Highlights of Toronto's Fall Fiesta 2001

by Rose Knows, Toronto

info@TOsalsa.com

December 16, 2001

Less than 10 days to Christmas and counting!

Yikes, it's hard to believe that it's almost upon us... with all the salsa parties and regular Xmas parties to go to, who has time and energy to do everything... it's impossible...

If you're like me, you probably still haven't finished all your Xmas shopping; and this year there's lots to choose from for the total salsa freak... Last year, I mentioned videos and CD's (there's lots more to choose from each year), but some other welcome gifts for the girls might be glitter make-up by Toni and Tina which is only sold at Eaton's and Holt Renfrew stores, a really popular item is the glitter face make-up called, Cosmic Lights - Transcend-ence, retailing for $15 Cdn. A new nail polish that I found by shopping which is great for the holidays or clubbing is Sally Hansen's CHROME nail makeup which comes in some shiny metallic colours, such as Royal Purple, Gold and Silver, retailing for $7 Cdn. You can have some fun by mixing it with other colours or adding some glitter polish on top.

And for those of you who didn't make it out to the new Shine Nightclub, it was a fun night as many of the regulars were there to party and there were lots of shows to watch, incl. On Beat, Salsation, Paul & Jennifer and Pawel & Dora.

As promised, the decor was totally new, but not the best for salsa dancing. The floor wasn't very good as it switched from being too slippery from drinks to very sticky. The beautiful dark decor from the previous Park Ave. has switched to totally white walls and there was a disco ball light flashing continuously which has always been a salsa no-no and they still haven't fixed the air-conditioning. But I still have a fondness for this club as it was the only good club to go to on a Wednesday night for many years when it was at Yonge & Sheppard, and now up at Hwy 7. So for those dancers who missed a northern salsa hang-out, this is probably the only place to go for a Wed. night latin club.

One beef I will share with you as a dancer, if you're going to copy moves from another dance couple, please have a little origin-ality and respect for other's creativity by not copying a full segment of their routine -- at least have the decency to rearrange the order of the moves. Some instructors around the World complain that other instructors have taken their moves and taught them as if they're their own. Well, the same can be said for copying other dancer's choreography. You will notice I used the word "choreography", and not "moves, dips and tricks". After all, many of the moves, dips and tricks in salsa are variations of other moves in other dance forms, such as swing and ballroom. It is very difficult to find a totally new, original dance move that no one's done before in any dance.

Happy Holidays everyone!

December 12, 2001

How to get your salsa groove back...

If you recall, I started to talk about... "And thanks to my chats with two fellow salsaholics, they reminded me of where my dance inspiration comes from when you think you've hit saturation point with salsa." After living and breathing it every day (and feeling like I had to be out every night) -- it started to feel more like a job than a passion; plus like any "addiction", it can start to take over every free moment of your spare time. Obviously, that's not reality, and that's when you need to say stop. The only problem with stopping is finding the "groove" again when you are so used to getting that fix or you feel out of sorts when you do go out. Well, there are a couple of cures for that, such as:
1. Remembering why you got addicted to salsa in the first place.
2. Think about all the things that motivate you or keep you motivated to become the dancer you want to be, i.e. dance classes in other forms of dance, watching great dancers in the clubs, going to other cities to dance or watch other great dancers, watching dance shows...
3. Go out and "dance as if nobody's watching". Who cares if you don't do it perfectly, dance is also about how it makes you feel and if you look great doing it at the same time, then that's gravy. If you think of every dancer you admire in Toronto and if you watched them progress, you will note that they were beginners at one time too. They took time, training and practice to be where they are today; and they all looked awkward at some time.
4. Don't feel you have to try and keep up with your peers that improve unless you are willing to invest the time also to train/practice.
5. If you're frustrated from all the new stuff you're learning and it's not coming together, take a break and just dance any way that makes you happy without a care in the world.
6. Have you ever had a dance to your favourite song where you just groove to the music and your partner feels your energy and feeds off of it too? Use that connection, that's one of the things that makes partner dancing so much fun. When you are danc-ing, find partners that enjoy the song/dance as much as you do; and you'll notice the difference.

Did my theory work? A big YES! I hit Smokey Joe's on Monday and closed the place! There were enough dancers to get my fix, but I centered my energy into my dancing, and the whole night was a blast with all my partners. The finale was a free-style shine salsa with my jacket on, ready to go home, but the music had me pumped and I just "danced as if nobody was watching" and moved whichever way the music took me. PS If you never danced with your coat on, try it sometime, there's something indescribable about the feeling you get, similar to walking in the rain without an umbrella without a care in the world.

December 6, 2001

Salsa Mama!

Congratulations, Josephine! For those of you who know her, Josephine has become a proud Salsa Mama of a baby girl, named "Kristina Fay", born on Tuesday, December 4th, and weigh-ing only 4-1/2 pounds. Kristina Fay decided to make an early entrance possibly because she couldn't wait to start danc-ing like her mommy who used to come out to the clubs even while she was pregnant to get in her salsa fix. Josephine Beza was the 1st Place Winner of the Berlin Amateur Competition in March and a performer with Grupo Sabroso. She sends her best regards to all her friends in the salsa community and hopes to talk/dance/see all of you soon. Psst... and how do I know she's feeling great? She's already trying to figure out how to fit in the dancing into her busy salsa mama schedule.

November 29, 2001

Club Marathon Week?! well almost...

