Highlights of Toronto's Winter Thrills 2001/02

by Rose Knows, Toronto

info@TOsalsa.com

March 17, 2002

Spring is in the Air...

Everywhere I dance around... In less than 3 days it will really be Spring, but this past week of almost non-stop dancing has been absolutely marvelous, if not tiring! When Sonia and Moris (San Tropez) arrived from Montreal for the Salsa Team Canada practice, we then had a bite to eat at La Ceverjeria where DJ Billy Bryans was co-hosting his new Bomba Party. We had dinner there with some of the dancers and had fun taking the samba dance lesson with one of the dancers from the Samba Squad. Afterwards, the die-hards headed off to the La Classique Anniversary Party, but we headed home for some much-needed rest. Last Sunday, we went to Left Bank where DJ Fab was playing some of the fabulous new music he found while visiting NYC! There were two songs I never heard before which were absolutely amazing to dance to... one was Este Mambo from Mongo Santa-maria which was a song from 1991, and then a newly released album this year called "Mambo of the Times" by Frankie Morales with the song, "Ya Se Nos Fue". On Monday, we then went to Panorama and hung out and danced. Apparently there were two dancers from the Lion King and I enjoyed watching them showing Bong some of their lifts. On Tuesday, was an unforgetable night at Berlin, and which has also created a new discussion around the judging and more... I was so energized by the amount of dancing I did those three nights that I went to Babaluu's on Wednesday and almost closed the place. It was another energized night of dancing. Alot of dancers have been out this past week, either because it was Spring break or maybe we're all tired of our long, chilly winter. On Thursday, I took a break as I needed some sleep before the weekend round of dancing. On Friday, I had a marathon runaround as I picked up tickets for Sonora Carruseles before the "Lord of the Dance" show. Click here for the review and pics. Then I zoomed down to Sonora Carruseles at Atlantis Nightclub. What was scary was to only see about 20 cars when I got there! I thought I was in the wrong place -- there should have been tons of cars already parked to see this group! In the end, they had a comfortable crowd, but not enough to justify the calibre of this group. Click here for the highlights and pics! And finally, I still couldn't sit still another night so I headed over to El Rancho's and had a blast dancing most of the night. What made it the most fun was that many of the dancers were in a playful mood. We didn't just dance "turn patterns", we experi-mented with the music and did all kinds of silly steps or tried out some new ones.

And finally, here we go again, your chance to win tickets to Riverdance!

March 7, 2002

Things that make you go #@#$!...

It's been a non-stop week of activities, but the only night I was able to dance was Tuesday at Berlin. It was great to see such a good turn-out for amateurs (6 couples), but only one couple actually took the time to put together a little "routine" which got the crowd roaring their approval with turn patterns and shines. There were no professionals competing this week and next week should be interesting as it is the last week to enter before the semi-finals start. Click here for my pics from that night...

And why did I say #@#$!, well in some of the Feb. etiquette workshops, it was mentioned that some of the male dancers (whom you never danced with before) would sometimes pretend to be a beginner, but then try to "impress" you by trying to do fancy tricks, and in the case of one female, she was kissed in a dip by someone she never met before. I couldn't believe my ears and luckily never had any of those experiences until this past Tuesday. Someone I never met before or danced with asked me for a dance and I politely said "yes". He then asked me if I was "Rose from the website", and I honestly answered "yes" again, but he never offered his name (which I thought was kind of rude). During the first part of the dance, he did a move where the guy kneels down and I thought it was going to be one of those hands on your knee turns, but instead it became a quick kiss on my midriff. It happened so quickly that I decided to let it go, but I was not "impressed" nor would I let it happen again. During the middle of the dance, I was getting some weird, pierc-ing stares from him which made me uncomfortable, and I tried to find out his name, but he kept dodging the question and also told me he was still learning how to dance. Well if you're still "learning" how to dance, don't expect your "partner" to allow you to try a fancy dip or a neck drop at the end of the song when you've never danced with that person before -- how do I know you won't give me whiplash or drop me on the floor. I couldn't believe the nerve of this guy to avoid giving me a name, and on top of it expect me to allow him to do a neck-drop at the end of the song and actually had the nerve to say "you should have let me do that move as it was the perfect ending!". And luckily for him he hadn't tried that "kiss" again! I'll leave it to your imagination as to what I'd do a second time. Ladies, remember, you can say "No" to certain moves on a dance floor, and if he really offends you or keeps trying to make you do something that makes you uncomfort-able, don't hesitate to say "no" and if he keeps going, you have every right to walk off the dance floor AFTER you've told him why. The other week at Berlin's, I ended up dancing a bachata with someone who was more drunk than I thought and politely persistent. It was late at night with only a few couples on the dance floor, but somehow we kept colliding with all the other dancers "which really started to tick me off" as I was getting bruised and stepped on. After the 3rd or 4th big collision, I told him "I was tired of colliding with other dancers" and walked off the floor.

