Toronto's Fall Fiesta Highlights

by Rose Lau, Toronto

November 22, 2000

info@TOsalsa.com

Back to Reality - or What Happened This Summer

For all my addicted weekly readers who avidly await my updates -- I must apologize for this delay as I've just moved at home, changed internet providers, will be moving at work and just started 3 evening courses; but I did manage to squeeze in 3 nights of dancing in the last 10 days.

If you're fairly new to the club scene, you'll be thrilled to hear there will probably be a little more room on the dance floor to practice your moves due to the fact that alot of people are back to school and don't go out as often during the week. Last Thursday, I hit Babaluu's. It was fairly busy, but not as many of the regulars showed up that night. On Saturday, I hit Park Avenue and it was a huge disappointment. Not only were there very few hardcore dancers, but there were only 2 salsa sets of 6 songs each within 2 hours; played between tons of merengue, some bachata, a little cha cha and some dance sets! Not a good sign if you want a salsa fix. The only other night I could get out was Tuesday at Berlin's. It was comfortably busy and alot of the regulars plus many dancers from the Los Salsamanos and Strickly Salsa Dance Cos. were there. It was a fun night of dancing and socializing. Obviously United Salseros were not in attendance as they teach at Tequila. Next week, I will try to hit both!

This past summer has been pretty eventful since we launched this website and the Toronto Salsaweb Convention in April. To give you an indication of how much we had to choose from, here's the total no. of events we listed each month -- April (9), May (8), June (22), July (16), August (20) and todate in September (10). If you recall, June had 7 club grand openings and August had 11 workshops to choose from.

What will be interesting over the Fall and Winter months is the potential new "crop" of regulars who will be heading out to the clubs on a regular basis and what new or unexpected dance events may occur, such as out-of-town dancers and instructors coming into town!

October 1, 2000

Wow! Where did September go?

Again for all my avid readers, I must apologize! September was totally, unexpectedly busy with real work in the day, two moves at home and at work within a week, my 3 night courses (with homework!), not including the fact that I caught a viral-cold. Annie the "Salsa Freak" from Montreal named it "Salsahistamine" -- when Salsa has pushed its body beyond reason and you get sick, physically and mentally, that you don't give a rat's a.s anymore! I have to admit it was a pretty close description!

Also, the few nights I was able to head out to the clubs over the last few weeks were not as much "fun" as those nights in the Summer, which didn't help to inspire me to make more time for my dancing. Many salseros/salseras seemed to be dancing more during the week, but I would pick an off-day, like Friday, to hit the clubs. Right now, the "better" nights to go out dancing seem to be Sundays at Left Bank, Tuesdays at Berlin and/or Tequila, Wednesdays and Thursdays at Babaluu's.

October 6, 2000

The Thanksgiving Weekend!

It's the last long weekend of the year and hopefully you're all ready for a crazy weekend of dancing as everyone likes to get out and party, esp. after eating all those Turkey dinners!

This past week, I actually made it to the following clubs. Last Sunday, I hit Left Bank and according to a lot of the regulars, it's the place to be on Sundays now. Most of the salsaholic regulars like to hang out here as there's lots of room to dance and the music is all latin, including some cha cha! You can be sure most "regulars" will hit that club as Babaluu's will be insanely packed this weekend! What was scary for me was finding out that from my lack of "practice" over the last few weeks, I actually lost some of my split-second timing for some of the advanced moves! On Monday, there was a party at Society for the launch of Kleyber Ulribe's new mag, called "Picante Xpress", which will cover anything and everything latin. It was a fun evening of socializing and dancing as many of the "regulars" showed up again to dance, mingle and show their support. On Tuesday, I really wanted to party but just couldn't find the energy, which shows you that once you get off your usual routine, it's really difficult to get that same "dance stamina" back. But I did make it out on Wednesday to Babaluu's. It was comfortably crowded with dancers; and since he plays a lot of salsa, and no dance music, you get to take breaks and watch some of the "regulars" trying out their funky new moves.

October 19, 2000

Wow! TOsalsa.com is already six months old?