I took a hiatus from salsa to try and get things caught up from the craziest busiest, non-stop Spring and Summer I've had since I started dancing salsa about 4-1/2 years ago... I'm still not there yet, but on the one night I would go dancing each week, the dancing just didn't feel the same and I felt I was losing my "touch" as a dancer and as a hardcore salsera. It seemed that this site was the only thing that kept me hardcore still. But guess what, the holiday season is coming on and I forgot one of my golden rules, balanc-ing work and pleasure. So after a hard day of work, I forced myself out to check out the Cherry Room on Sunday and to try and get more dancing in. Well, it kind of worked... As I pulled up to the Club to park my car, I could hear the salsa music blasting on King Street which was addictive and it got my feet tapping immediately. Some regulars came out to check it out, but it wasn't as jam-packed as I thought it might be. Cherry Room is a nice, classy, cozy club with a long, rectangular wooden dance floor which was beautiful for dancing. And if it was summer, it would have been a great place to party as there's a huge outdoor patio. It's a beautiful club with a great dance floor, but it's got a lot of competition going against it with the two popular Sunday hangouts -- Babaluu's and Left Bank. Afterwards, I dropped by Left Bank, but it was after midnight and many dancers had already left. It seemed to be one of those odd nights when alot of dancers decided to do something else as many "regulars" were missing.

On Monday, I took a break and went to Smokey Joe's -- usually it's my night off, but I needed to get my fix and surprisingly, Smokey Joe's was busy (possibly due to the start of the holiday season when alot of dancers like to go out and party). It seemed everyone was in party mode, so I had a great time and was able to get quite a bit of dancing in.

On Tuesday, I zoomed over to Berlin Nightclub where the newly-revamped Los Salsomanos Dance Troupe headed by Giovanni Torres was performing for the first time with five couples. They performed to Ran Kan Kan, but to new choreography where there are no solos by the dancers and with skanky new silver costumes. It was a lively routine and had the audience going. Berlin was jam-packed that night and it was one of those nights where you were either stepped on or bumped into by fellow dancers. Again, everyone seemed to be in high holiday spirits.

On Wednesday, I was hoping to still have the energy to go to the Grand Opening of Sassafraz, but I totally ran out of steam as I wasn't used to my old salsa marathon routine. Apparently, many regulars decided to check out this club and had a nice evening, but it's going to be a tough haul to beat out its neighbour, Babaluu's, and the upcoming Shine Nightclub Grand Opening on Dec. 12th which should be another fun night to party.

Starting next Thursday, we'll be posting up a special TOsalsa flyer for It Nightclub where you can get in for free before 11 pm or pay $5 after 11 pm until the end of the year. You'll need to print it off and present it at the door.

This Friday, Courthouse is offering free admission for ladies until 10:30 pm until the end of the year -- which is the same offering at El Rancho's and Plaza Flamingo all year round.

This Saturday, Sonia and Mauricio from San Tropez in Montreal will be in town and we'll more than likely be partying at El Rancho's on Saturday night. If you click here, you can print off a coupon to get free admission before 10:30 pm.

This Sunday, we'll be holding the Salsa Team Canada auditions at Rita Ridaz Dance Academy from 2 pm to 4:30 pm. And then later that evening, we'll be partying at Left Bank. Anyone who wants to participate, please show up and talk to us about how to get involved.

November 20, 2001

How was the Houston Congress?

While I was socializing and dancing at the Ottawa Congress, Bong, Jay, Caryl and Dora of Grupo Sabroso represented Toronto in Houston, Texas! It was their first venture into the salsa circuit as invited performers and instructors and they had a great time with all the dancers and the great, sunny weather. Other featured instructors were Seaon Bristol (on 2) and Alex De Silva (on 1) (both teachers in LA) were also teaching at the Congress. Grupo Sabroso got to perform two routines in LA and were well received. Luckily for me, I got to see their "home movie" of some of the highlights at the congress and got to hear first-hand what their thoughts were on it. They apparently had a great time hanging out with Seaon Bristol and the dancers in Houston. What they found pretty hilarious was that Toronto was perceived by them to not have any good salsa dancers and that they were possibly beginners. If you know Bong, I'm sure he probably couldn't wait to show them what Toronto had to offer. Many dancers came up to them afterwards surprised at the fact that we can mix NY and LA styling (on 1 or 2) as the Houston area is predominantly LA-influenced on 1. It was also kind of neat to see that when Seaon Bristol needs a partner and there are no NY dancers around, he chooses a Toronto dancer to perform with, such as Stephanie Gurnon, and in Houston, Dora Paszuk got the spotlight with him. Way to go TO!

What was also interesting to see was the changes in the dance styles of Seaon Bristol and Alex De Silva since last year. I remember Alex from the LA Congress in May 2000 and thoroughly enjoyed his more stylish and controlled LA style. He always has a great partner for shows, and always knows how to make the girl look great and feminine, yet able to show his own stylishness. His routine incorporated alot of tango moves, along with some interesting tricks.

Seaon always seems to attract a crowd especially when he dances the woman's part, and he follows so well. What's also hard to believe is that his styling just keeps getting better and more interesting; just when you think he's reached the ultimate level he could possibly go -- but I guess that's what makes salsa so interesting to watch. It is ever-evolving and ever-changing -- I can't wait to see what's in store for the upcoming contests this year and whether everyone will be up for the challenge. It takes alot of time, training and dedication.