March 3, 2002

Latin Flava...

Last Friday I headed over to the Sugar Club for some Miami heat... and it turned out to be a nice change of pace as there was a mix of what I call salsa-bar regulars (into drinking and dancing), newbies (who look like they don't ever go regularly to a salsa club), and some regulars whom you would normally see at most clubs, such as Oscar & Vanessa, or Bong & Ana.

As always during the non-salsa sets mostly, I was a little trigger-happy with my camera. The atmosphere had a feeling of a new club opening night as this was a fairly new club. The main dance floor with a DJ was not a smooth hardwood floor for dancing, so your spins ended up on angles. In fact the bar lounge area had the smooth hardwood floor that should have been where the DJ was, but at least it made for more dance space. The music switched mostly from salsa sets to merengue sets, and there was one long dance set at about 11:30 pm.

The club was so packed at one point, you were dodg-ing dancers. Part of the entertainment that night was the Ten-Foot Mexican who could juggle fire, and also was great at doing those balloon sculptures, the most intricate one he made was a bicycle.

And for those of you who need some help finding what albums to buy, here's my new catalogue of CD's which you can easily add to your collection. I started by only talking about what was newly released, but there were so many albums already out there that are must-haves, but I needed an easier way to catalogue them, so I decided to do it by country/city of origin to increase awareness of where the great dance music comes from.

March 1, 2002

The March heat is on!

Ahhh... it's March and the salsa dance pace has not decreased, but seems to be increasing as the weeks go by. The rumour of Sonora Carruseles coming to Toronto on March 15th at Atlantis Nightclub seems to be finally coming true as they are also playing in Montreal on March 16th. What I also just realized is that the Lord of the Dance also opens that night! But before I even think that far ahead, there's the Miami Party tomorrow night which seems to be attracting the interest of many dancers as an alternative party to the regular latin nights, and the following weekend, Sonia and Moris of San Tropez, Montreal will be in town to check up on Salsa Team Canada and may be putting on some workshops on Sunday. The tentative schedule is as follows:
3-4:30pm-Men's Styling
4:30-6pm-Ladies Styling with Arabian Touch
6-7:30pm Dips and Lifts

And did I find time to dance this past week? Well, not as much I would have liked, as I'm doing a new juggling act where I've thrown in some personal growth and fitness training back into the mix of work, salsa and the world wide web. For those of you who are still trying to discover your career path or whether you're on track, I went to a FREE True Colors Workshop on Monday at George Brown College with a co-worker. It was probably one of the more entertaining nights I've had as I got to see how I perceived myself and how well my co-worker perceived me. The colors have nothing to do with your wardrobe, but with your personality type. I learned alot more about myself and the people around me and I highly recommend everyone to try it, esp. with some friends, it makes for an interesting night out and it's free! I was still a little burnt-out from Sunday's workshop so I decided to make it an early night as I knew I'd be heading over to Berlin on Tuesday. Berlin was busier than ever, but the energy that night wasn't as high as the previous week; but many salsaholics were out in anticipation of the Berlin Salsa Dance Contest. And they weren't disappointed as Dora and Pawel, previous Berlin Amateur Champions from two years ago were competing again this year, and newcomers to the Berlin Contest Circuit, Angus and Caryl, were also entered. With Dora and Pawel, they didn't throw in any tricks, but used alot of styling, shines and turn patterns. Angus and Caryl were a little more daring and threw in some crowd-pleasing tricks.

