in hand, he began assembling the Imperial Swing Dancing manual which he published in June of 2007. Skip is a frequent contributor of articles on swing dancing to different club newsletters throughout the United States.

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