An audience packed with cheering Cubans greeted David Calzado and his Charanga Habanera at S.O.B.’s on Friday night, in a rare and welcome American appearance by one of Cuba’s top bands — signaling, perhaps, an Obama administration thaw in Cuban-American relations. Formed in 1988 and persisting through multiple personnel changes, Charanga Habanera has made hits in Cuba through the 1990s and 2000s, and its set raced through them in an exultant, nearly nonstop two-hour medley. In songs like “Soy Cubano, Soy Popular” (“I Am Cuban, I Am Popular”), the band sang of its own fame and success, and the crowd proved it by shouting along, verse and chorus.

It was a song that turned Andy Truong into a fan of Bachata, a sensual Latin dance that drew him and hundreds of other devotees to a four-day festival of morning workshops and late-night dances that ended today in Reno.

If you like to dance, or watch professional dancers, you may want to check out a massive dance party at the Silver Legacy Casino this weekend.

Project Graduation provides a safe, substance-free celebration for Teaneck High School seniors on the night of their high school graduation and to enable every graduating student to participate in the activities regardless of income. This is accomplished through the efforts of parents who chaperone the events and organize fundraising activities and through donations from parents, local merchants, the community and other school organizations.

If you've resolved to get fit in this exciting newish year, why not have fun while you're at it?

Specifically, this Friday you can grab two whole hours worth of dance lessons — and stay to dance afterward — at Azzucar Nightclub's salsa night.

MIAMI (Billboard) - This fall, George Lopez became the first Latin comedian to host his own late-night talk show on an English-language channel. Last summer, the Spanish-peppered "In the Heights," with its merengue/salsa/bachata score, won a Tony Award for best musical. And Shakira, a Colombian, has a hit on the Billboard 200 with her new album, "She Wolf."

When I first started taking salsa lessons, I only knew one artist by name and that was Marc Anthony, a popular cross-over favorite.

Reno Dance Sensation is a four-day dance convention and party held in exciting Reno, NV, focusing on West Coast Swing, Salsa, Bachata, and others such as Lindy and A. Tango.

READERS have the chance to get moving in 2010 by winning an eight-week salsa dance course.