The pros will be really interesting this year as many of the couples have been training really hard as dance performers in various dance groups in Toronto and when travelling this past year to various dance conventions; and many of them will also be dancing on 2; also, they will be competing against many of their own friends or dance team members which will probably bring the level of competition higher than you've ever seen as they will bring in styling and tricks to a more complic-ated level than we've seen in awhile. Amateurs may not be as exciting this year as many of the potential amateurs have turned pro in the past year, unless some "seasoned" amateurs compete in the next few weeks as contest fever can hit you when you least expect it.

February 24, 2002

Wild, wild weekend!

What was so wild about it? I think I haven't stopped writing or dancing salsa since Thursday, well really since the Chicago Salsa Congress last weekend! (Pssst... you can now check out the pics from Saturday and Sunday too!)

After Tuesday night at Berlin, I crashed early Wednesday night and missed out on the dancing. On Thursday, after an amazing muscle conditioning workout, I just had to go and dance at Babaluu's as I couldn't sit still. On Friday, I zoomed down to Stephanie and Dave's Dance Floor Etiquette workshop and heard lots of interesting tidbits of information about how instructors and beginners feel about other dancers and what they consider right or wrong. It was interesting to note that many people commented on how dancers in general do not remember to have fun on the dance floor, and how to connect with your dance partner. There was also a lengthy discussion on the do's and don'ts for women about asking men to dance or how to get asked more often. Another interesting topic was teachers who teach on the dance floor (instead of dancing with their partner), OR dancers who ask the instructor to teach them while at the club social dancing instead of asking them for a dance. What was neat was having dancers get together and get to know each other on a personal level, rather than just a face in a crowded dance floor. Then afterwards, everyone headed over to Courthouse which was jammed and partied until closing.

On Sunday, I spent the day at the Woman's Salsa Retreat with Jennifer and Paula. They did a fabulous job of putting this event together and everyone had a great time. All the work-shops flowed nicely together. It was great starting with a Cardio Salsa Workshop with Karen Trujillo at the start of the day to wake and warm us up; then a session of Flow Yoga to bring us some strength, flexibility and some inner peace. Then it was time for a light lunch while Paula and Jen went through various female dance floor etiquette issues -- again, one of the main reminders, was to always have fun on the dance floor; never walk off the floor in the middle of a song unless he's drunk or making lewd dance moves, and don't say "no", and then dance with another dancer right after. Then there was the workshops on Spin Techniques, Ladies styling and Shines -- all of which were elements leading up to the Choreography Work-shop where you took the four simple shines you learned, put them together in a combination and then "performed" for the rest of the class in a group. By this time, I was totally and physically wiped, so I sat out and watched. It was neat to see the bonding between dancers who didn't know each other as they practiced as a group.

Would I go to another workshop -- a big YES, the whole day flowed beautifully and you can pick up many tips and exercises from the various classes. Because it was a different type of environment -- all women, it added a different perspective and in a sense there were no "distractions" and you got to concentrate on your own technique and styling. What was great was you could apply the techniques you learned from the spinning, styling and shines into your everyday dancing, along with a lot of great exercise tips to practice at home or work to help improve your technique. Stay tuned as I will be posting pics from their Workshop later this week.

February 22, 2002

What New?!