And speaking of sunny weather, in case Rene Delgado of United Salseros didn't tell you personally at every club he was at, he's vacationing in sunny Hawaii. I got an email from our new Hawaii Salsa City Host, Rob, who said they were all having a great time in Honolulu. Apparently, Rene and Michelle got to put on a show with Edie the Salsa Freak and her new hubby, Al at Planet Hollywood. As Rob put it... "they blew the roof off the joint" and he can't wait for other great TO dancers to come out!

November 18, 2001

TOsalsa grew again!
While many of you got to dance in the clubs, I spent alot of time dancing around this site... as another wish of mine finally came true, our newly revamped Dance Forum section. You will also note that many of the sections that used to be on our home page have now found a permanent home in Dance Forum, such as Dear TOsalsa, Discussion Forum and Travel-Diaries. We have also kept our "quick links" from the home page so that you'll always know what's new in our articles sections. We hope that this change will make your "dance" around our site more enjoyable.

Salsa in Ottawa - Part II
What was a pleasant surprise was the couples who competed in the Ottawa Salsa Competition from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. It was a surprise to see three couples competing from Toronto -- Guillaermo & Teria, Albert & Kathy from Strickly Salsa (placed second), and a newly formed couple, Ana (Toronto) and Orville (Montreal) who won the competition. Third place went to Zoltan and Vanessa? from San Tropez Dance Co. in Montreal.

Guillaermo and Teria had a very tough time competing as they had only a week to prepare. Their routine, if it was executed flawlessly, would have blown me and the judges away because it's the most difficult set of lifts and tricks I've ever seen Teria trust a partner with. There were quite a few cabaret moves in which you must totally trust your partner to catch you after he throws you in the air or you could seriously injure yourself. Unfortunately for them, the floor was very slippery and the tricks were so difficult, she fell a few times, so they obviously did not place. In hindsight, it may have been smarter to also have a routine with less cabaret tricks just in case.

The third place winners, Zoltan and Vanessa from Montreal, had a beautiful and stylish routine starting with a cha cha into a salsa. In terms of styling, they were the best of all the couples, but they didn't have a storyline and/or tricks to make their routine more impactful on the judges and the audience.

The second place winners, Albert and Kathy from Toronto, put on a great show and got the audience going with their energy and tricks. They were totally on -- it's too bad they didn't have more tricks up their sleeve as they executed the back flip quite a few times in their routine. In my opinion, they could have won first place if they had more of a storyline to their choreography and had included more variety in their tricks. If you've watched the competitions from the Mayan Club, you'll notice that the winners have a storyline and their music is tailored to their routine with sound effects for the accents/tricks in the routine; and usually they use 2 or 3 songs for different moods to their choreography. My predic-tion is that future contests isn't just great dancing anymore, it's the whole package of being able to tell a story using music, costumes and choreo-graphy) and being able to entertain the crowd and the judges.

And finally, the winners, Ana and Orville. They had a polished routine which incorporated an entertaining storyline, great music which hit on all their accents, dramatic black costumes and great tricks -- some of which I recognized as signature LA moves from the "Prince of Salsa" himself, Johnny Vasquez. Although their routine didn't incorporate alot of salsa turn patterns in comparison to the other dance competitors, it was the totally clean and profession-al show package which I think won them the competition and the audience's hearts. They were clearly the favourites to win! If you haven't seen them dance, they will be performing at the Grand Opening of the new Shine Nightclub (previously Park Avenue) on Wednesday, December 12th, along with On Beat.

November 12, 2001

Salsa in Ottawa...

I broke my own promise that I wouldn't travel until the New Year, but it was definitely worth the trip... it wasn't necessarily because of the dancing, but all the old and new friends we met in Ottawa and from Montreal, and when you add the mix of dancers from Toronto, it gave us a great start to the potential of the synergies between the "east coast cities" and for "Dance Team Canada". Montreal and Ottawa have a much smaller salsa scene than us, but they still share the same passion for the dance that we do. I have to give lots of credit to Ottawa's dancers, although the groups are still very young (most under a year old), they still need alot of work to improve their technique, styling and choreography to make the grade on the world salsa circuit -- they had 9 dance teams and over 50 performers. They gave it their all and pulled it off, and will only get better as they mature.

Special thanks goes to Patricio Palacios of La Isla Nightclub who was the main organizer of the event, Roy Crisostomo who took great care of us, and all the Volunteers who helped make everyone welcome from Toronto and Montreal. This event was a success as there were no major hiccups in the planning and they were great hosts. Although the event was held in different parts of the City, they worked hard to make sure that everyone knew how to get to each location without getting lost. Another nice touch was having 3 shows with general dancing inbetween so everyone had a chance to get in some dancing.

From Toronto, we were well represented by Strickly Salsa (who got great response from the audience for their no.); and by On Beat (who performed with only half their dancers, so Ottawa wasn't able to feel the full impact of this all-woman dance team on 2). United Salseros was also in attendance and got to teach a workshop, along with Stephanie Gurnon and Ivy Cuervo.

November 7, 2001

TOsalsa has grown again...

Since our Dear TOsalsa column and the Discussion Forums have started to take up alot of the home page, we finally had to move it to its own page!
If you would like to save this page as a favourite, then click here and bookmark it. TOsalsa is starting to walk as he/she is now 1-1/2 years old (how time flies), so we hope these changes will add to your reading (or is it dancing) pleasure.

November 3, 2001

November already?

