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1st Place Winners:
Pawel and Dora (also La Classique Amateur Champions,
Mar 2000)
We all know that they are good, but it's scary how good and fast
they are getting.
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2nd Place went
to Bong and Jean
An amazing job for their first
competition. Wow! I didn't expect them to be this good. I've always
felt that Jean was really good dancer, but I never expected Bong
to put up on such a show.
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3rd Place: Jason and Effie
What surprised me was how relaxed
and calm Jason and Effie were. With Jason it’s understandable
as he competes in Ballroom, but Effie was a pleasant surprise.
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Special note: Everyone with the exception of Effie – they are all United Salseros
Volunteers. It was great to see them finish 1, 2, 3.They all choreographed their own routines. All of them seemed to
get better every time I see them. I
know all of the (AMATEUR) competitors personally and felt that they all
deserved trophies. |
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| Runners Up in Amateurs:
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Runners Up - Allan and Rose:
I was surprised to even
see them enter at Berlin's as I had no idea that they even wanted
to compete. Well, PERFORM they did and they did a great job as
it got them to the finals. I've rarely seen them dance together
at the clubs, but they seemed to take it to another level making
it to the finals. I didn't know Rose could do the splits (Owww).
I believe that Allan has competed in ballroom before. Great
Job guys.....
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Runners Up - Alex
and Dana: What can I say??????? Boy, did they ever use the size
disadvantage or should I say advantage (Dana dipped Alex - looked
really good).They just went out there and had FUN. Not to take anything
away from their dancing ability, but this is why they made it to
the finals. Alex personally told me that they didn't even expect
to even make it to the finals but that they would put their hearts
to it, do the best they can and just have fun. I wish everyone would
think this way.... |
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Runners
Up - Robert and Katie from Detroit:
I guess being from the States, I expected them to be a lot
better. Though this was unfair as, in my opinion, they are intermediate/
advanced dancers that you get in most of the past amateur contests.
My hats off to them for knowing that they were competing against
some of the top dancers in Toronto and still coming back and giving
it 100%. I don't know about everybody but I'm sure there are those
who might have not come back after seeing the other Toronto amateurs
dance at the semi-finals.
Expect future amateurs and hopefully professionals to be
much better than what we've been used to in the past.
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No offense to the Professionals but I, along with many other people that I've spoken with, thought that the
show for the Amateurs was much better. Many, like myself also thought that some of the Amateurs would have a good chance of
winning the Professional Category had they entered as such. All seemed to be using a lot of new styles
and combinations. Great to see Salsa developing and/or changing for the better.
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Professional Category
Here are the results for the Professionals in the Berlin/Atlantis Salsa Finals.
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1ST PLACE (CHAMPIONS)
Puerto Rico's own Elaine and Victor, now living in
Detroit. My personal opinion, they were not my favourite couple;
nor did I think that their on "2" dancing was as sharp
as other Puerto Ricans or New Yorkers that I've seen. But I guess
that their forte is more ballroom than salsa. Now I'm not saying
that they were bad but they definitely were not my faves.
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2ND PLACE-
From Montreal, Sonya and Mauricio. Now this was my
favourite couple. They had umphhh behind their steps and Mauricio
had his eyes on Sonya throughout their routine. Can't say I blame
him. Women that I've spoken with tell me that they wish their dance
partners/ significant others looked at them the same way (my girlfriend
included) and that Mauricio's gaze would make them melt. I must
ask him to show me that one. During the semi's he also had the look
but there wasn't much kick to his step. I don't think that anybody
really shined during the semi's and I along with others still preferred
this couple. |
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3RD PLACE-
Toronto's own Ricardo and Inessa. They had a nice
sharp routine with a great Samba intro. Not great but nice. They
complement each other well mixing ballroom posture with some nice
salsa steps. A team to watch????? Maybe... |
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The
runners up were Daniel Torres and Teria.
Well.....Both of these competitors have been Salsa Champions
in the past. They did a good job and had a fairly clean routine
that may have won them the competition in the past, but were a little
flat and it did not win it for them this year. The judges not only
marked them on their routine, timing, interaction, etc., but also
how they stacked up to the other finalists. The other competitors
had newer, nicer, and more difficult routines. |
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| Note from Rene: The
comments mentioned above are those of my own personal opinion and
are not to be taken out of context.
TO ALL THE READERS: We’d
like your feedback at info@tosalsa.com
on any or all of the following questions. We will publish this
with your permission; with or without your name as requested.
What did you think about the competition?
Is this format better than in previous years where the
semi-finals is also a set routine of the couple’s choosing and the scores are
not added to the final scores?
Did you think the judging was fair?
Which setting do you prefer – Berlin versus Atlantis?
Should spectators be allowed to videotape the competition?
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