Well, besides dancing up a storm every other night since I got back from Chicago, I squeezed in the following updates:

1. Winners of the Door Prizes for the February 15th Salsathon.

2. Friday night's pictures of the Chicago Salsa Congress with more to follow...

3. Your chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the "Latin Flava, Miami Style" party happening on March 1st at the Sugar Club. Click here for all the juicy details...

And finally, this is your last week to enter the "Lord of the Dance" ticket draw for the March 15th Show.

February 21, 2002

The Salsa Marathon continues...

Just as I got back to work and tried to recover, I totally forgot about the preliminaries for the annual Toronto Berlin Salsa Dance Contest so I mentally prepared myself for another night out and had a blast! Not only did I have some fun playing around with my camera, I also got in some exercise to make up for those nights when I don't have time to dance or work out at the gym. That's one of the perks of watching a dance contest, you get alot of the best dancers out on one dance floor and you can dance all night long as everyone seems to get pumped due to the adrenalin rush of a competition. Click here to see the cameo pics I took from that night.

And then this weekend in Toronto will be action-packed once again with lots of dancing and workshops, including Con Cache at the Bamboo, the Workshops with Dave and Stephanie on Friday and Sunday, and the Women's Salsa Retreat.

And don't forget to enter our Lord of the Dance contest, the last day to enter will be February 28th.

click here for Chicago Salsa Congress highlights (part 1)

February 14, 2002

Where in the World is Rose going now...

Well, not too far actually, just down the street to Chicago, Illinois for their first Chicago Bacardi Salsa Congress... I decided at the very last minute when I got a call from Sonia of San Tropez regarding details for Salsa Team Canada. It turned out she was driving thru Toronto and had space in her car, so then I thought why not? Okay, I slightly broke a New Year's Resolution, but they are sometimes there to be broken and who can resist the instructor and band line-up, and the fact I can hang with my always expanding worldwide network of friends -- ahhh the beauty of the internet, but in Toronto, I am pass-ing up the Friday Night Salsathon and the Fruko/ Pochy concert, but I've got that covered from my great circle of friends, not includ-ing all the other great events happening this weekend. After racing like mad to try and get all the bases covered in a day -- it always helps to have a methodology to this salsa madness so that you don't forget one single detail before you leave and don't forget to bring all the salsa essentials required to a Salsa Congress including a new digial camera and camcorder. I can't wait to try them out -- and find time to have a last whirl of dancing in Toronto before I go... I'm back... or shall I say have a great weekend and you can look forward to all the salsalicious details when I get back! and oops, have a Happy Valentine's Day!

February 12, 2002

February Salsa heats up to a fast start...

or shall I call it the Myrna Latin NightClub Hop! Last Wednesday, I headed over to Bar One to check out their new latin night organized by Myrna Kahan. I've heard her name here and there at the clubs which are usually away from the usual hangouts I would frequent; but I have to admit she seems to have the monopoly at all the ritzy out-of-the-way clubs.

Bar One was a pleasant surprise, and it's too bad it wasn't better advertised. I fell in love with the layout, a spacious high-ceiling room in a central location (Eglinton & Mt. Pleasant). With DJ Carlitos spinning the hits and Juan Miguel's merengue band singing a few tunes, some hoochie bar-mamas, and a nice hardwood floor -- it had all the right mix to become a successful club night except that it competes with DJ Alvaro's Latin Roots at Babaluu's which is one of my favourite nights to go out during the week if I want to hear more pure salsa, past and present. Click here for some pics with my new digital camera... it was my first time using it! These pics were on super high-quality mode, but may be blurred a little as I used a special program for the albums.