Halloween Salsa ends and Congress Fever will start for the upcoming weekend... It's definitely been an action-packed week of salsa dancing with non-stop salsa parties.

On Tuesday, I rediscovered my secret to my stamina -- workouts. If you're stressed out or just feeling crappy, listen to your body and feed it some cardio, weights, stretch and/or a steam room, and you'll feel like a million bucks after-wards. And I'll let you in on another "baby" we've been working on... a health section. Launching for the New Year, we hope to have a section I've been waiting to do for awhile on "Health" and I've already got Trionne Moore, who's studying to be a physical trainer and Sasha Tahiliani who's studying to be a naturopath -- who better to discuss this with but people who also have a passion for dance. If you have a specialty that you think can offer great advice for dancers of a dance-related nature, I'd love to hear from you. What's great about this section is that it will feature articles on how health relates to dancers for all-round physical fitness.

Although I had a head cold, I was crazy enough to go to the Tequila Halloween Party, and had a fun night of dancing, including the fact that Paul Chivers carried me over to Teddy Olaso's version of Salsa Musical Chairs as one of the participants. I have to admit it was alot of fun, and it's amazing how competitive you become against your fellow dancers just to win! And using that philosophy of fend for your-self, I actually won! We also got to see some great performances that night with On Beat with their performance of Blue Pachanga and Hip Hop vs. Mambo with a mini hip-hop no. with 3 of On Beat's newest members, Tricia Meikle, Christina Francisco and Jessica Berrera; Grupo Sabroso performing 3 separate routines, the all male dance troupe no. with 4 guys (Bong, Steve, Jay and Pawel) and 2 girls (Caryl and Karem), the Bin Bin routine with four couples (Rene and Michelle, Jay and Karem, Bong and Caryl, and Steve with Maple), Gordon Beckles doing Latin Hustle and Pawel and Dora in their newest choreography using belly dancing. Special credit goes to Caryl Cuizon who must have changed at least 4-5 times for different dance nos. and Pawel and Dora for their "comeback" after having a baby girl. Although you may have seen these routines at different shows, you will always notice different dynamics as dancers are always changing in these dance groups and as they mature as performers -- our own version of "Soap Operas in Salsa". If you were there, you may have noticed that Paula was not part of On Beat and that's because she's decided to "retire" so she can spend more time with her hubby, Jose.

On Wednesday, there was another jam-packed party at Babaluu's with DJ Alvaro C, but I had developed the flu and couldn't attend as I was supposed to judge the competition. Apparently, everyone had a great time and there were some great costumes that night.

And what to expect the coming weekend, well, if you find the city devoid of regulars, it's because Bong, Caryl, Dora and Jay will be going to the Houston Salsa Congress; and dancers from United Salseros and On Beat will be heading off to the Ottawa Salsa Congress.

October 25, 2001

Wild, Wild Weekend...

A play on the new album name by Puerto Rican Power's "Wild, Wild Salsa", which I've highlighted in our music section as a CD release that's worth buying as it's 100% salsa.

Are you ready to party? There's lots of dancing happening this weekend, and you'll probably see me out in full force, especially with the Cobo Brothers and Dave Paris in town. On Friday, Courthouse is changing their policy slightly by allowing ladies in free before 10:30 pm -- a very smart move which works well for El Rancho on Fridays, plus you'll probably see the Cobo Brothers dancing up a storm as they always do when they come into town. Then on Saturday, everyone will probably party at the Bamboo with Vibrason, and finally, the Halloween Parties on Sunday... so it should be a fun-filled weekend.

To help you plan which parties to hit for Halloween, check out our new Halloween Salsa Party Guide. I've also posted a great email by an LA dancer on learning how to salsa from a male perspective which was originally posted on Edie the Salsa Freak's site about 5 years ago. This article caught my eye, because it touches on alot of the points we cover in our Guide to Salsa, and it's nice to hear a male dancer's perspective in detail. What's great about the theory of dancing is that the basic principles and technique never changes or ages -- just the style or "flavour" of the moment. Perfect example was looking at the Berlin Dance Competition over the last 4 years and seeing how much our dance styles have changed since then.

What's also interesting is monitoring the Reader's Polls I've posted. I thought the hottest question would be the music in the Clubs, but it seems that there's a music war going on... at first it seems that many of us who love salsa really didn't care where the music came from, then the Cuban music took over, but now it's followed closely behind by Colombia, hmm... are many Colombians in TO starting to vote also? The second most popular poll is on DJ music mixing, it seems most dancers prefer the music not be mixed at all or unless it's absolutely necessary. Food for thought for those DJ's who don't know how to play salsa for the dancing crowd!

And wowee, I didn't know we had so many dancers who are looking for dance partners -- 15 men and 6 women have signed up already! Good luck on your search!

October 23, 2001

What's New!

In case you didn't notice our mini banners on the right with our NEW Dance Partner Search service and our NEW Beginner's Guide to Salsa then I think you need glasses or possibly a little more rest -- maybe too many late nights in the clubs?