Last week was a blast as I took a breather from all my deadlines and partially got my "groove" back into dancing! By coincidence, Tuesday, October 10th was TOsalsa.com's six-month anniversary; and maybe unconsciously, I celebrated by trying to dance every night last week! Last Tuesday, I hit Berlin and it was comfortably crowded! Wednesday at Babaluu's also was a nice night for mingling and dancing. On Thursday, I had the grandiose plan of hitting a new club which quietly opened near El Convento Rico's named Allure, then go to Babaluu's as I haven't been there in weeks. It just so happened that Vibrason was playing that night at Allure and through word-of-mouth and emails, quite a few dancers showed up, so I was quite happy to stay. Who would want to leave a club that's got so much potential going for it as an alternative salsa nightclub for Thursdays... and it happened to be 99% salsa that night (with only one merengue set before I left at 1 am!) As most salsa-holics know, many clubs will always play merengue, bachata, cha cha and everyone's favourite "house" music to appeal to the masses along with salsa. This club was a pleasant surprise as it is very spacious, has a high ceiling, a raised stage and a nice, wooden dance floor. The main floor is similar in mood and style as the Capitol Theatre on Yonge St., but much more cozy and intimate. It also has the added touch of a light show on the wall which really adds to its classy atmosphere. They even have brand new washrooms and a VIP lounge which I forgot to check out. Definitely a great alternat-ive for a Thursday night and rumour has it that alot of salsaholics enjoy it so much, they hope to convince them to open on either Friday or Saturday for Salsa! The only drawbacks I found is that the sound system echoes a bit during the DJ set, they had the volume for the band a little too high and potentially, it may be difficult to find parking in the area. Then Friday, even though I was tired, I decided to drop by El Rancho's and ended up having a great night of dancing since a lot of dancers showed up there that night. It was overly busy and I won't tell you how many times I got stepped on, or how sore my feet were by the end of the night! That's usually a great sign of a long, fun night of dancing!

October 29, 2000

Where does time fly -- it's almost November!

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to hit all the latest parties and/or club grand openings over the last few weeks due to my busy schedule. But I did get to hear about the fun everyone had at each one of those events.

For example, Club OV's Grand Opening was a blast! Many salseros, new and old, attended the event. The grand opening of Palazzo on Friday, October 20th was apparently busy with DJ Carlitos spinning the hits. It may become a nice change to the ever-popular Fridays at El Rancho's.

Just last Monday, there was a latin birthday party at Paparazzi's where the Los Salsomano Dance Co. put on a great show. Again, I was too busy to attend, but many salsaholics told me it was a fun night of dancing and tons of food! Rumour has it that it may become a latin club in the future, so stay tuned!

Last Thursday, I finally had a chance to party, so I hit Allure where Vibrason was playing. This is a beautiful club, but it's going to take some time for it to grow; and they don't seem to understand that "dance lights" in your face are a no-no. How are you supposed to see your partner's hands? Then I headed over to Babaluu's which was still jamming at 1 am until closing. They had started their Halloween celebrations that night -- and all I can say is, watch out for those cobwebs! One of the funniest moments was Alex Wong dancing around with cobwebs stuck to his head from the ceiling! In case you don't remember who he is, think of the Berlin Dance Competition in March and the chinese guy who had jumped into his partner's arms.

November 7 , 2000

What happened last week...

Last Tuesday, I attended the United Salseros Halloween Party who had over 200 dancers partying up a storm and in costume! When I arrived, there were over 100 students taking the Beginner, Intermediate or Advance dance classes and Bong (prev. a United Salsero volunteer and now a dancer in Los Salsamanos Dance Co.) was cooking up a traditional Filipino dish, Longanisa, in the kitchen. His stamina for cooking was as strong as his love of the dance! Then at about 10 pm, the feasting and partying started. One of the most hilarious costumes was from Zoran who wore a dwarf outfit with a hand sticking out from his mid?-section. I can't begin to tell you how many girls got a schock from one of his hugs! But he unfortunately was not one of the winners of the best costume contest -- 1st place went to Frank Russo, one of the organizers of Left Bank. He was Employee of the Month for Macdonald's and did a fine job indeed sweeping up after everyone! And then there was Jason Ng (prev. a United Salsero volunteer and now a dancer in Los Salsamanos Dance Co.), who decided to strut his stuff in drag! He probably got to dance more than anyone cause he was either leading or following! Third place went to a girl (sorry don't remember her name) who was dressed like the devil, but was nicknamed a Tandoori chicken because of her makeup coloring! What was a nice touch was having many of the Instructors who attended the party judge the contest, incl. Alberto Gomez from La Classique, Frank Bishun, and Elizabeth Sadowska.