On Friday, Nelson Flores and his company, Descarga Latina, were arriving in the early evening and it was decided that we would give them a little whirlwind club tour of Toronto, starting with the Grand Opening of Paparazzi Latino Friday Nights. When I arrived at 10:30 pm, I was able to find parking close by as it was still early and there was room to dance on the dance floor. Unfortunately the floor is tile and could be really slippery to dance on. That night is also organized by Myrna Kahan and she had the all-girl group, Ache, playing with latin go-go dancers. Nelson and his group had a few dances, but this is more a latin bar with a mix of salsa, cumbia, bachata, merengue and house. Then we zoomed down to Courthouse where we surprised Nelson Flores with a birthday cake as it was his birthday that night. Then the salsa set came on and the New York dancers danced and mingled with many of the Toronto dancers so anyone who dared ask, got a chance to dance on 2 or 1 if they preferred! That night, Courthouse was jammed, full of dancers and we stayed until closing. Click here for pics from that night of club hopping!

On Saturday, we had our first Salsa Team Canada practice and it was a blast! The song we are choreo-graphing to is going to be amazing once all three teams get together in May, June and July for a practice and a party in each City. During the day, there were workshops by Nelson Flores (which I didn't have time to attend), but through the grapevine, apparently everyone really enjoyed their workshops. Then later that night, I headed over to the Ritz Nightclub (also organized by Myrna Kahan) for the first time. What a nice surprise for a club out in the boonies -- it's gorgeous, new (about a year old) and clean -- with a nice high-ceiling wooden dance floor (if it doesn't get sticky). Many dancers showed up that night to see Descarga Latina perform and we got to witness two shows -- a cha cha danced to "Boogaloo", and the "Cuban Fantasy" no. from Latin Madness Mambo Musical.
Click here for my pics from that night... (to be continued...)

And I finally had a chance to post the pics from the Halloween Party at Tequila from Julie Dufour.

And here's a new page for all those great sites I find through the Internet... Hot Internet Finds...

February 8, 2002

Salsa on Breakfast City TV...
On Tuesday, February 12th from 6:30 am till 8:30am, Rene of United Salseros and possibly a dance company will be on TV. This is to publicize the Feb. 15th Fundraiser event that will be held at the Courthouse. The cost is $10.00 in advance for tickets to get you into the Courthouse and you will be eligible to win a Trip to Cuba, Riverdance and Lord of the Dance tickets and more...

They are still looking for Dancers who will dance in the Salsathon on Feb. 15th (3 hours only with breaks) and the dancers who get the most pledges are also eligible for some prizes, email Barb or TerryZ for more info or print out our pledge form.

Where in Toronto will you be dancing...

Yikes, it's the weekend and there's at least 3 different places to choose from each night... and the month of February will just sizzle 'til the end of the month with lots of salsa events to choose from, and way too many to talk about, so just check out our "What's Happening" section for all last minute salsa and latin events, or Ziv's baby, the colour-coded calendar which gives you a "visual" look at the World...

And with Nelson Flores coming into town... you may want to check him out and all the different clubs in Toronto... here's his club itinerary for the weekend!

Friday, Feb. 8th
Happy Bday Nelson!
10 pm - Paparazzi for its Grand Opening
11:30 pm - Courthouse

Saturday, Feb. 9th
9 pm - El Rancho's
11 pm - Ritz Nightclub and Dance Show by Nelson and Descarga Latina
1 am - Plaza Flamingo

And then after he leaves, we have another Grand Opening on Monday of the Panorama Salsa Night in the Sky which will compete with Smokey Joe's for the hardcore salsa night. And the club heat is going to start as some of these clubs will be authorizing us to have a "coupon/flyer" on our site you can print off to get in free, so stay tuned for more including a Miami party in Toronto that's coming on March 1st!

February 3, 2002

More salsa fever?

Whew! another month flies by and hopefully many of you were lucky enough to miss the nasty bout of flu that kept many dancers on and off the dance floor. It was a great way to motivate me to include more dance and fitness, instead of just tapping away day and night on the computer. And speaking of fitness, Trionne and I have finally polished off her first article entitled, "Posture -- on and off the Dance Floor". We also have more great articles planned, such as "The Benefits of Dance", "How to develop the Ultimate Dance Body" or how about "Injury Preven-tion for Dancers". We'd also love to hear your ideas or any questions regarding fitness as it relates to dancing of course!