On the first day of Partner Search, we already have 5 eager male dancers signed up but only one female. In case you're worried about anonymity and/or security, then set up a yahoo or hotmail account and have all the potential dance partner emails go there. Also, we don't post your email or phone nos. on the site, but your potential partner can send you an email and you can choose whether or not you want to respond. On the Beginner's Guide to Salsa, we already have some great feedback from Erik regarding music and dancing which has some very valid points. But I also remember that when you start out learning how to dance, feeling the music is usually the last thing on a person's mind when you're trying to remember your steps and/or how to keep up with your partner. Also, hopefully the music is one of the things which hooked you into the dance in the first place; and that's why I was very excited to find time to start talking and learning more about the music as it is a very integral part of the dance. We get so wound up with the dancing that it is very easy to forget about the music itself, who sings it and where it comes from. How many dancers do you know who can tell you the name of the artist or the song? It's almost like having the pasta without any sauce!

And hot on the heels of our Monday updates, it seemed to inspire some dancers to write in some great feedback for our Dear TOsalsa section -- the newest club in town, It Nightclub, and a pet peeve which usually bothers me at most clubs about non-dancers who always seem to love standing in the middle of a "dance floor" -- how could I forget! One of my many most annoying moments (in clubs and even on boat cruises) was a 'spectator' walking through the dance floor with a glass of red wine beside the dancers. You can imagine what happened to that glass of wine. Who do you think should be more annoyed? Or how about those smokers who love to have a cigarette on the dance floor and burn other dancers?! Also, we have a new Travel-Diary of a club in Cancun.

So a BIG thank you to all the Readers who write in and contribute to keep us going and going and going!

Congratulations goes out to Nicole Da Silva of Soles Dance Studio and her dance company for winning Best Dance Instructor and Best Dance Company in the Now Magazine Readers Poll.

And I just got news that my TV debut on a Show called "My Escape" about my passion for salsa will be airing on Thursday, January 17, 2002 on Rogers Cable 54 - Global Prime Network at 7:30 and 11:30 pm, and again on Sunday, January 20, 2002 at 10 am. This is a new show they started about people who work during the day and "escape" at night with something they love to do. It was taped at Babaluu's on a Wednesday in August and I don't get to see it until it airs, but at least I'll get a copy of the show.

And thank you Paul for finally making my Partner Search dream come true... now you know what it feels like to have a 'baby'!

PS I think your new 'baby' will be wanting a brother or sister soon... interested?

October 21, 2001

Another week flashes by...

This past week again, I only had time to go out for one night -- Wednesday at Babaluu's. It is my most consistently favourite night to go out since DJ Alvaro plays all the old-time music from the 70's which I now love. Remember how I wrote once how to balance salsa with the rest of your life, well, that's my goal right now. Until I catch up on all the things I put off since I started working on TOsalsa and learning anything and everything related to it -- I won't be in the clubs as much as I used to. My goal is to try and have everything set by January 2002 so I can find time to enjoy dancing once again in full force. I must admit I did want to go dancing Sunday night, but unfortunately my e-hubby had me busy working on some "housework" for the site which I was too busy to do earlier in the week. So I had to slave away at "home" until it was done!

For those of you who plan to hit some of the great Halloween salsa parties, you better hurry up and start thinking about what to wear before it's too late! They start this coming weekend and it doesn't stop until Wednesday, October 31st -- so my question is... how many "costumes" are needed as they will probably be non-stop from about Sunday night until Wednesday -- that's 3-4 days of salsa trick or treats...

Other Tidbits -- well, how about a group in Miami that has started a "World Salsa Federation" in August of this year... I have alot of mixed feelings about this which I won't go into right now, but what gives them the right to consider them-selves the "experts". And as I was taking a break this weekend, I got hooked again on the Mayan Club website in LA which finally posted the semi-finals and finals of their 2001 dance competition. If you want some hot new tricks, ideas or inspiration, you won't be disappointed, especially by Johnny Vasquez. He is still the King of Salsa for stage presence and tricks. Note: it's mostly in Flash format, so unless you have a high-speed connection, you may have a long wait between couples. And for your reading pleasure, I've just posted up two more interviews from Angel Ortiz -- Eddie Torres, the King of Mambo on 2 and DJ Elvira of New York.

October 17, 2001

And we keep going... and going... and going...

OR is it growing... growing... and growing... OR is it a little something for everyone who loves to dance! I sat back today and got really excited about all the new upcoming changes on our site and wanted everyone to know all the New or Updated Sections for all our patient, but loyal Readers. Can you guess? What have you been waiting to arrive for almost a year! Yikes, it sounds like someone was having a baby, well almost. We're in the final testing phase of our brand new Dance Partner Search -- thanks to the hard work of Paul Chivers, who got lots of 'advice' from Ziv... and a little nagging from me!

For those of you who don't need a partner yet, but want to learn everything there is to know about Salsa as a beginner, we'll also be launching our new Salsa Guide, which is the brain-child of Ziv (Author) and Trish (Editor), with special thanks going out to Nicole Da Silva for her feedback. What's going to be great about this Guide is that anyone reading it can click on "feedback" at any time and ask for more information about a section of the Guide or provide additional advice or comments for budding dancers that we may have forgotten about. Of course, this will be posted in our Dear TOsalsa Beginner Section and then incorporated in later updates to the Guide. If it's really popular, we may even post another version for Int/Adv dancers.

And once you've read this "Guide to Salsa", you can then pick your Instructor from our newly updated Instructors section which hopefully will launch at the same time. We've added about 7 more instructors for the Toronto region.

And finally, we've got a great, newly expanded Links & Resources section (which I've always wanted to do since we started the site) with new sections for International Dance Teams, Schools and finally, my favourite Music Links. If you find a hot new link which we'll be interested in, we've also included a handy little feedback form at the end of each link page.