Then there was the musical salsa chairs. It's amazing how competitive people become and almost too eager to win! To stay in the "dance", when the salsa music ended, you had to have a girl and a guy in one chair. What was hilarious was watching how close the dancers got to the chairs and if the music slightly paused, the dancers would instantly sit and other dancers would follow before it was time!

All in all, it was a fun night and it ended so late, I didn't get a chance to check out Berlin!

Last Sunday night, I went to Momento's as Kleyber from Picante Express was hosting a Dance Showcase. It was a nice change of pace from the regular salsa nights as you could dance and then watch a dance show. I stayed only for the first showcase which featured the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Co. for flamenco dancing; and then the newly formed dance troupe, Salsa All Stars, which features Daniel Guajardo and Teria Mijalados as the main principal dancers. A few years ago at the Berlin competition, he was the winner in the Amateurs and Teria won in the Pros. The show included a nice variety of dancing, starting with Casino Rueda incl. 3 other couples, then Daniel and Teria, doing a dance medley of R&B jazz, Argentine Tango, and then Salsa. Congratulations Daniel on your new dance troupe!

November 13 , 2000

Last Wednesday, I hit Park Avenue's 5th Anniversary Party just in time for the Professional Dance Show with Alberto Gomez from La Classique who performed two Argentine Tangos and a Salsa; along with Daniel and Teria from Salsa All-Stars, who performed the same great dance routine that I saw at Momento's the weekend before. It's nice to see the variety of latin dances being performed, which shows the growing versatility of the dancers in Toronto. Park Ave. was definitely happening as many of the regulars were there, including dancers from Strickly Salsa and Giovanni (Los Salsamanos).

Last Thursday, I checked out Allure and Babaluu's. Allure is a beautiful club with lots of room for dancing (90% salsa), but many of the dancers still like to party at Babaluu's as it is so central. This coming Thursday should be a fun evening at Allure as the Puentes Brothers, a latin group from Victoria, B.C. will be playing there. Also, we'll get a chance to see Dave Paris from NY's Razz-M-Tazz dance company. He is giving a workshop on Sunday.

Last Friday, I finally had a chance to check out Palazzo's at Hwy. 7 and Jane. This club has potential, but don't go alone if you want to get your salsa fix... it's not your usual latin club. There's another dance floor for the usual dance crowd and it's a younger dance scene in general. The night we went, DJ Carlitos played latin on the large circular dance floor which is tile, not wood. Parking is free, ladies get in free and I heard the cover for men is $10.

Last Sunday, I hit Left Bank, which is still going strong; and then today, (Monday), I dropped by Frank Bishun's Birthday Bash, which is also his kick-off for a new Salsa Monday at Smokey Joe's Cafe on Yonge St., just north of Sheppard. It's mostly salsa, with a sprinkling of cumbia, merengue and cha cha. The dance floor is not wood, but it's danceable. This location was one of my faves in the past as you can usually find parking and it's just off the 401 -- almost opposite to where the old Park Avenue used to be on Wednesdays before they moved north to Hwy 7. You can also dine there if you want a bite to eat, or shoot some pool.

It's been an eventful week of dancing... with a lot more to come in the weeks ahead... But what I really find great now about the latin dance scene in Toronto is that there are so many new faces in the clubs who love to dance -- enough to support at least 2 clubs almost every night of the week. What's also changing is the growing no. of dance instructors and dance groups in Toronto training and developing their own styles. In the past, you had the same basic turn combinations with different partners; but now because of the various dance styles being taught in Toronto, each dancer now has their own repertoire of favourite moves or combinations that are challenging and unique to each dancer! Way to go Toronto!