Another great feature you're going to "love" or is it howl over, is a Top 10 chart of Romantic and Anti-Romantic Songs in honour of "Valentine's Day", with the help of Freddy Paiz (he's the "latino hottie" who had quite a few clips dancing with me on "My Escape"). We had a blast over the phone picking and choosing all-time favourite songs we love to dance or listen to which were not just romantic, but also the songs which are definitely not romantic at all... Thanks Freddy, you're the best!

And finally, I found a home for all those International Press Releases I've been receiving over the last little while or while surfing over the Internet, so check
"What's New in January"
"What's New in February"

And where did I find time to dance last week. Well, after the salsa marathon the week before, I ended up dancing on Thursday at Babaluu's (which is now $8 cover charge plus a $2 coat check). I was pleas-antly surprised to see that DJ Carlitos has got his groove back and is now playing regularly in the clubs again. He is still a great DJ, but it would be nice if he had some new mixes rather than the same songs I've heard for the past 5 years.

On Saturday, I met up with the organizers of the Chicago Salsa Congress who drove into town for one night to promote their Congress. They are offering the Congress Passes in Cdn. $ -- $200 for 3 days and $300 for 4 days, plus $99 US per night to stay at the Hilton (which is the performer's price) especially for Toronto. If you're interested in going, you can email me. They've got lots of great instructors and performances. And it's the first Congresso that has ever had Cheo Feliciano, Andy Montañez, Sonora Poncena (all 3 were Gilberto's mentors) and Gilberto Santa Rosa at one Congresso -- this was an inside tip from one of the organizers. Then I headed over the El Rancho's for a dance workout (which was great), but the music that night drove me nuts as they played almost all the old classics I used to hear week after week for the past 5 years OR some salsa which was more cumbia-like and not great for dancing the new style. The only songs I enjoyed were some of the new Puerto Rican Power songs, and a new favourite of mine, "Lady" by Orquesta de Palabra?

On a non-salsa note, I also was lucky enough to win free tickets through the Internet to see the Janet Jackson "All For You" concert -- the highlights was of course the dance choreography, the great songs, her staging, and her funky outfits. PS She's as or more beautiful live, than in her media shots.

January 28, 2002

Salsa Heaven?

It was a weekend of non-stop dancing and it was difficult to pick and choose. On Friday, I decided to go to Courthouse for their Anniversary Party and it was jam-packed full of dancers all in party-mode. There was also two dance performances, one with Paula and Jose doing a cha cha no. and then Grupo Sabroso with Rene, Michelle, Caryl and Jay doing their salsa Bin Bin routine. I heard that the class that night taught by United Salseros was jam-packed as many dancers went early to take advantage of the lesson. The hardcore dancers, including myself, closed the place at 3 am as DJ Fab was kind enough to play one more salsa song.

On Saturday, Caryl and I planned a get-together for Tricia, one of our writers, who is planning to travel the "world" for six months. She is doing a whirlwind tour of various countries, including Australia, China, Greece and Spain; and of course, some salsa where possible along the way. Hopefully, she'll find a little time in her not-so-busy travelling schedule to let us know how's she's doing and the salseros she meets along the way. Then after-wards, many of us headed over to El Rancho's to dance and hopefully meet up with the New York dancers, Yesenia and Danny. El Rancho's was comfortably crowded with just enough room to dance. They arrived fairly late and apparently were exhausted as they had a 2 hour delay at Customs, zoomed down to the Cherry Room to teach workshops, then had already checked out two clubs before they arrived at El Rancho's at 12:30 am. What was a nice surprise was finally meeting DJ Elvira and an extra-special surprise for me was seeing Fernando Lamadrid of justsalsa.com also visiting. If you've never checked out his website, he has great digital pics of the NY dance and music scene and the conventions. He took quite a few pictures during his two day stay in Toronto and of course, you can be sure I'll be linking to those great pics once they're done. At about 2:30 am, we headed over to Plaza Flamingo, and it was abso-lutely jam-packed with young latinos dancing to everything from merengue, bachata, cumbia and salsa. The dance floor was not ideal as it is tile, but what made it worse was the usual bar litter that makes the floor filthy to dance on. What made Friday and Saturday quite interesting for future discussion was some of the "men" we met on the dance floor, stay tuned...