I'd like to give special thanks to Paul, Trish and of course, Ziv, for all their hard work on these new additions to our "familia" and to all the Readers and Instructors who inspire us and keep emailing us with their feedback and encouragement!

PS. For those of you who will benefit from "Partner Search", it's Paul Chivers Birthday at Babaluu's tomorrow, so you can thank him in advance for all your new potential partners -- you never know, you might meet a cyber-hubby or wife like I did from dancing! and guess who you'd have to invite as part of your wedding party!

PPS. And this is just the start of what is yet to come... Happy surfing!

October 15, 2001

Where in the city to Salsa?!

Where have I been? Well, as most salsaholics have noticed, I haven't had as much time to hit the clubs as I've been taking care of all the behind-the-scenes backlog that has occurred over the craziest-busiest Spring and Summer I've had ever -- thanks to a dance called Salsa and my 24/7 website which has given me great opportunities to meet people I would only dream of in the past and has made my social life extremely hectic if I go to every function we have in the City of Toronto and/or around the World! Something has to give, and unfortunately for me, I have to pick and choose which nights I go out based on my time and/or energy.
And if you look at the Halloween Parties, good luck if you want to hit them all as there are two parties each night on Sunday and Tuesday! Ahhh... and if I do decide to party... do I really have to dress up?!

In terms of the club scene, I personally didn't go to the Grand Opening of the It Nightclub and the Ritz, but I'll give you the feedback I had heard from my network of salsafreaks. While I went to bed early on Thursday, October 4th, about 700? dancers hit the new club and had a great time dancing salsa on two levels and you really had to keep travelling between the two levels if you wanted to meet up with your friends. Of course I couldn't wait to hear the scoop the next day and knew I probably had missed a fun night out as alot of hype was given to this new club. The turnout was probably the largest yet (especially with pouring rain). I finally dropped by the club last Thursday as I was already downtown. The main floor was comfortably packed with dancers at about 10 pm, and the second floor opened up at about 11 pm and everyone moved to the upper level mostly because it was a little brighter and a little cooler (probably because of the high ceiling). They played a variety of music on both floors, but that was great cause you could switch floors to get 100% salsa. DJ Alvaro C and his brother Boris was playing. It's got a lot of potential as a new club downtown, but it's going to take a lot of salseros to fill it up and I guess alot will depend on the music and all the other essential elements needed to make it work. My only beef was the floor as it was a bit sticky for dancing but maybe that will get fixed in the coming weeks.

The Ritz opened up on Saturday, Oct. 13th on the Thanksgiving weekend in Mississauga. Again, I couldn't go but heard it was also packed. They played a variety of music once again, along with a live band. This club may do well for the regular latin crowd who loves a variety of music, but the hardcore dancers will probably find it too far to venture out every Saturday, especially since the ratio of salsa was pretty low.

And again, as a total dance freak, I went to the Saturday night performance of "Burn the Floor" once gain, but sat in the balcony this time. Since it was a dance-filled show, I got to appreciate other parts of the show that I missed on Tuesday night from the orchestra level. Being on the balcony, you don't have the music pulsating through your body and adding to the excitement around you, but you do get to appreciate the standard ballroom formations which were quite beautiful to look at from above. The crowd was totally appreciative on Saturday night and full of energy. I heard great feedback from the non-dancers who attended as well -- they totally loved it. Also, it didn't matter where you were sitting as there was a clear view of the stage from each section due to the way they elevate the seats.

And finally, to keep me dancing on TOsalsa itself, I'm pleased to announce we have two great new interviews (with more coming) from Angel Ortiz, a New York Instructor, who has been dancing for 13 years (danced with Eddie Torres dance troupe), is travelling the world teaching and also takes the time to do articles and interviews in his "spare" time. The first interview is Nestor Torres, a Puerto Rican musician, who just released his new CD earlier this year, "This Side of Paradise". The second interview is Freddy Rios of the Palladium Mambo Legends -- you see them doing their signature cha-cha-cha in Puerto Rico Salsa Congress, West Coast Salsa Congress and most recently at the East Coast Salsa Congress. I originally met him back at the West Coast Salsa Congress last year in the hotel lobby by accident and little did I know that he also had the writing bug. Because his home base is New York and he gets to travel the world, he has the best opportunities to meet, mingle and chat with many artists and dancers, so we consider ourselves lucky to have the opportunity to post them. Hope you enjoy his insights into the various people he talks to...

October 12, 2001

And it just keeps going and going...

Well, just as I think I can slow down, there's always something to speed things up. Not only can you look forward to an article about salsa dancing by the Toronto Star (if it ever gets published!), and a salsa segment featuring me on a new series about my "hobby" which I'm still waiting to find out when it airs, but Ziv and I will be on a TV show tomorrow night "live" from 8-9 pm on "Style is Substance - fashion & lifestyle with Louisa" on CTV. We are one of the guest speakers about Toronto nightlife (and you can guess what segment we are represent-ing. You can watch on TV (Toronto Channel 75) or via the Internet. You can also join in and ask question via phone (1-877-674-2428) or email.

October 9, 2001

Do you wanna dance with me?

Hopefully you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and are ready to burn off the calories, whether it's by going to a gym, hitting the clubs each night so you don't spend time as a couch potato or take one night and get inspired by the "Burn the Floor" dance show that just started tonight until Sunday.

