Tuesday, April 11th at Berlin -- Highlights were meeting Paco, the Israel Salsaweb Correspondent, and the surprise guests, Super Mario, Susanna and Evelina from London, England. They were all great dancers and Mario was great as he showed us a few steps. Very interesting...neither L.A., New York nor Miami style. Very original...... From what Mario told me he was tired of the regular patterns and has come up with some of this own. I got to dance with both Evelina and Susanna who are great dancers. I met Susanna's partner, Leon Rose, also from England, at the 24th Annual New York Salsa Festival back in September. Very nice guy and apparantly one of the best if not be best dancer/instructor in England. I had planned to leave by 12:30am but wound up leaving at apprx. 2:00am. Ahhhh... such is the life of a salsa addict.

Wednesday, April 12th at Plush Lounge and Park Avenue -- about 20? earlybirds, welcomed about 5 from Holland, who dance on 1, a few from London, England and some from Denmark/Holland. Normally there are between 70 to 100 people at Plush Lounge on Wednesday's. During the convention there was approximately 170 people. Quite packed for a small place. The band "Vibrason" was great as always and Super Mario and Susanna was showing off a bit and looking good doing it. Different style and steps than I'm used to seeing. Myself and Teddy were even led (at the same time) by Super Mario.

Supposedly, the SALSAWEB passes were to be ready by 10:00am. Unfortunately, some people wasted their time going to the hotel as they were not ready. They were then supposed to have them ready by the evening (NOT!)

Thursday, April 13th -- Grand Opening at Plaza Flamingo: On this day we got to see dancers from different countries such as Holland, Italy, England, Israel, Germany, France and all over the U.S. (L.A., San Fran., Chicago, etc..) with the exception of New York/Jersey. It was a great thrill to see some of these dancers. Jeniffer and Giovanni (teachers at both Berlin's and Atlantis) taught a class and I think all of the foreign dancers/teachers were impressed that we, in Canada, could dance and teach very well. Some things were late (such as the class/no fault of Jennifer or Geovanni) and disorganized but nonetheless I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

I met Edie "the Salsa Freak", Seaon "the stylist", Jay from L.A. (who has been to Toronto and who I helped organize a few workshops for), and a few others. Don't ask me to name everyone I met as I've already forgotten most of their names. I advise anyone who decides to go to these conventions to have a notebook/videocamera /camera/all of the above as you will meet a lot of people and learn a lot of things. You will forget most people's names as well as most things that you have learned. The SALSAWEB passes still were not ready (not surprised). This resulted in a lineup at Plaza. I was starting to look a little worried as it seemed that this convention was somewhat disorganized.

Friday, April 14th -- Regal Constellation Hotel: Boy was I already exhausted by the time I woke up to move my car (6:30am everyday). I guess due to the excitement of the convention/workshops. This was due to the fact that I went to Berlin's, Plush Lounge and Plaza Flamingo. I was dreading and at the same time looking forward to the workshops. Surprisingly enough the line-up to get the passes wasn't all that big. When I got to the front I was told that they ran out of passes but that they would get some later on.

Saturday, April 15th -- Regal Constellation Hotel The SALSAWEB PASS....Still out. They had to get some more.

Sunday, April 16th -- Regal Constellation Hotel for Workshops Finally, I got my pass. If anything it's good for keepsake. By the time that I got to Atlantis I was ready to drop.

Sunday, April 16th -- Dance Competition and Closing Party at Atlantis Nightclub, Ontario Place

Monday, April 17th -- Last Minute Party and Final good-bye at Embassy Cafe.