Hopefully, my love of dancing in general and the euphoria this show left me with tonight doesn't give some of you too high an expectation if you bought tickets to see it. Definitely, having some ballroom training gives you some appreciation for the dance itself. If you haven't bought tickets yet, you may not want to miss out.

Alot of the music is very much the same as the video version from two years ago, but because that was set for a sports arena and this needed to be adapted to a theatre-format, in my opinion, they didn't disappoint me or the audience with the changes. It's a win-win, as they had 32 dancers from 10 countries -- all ballroom trained. It's ballroom dancing as you have never seen it with fabulous costumes, lighting and stage sets to complement the dancers and the music. It's even more addictive to hear the music live -- you almost wish you could be up there wearing those outfits and dancing along-side them. They even had a great singer from South Africa, Genevieve Davis, who had a beautiful voice which complemented and added some contrast. There were two sets, one hour each and it was perfectly balanced with the standard (more slow, romantic-style dancing) and the latin -- if not, the dancers could not maintain an action-packed hour of non-stop dancing. It was fabulous to see the differences in mood, no. of dancers used for various numbers and the change in dance pace. The weakest no. for me was the Jump and Jive solos as the dancers I felt weren't strong enough with the tricks that swing, lindy hop and jive are known for. But in every other aspect, it was definitely a must-see!

The dances which stuck in my mind was the Wanna Dance intro with the theme song "Would You?". When you watch the choreo-graphy, you can see some moves which we presently do in Salsa; which made me wonder who inspired who, or have those moves been around forever.

The first Fantasy Waltz, named "Papillon",was beautifully choreographed in every aspect from the music, the lighting, the beautiful costumes and the modern interpretation of the waltz. Urban Heat - Industrial Latin no. which was a nice contrast to the waltz. Jump and Jive (swing segment) was high-energy with all the most popular songs, such as "In the Mood" and "Sing Sing Sing".

Then after the intermission, we are given the treat of going back to the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers or West Side Story dance musicals, then on to the latin portion with a spanish feel using paso doble, and finally, the grand finale which had everyone up off their seats with a mix of the best of all the latin-style dances with hot outfits and super energy. The women looked great as always in their outfits, but for once, the women also get a treat as most of the male dancers were "built" (pecs and abs) -- what more can I say... I don't know any ballroom dancers, and very few salsa dancers that have bodies like that, except for the dance troupe from Italy that I met in Puerto Rico, Tropical Gem.

As I watched the show, I thought about the never-ending debate about how salsa looks like ballroom; and in many ways, I could see why cubans or latinos in general feel that way. What is great about ballroom training is it gives you great stage presence, attitude and when the music stops, they all can stop/pose all at the same time. It was interesting to see some of the moves and choreography that looked very similar to moves and dance nos. done in Salsa. Without this exaggerated movement, the show would not project the energy to such a large crowd. It would be lost without the exaggerated movement and the action-packed tricks. Alot of our salsa could have that same look and feel, and for the dancers who prefer to dance that style, it's a high you can't come down from when you are in sync with your partner to a song you love and a great workout at the same time. All in all, it was a feel-good show.

October 5, 2001

Happy a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Well the weekend is almost upon us and hopefully all of you will have a chance to enjoy a bountiful feast this weekend with family and/or friends with turkey, mash potatoes, gravy and some salsa to burn it all off...

Again it's been a crazy-busy week but I did squeeze in some dancing at Babaluu's on Wednesday. Since the summer crowd is back at school, Alvaro has been cutting back on some of the extra house music he was playing in the summer and has gone back to playing non-stop wicked old school salsa! The last two weeks were euphoric in terms of the music. This weekend should be fun as many dancers will have an extra day to party and stay up late dancing, then Burn the Floor comes into town. On Tuesday, our lucky winners will be seeing the Grand Opening Performance and then on Saturday, over 90 dancers will be enjoying the show. If you haven't had a chance to pick up some tickets, maybe after reading the review and checking out latest pics, you'll be tempted to check this show out.

October 1, 2001

Ahh... it's October?!

Where did the time fly? Although for me, much of it was spent trying to catch up on my backlog of work from the summer and in reflection of the events that happened in NYC... I had the opportunity to go and visit my family this past weekend in NYC; and to see for myself that in many respects, life does go on. I spent most of my weekend in Queen's with my family. It felt in many ways that 911 did not happen except for the fact that every house had a flag hanging outside or a paper version in their windows and every other car had a small flag waving from their antenna; the newspapers were still filled with stories and one even had a full recount of what happened each minute including many of the 911 calls that were logged into the call station. After reading halfway, I had to stop as it was very sad to read first-hand what many innocent victims had faced inside the building. I also had a chance to talk with many New Yorkers first-hand of their emotion and experiences that day and during the past few weeks.

Robert Vidal, a dancer who visited us two summers ago, has an office right by WTC and said that you could still smell the smoke inside of his building so he works mostly from home. He said if I had the chance, I should try to go down and take a look as it felt like a scene out of a movie. I was so busy with my family, that I didn't have the time to trek down there as it would have taken at least half a day since you can't park anywhere near there and would have had at least a half-hour walk.

One of my cousins who was late for work that fateful day; had gone thru the underground subway, not knowing that Tower 1 was hit, saw people running around hysterically, but wasn't sure why and went up to wait for her elevator to the 2nd tower. She felt the building shake and left immediately -- she was very lucky. She was 3 blocks away when her building collapsed. Life has somewhat gone back to normal for her as the office has branches in other parts of NYC and they've given her a temporary work station with a computer and desk in one of their meeting rooms with other co-workers.

About a week ago, I also talked to Angel Ortiz, one of our guest writers on our site who is also on the police force. He was very lucky to be alive as he was right across the street from the towers taking pictures when the first tower collapsed, never thinking that the building could collapse. He said the dust came at him at 200 mph -- and he thought at that moment he was going to die; but luckily for him, it wasn't his time.

I also had a chance to talk to Nelson Flores who's frantically putting the last-minute details together for Latin Madness when it opens up this week and said that his phone is now ringing off the hook with people wanting tickets to see the play.

It was difficult to get ahold of or meet up with any salseros as it seems they were busier than ever this past weekend; but I did get a chance to hook up with Mike Sugar (formerly of Toronto) who is now living in NYC. We tried to find a place to dance Saturday night, but there wasn't anything nearby; so we decided to meet up in Queen's for a coffee. Of course, he had salsa playing in his car from radio station 97.9 and when we went to a local area hang-out, we both needed a salsa fix; so we cranked up the car radio and danced a few salsas on the street in front of 69 St. convenience store and provided some free entertainment for the store owners. Definitely a salsa moment in time we both will remember!

September 26, 2001

Hmmm... shall we vote?

Well, although I haven't had time to dance, I've had to live vicariously through my site; and since every-one has such "set" opinions about music, where it comes from and the type of music the DJ's play in our clubs in TO. How about taking it to a vote?

Here's some Reader's Polls that will give everyone their chance to vote instantly on how you feel about the music.

Cast your vote for...

DJ mixing Salsa Music

Is Cuban music better than Newyorican? you decide...

What type of music do you like to hear in the clubs?

September 23, 2001

Cuban vs. Newyorican?

Since the beginning of the year when we decided to post some interesting questions for our readers, it has brought out a passion-ate response from many dancers and music lovers of salsa. It is fascinating to read many of the responses as there is no one definitive source or book about salsa and where it originates, or there's too many, with everyone agreeing or disagreeing on who is right or wrong. At this time, I can't even express my own opinion as I don't have the time to do my own research on the history of the music or the dance itself. And many of my articles/stories in this webpage is my own personal discovery of the dance and music as it unfolds to me while talking to various salsa instructors, DJ's, and other salsa freaks.

The idea for this website was originally started by two hardcore salsa dancers who realized that Toronto needed a site that would house all the dance info in one place so no salsaholic would have to miss out on any salsa event in the City. It then grew rapidly and included a "forum" where dancers could ask questions or provide viewpoints on subjects that fascinated them on dance styles or music. We are lucky enough to live in a free country where it is everyone's right to have an opinion; but when people start to "threaten" that you won't read a website because we choose to post anyone's viewpoints and/or you feel that someone is leaning towards one type of music over another -- that's when some people should wake up and realize that everyone has their own personal taste in music; and it's ever evolv-ing. If you asked me 6 years ago about salsa, cuban son or merengue, I would not have a clue what you were talking about. If I don't like opera or country music, does that mean I can't stand the people who do enjoy that type of music? No. I have friends who don't like to dance to hip-hop and R&B, but I do, and I'm not black, so what does that make me? Now are all the black people going to get upset at my friends because they don't like the music? Do you finally get my point?

Isn't there enough fighting and racism around the world that we have to take it out on a type of music we all passionately love and it's a dance that is now taking over many cities in the World? I don't think any other music/ dance is catching fire all over the world the way salsa is; and all salsa lovers, whether you are Cuban or Newyorican or whatever, should be thankful that the "world" is helping your artists to keep creating the type of music you love no matter what country it's from and no matter what race you are.

I personally don't like one type of "salsa" over another -- I listen to it all. I may enjoy dancing to a particular style of salsa music, but hey, that's my personal preference. If there's some fabulous artist out there I may have missed, well, please email me and let me know and maybe that's my next voyage of discovery for music.

On that note, you may notice that many of the discussion forums have been updated and I've included a new one for the "History of Salsa".

And where have I been dancing lately? Well, nowhere actually, the last few weeks have been really busy for me at work and there's huge backlog of work and articles from all the salsa vacations I've had since the summer. I've finally had a chance to finish up the photo galleries from the Detroit, Puerto Rico and East Coast Salsa Congresses which will start popping up soon, if they haven't already...

Special thanks goes to Michael Jackson, a Detroit photographer, for sending me his great pics since my camera was on the blink, Tricia Meikle for helping me scan the Puerto Rico photos and Bong Gonzales for scanning in the East Coast Salsa Congress photos.

Hopefully I'll be able to start coming out again to a club or two this week as I'm starting to suffer from withdrawal... now if I could only get TOsalsa to get a life of its own so I would have more time for myself!


What's Coming Up...

Latin Madness II goes on in October in NYC! They will be dedicating their first show to the victims of the WTC and some of the proceeds will go out to the families of these victims. If you are interested in tickets, you can email us or call 1-718-595-1000 or 1-718-652-2319 for the following dates, Oct. 3-7, Oct. 10, 13, and 14. Todate, they have sold over 1500 tickets. Click here to see the highlights of last April's show.

More club grand openings in the next few weeks, out-of-town dance contests and your chance to audition for Team Canada to perform at the 2002 Puerto Rico Salsa Congress -- stay tuned for more details and check out the "What's Happening" section for last minute updates.

Remember, you can email or let us know in person, any updates, feedback or suggestions on what you would like to read.