Then on Sunday night, I went to the Cherry Room... (to be continued...)

January 24, 2002

Hot off the Press!

Just as I was about to log off the internet, in the matter of minutes I received updates to the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress and the West Coast Salsa Congress as Albert Torres announced the 100 dance teams that were selected to perform this coming May, the instructors teaching on 1 and on 2, and it will be the first time Sonora Carruseles will be performing at the Congress. Congratulations goes out to Los Salsomanos, On Beat, and Ana and Orville for being selected to represent Toronto, Canada. Over 350 dance tapes were received by Albert Torres this year from all over the world.

And finally, a great article by Jai of Jai and Candy of his dance experience with someone twice his age that was recently posted on SalsaNewYork. Click here...

January 18, 2002

What keeps you going after a hard day of work?

A great night of salsa dancing and great memories of last summer... For those of you who missed the 7:30 pm airing of my salsa TV debut, after worrying for weeks on how horrible it would look, I was pleased with their great job of editing. Everything flowed beautifully -- while I talked about my passion for salsa, they put in snippets of me spotlight dancing with Mike Sugar, Freddy Paiz, Paul Chivers, Angus Dirnbeck, Rene Delgado, and Mr. Showmanship himself, Oscar Naranji, doing his signature "double-dip with two girls (myself and Vanessa)". Special thanks goes out to all the dancers who came out to be my partner, Michelle Tanchoco who remembered to bring down Toni & Tina glitter makeup and my hairdressers, Grace & Mario of Beauty Image Makeover. What was hilarious was having my parents watch this show wondering how I got all those outfits (not knowing they're all mine), my dad hated the hairdo and wondered how I learned all those lines so quickly. If you want to catch the show, it will be playing again on Rogers Cable 54 on Jan.19 at 11:30pm, Jan.20 at 10am and 6pm; Jan.21 - 3:30am.

And have I been out dancing lately, well, I think I finally got my groove back this week after the holidays and a major bout of flu. Just sleep for 3 straight days and your body goes into revolt for some exercise... So this past Monday, I hit Smokey Joe's for a quick-start back into the dancing and then on Wednesday at Latin Roots Babaluu's where you hear hard-core salsa oldies 75% of the night and got to watch many of my friends in Grupo Sabroso perform that night. I'm back...

January 15, 2002

Salsa Fever heating up early or is it "I'm dancing as fast as I can..."

While things are slowly brewing in January on the salsa scene, February will bring it to a boiling point as we've never seen it before! Another Tuesday night grand opening of a new club on January 29th at Temple Bar downtown (does Toronto have a large enough salsa population for 3rd Tuesday night salsa club), a Salsa-A-Thon for a good cause, out-of-town workshops from New York dance instructors coming in February, two dance competition preliminaries starting -- the ever-popular Berlin Dance Competition on Tuesdays starting February 19th, and the new Aura Lounge Dance Competition on Wednesdays, starting on February 20th, deadline for entry will be on Thursday, February 14th. If you're thinking of competing, don't forget to check out our Partner Search, there are presently 13 females and 9 males who are interested in competing.

As always, check out our "What's Happening" section for last minute updates or our events section for more detailed information.

And things are really starting to heat up for the Chicago Salsa Congress on Valentine's Day Weekend. Click here for their latest press release.

And for all the spanish lyric enthusiasts out there, I have been sent at least another 10 songs to post... but don't forget to email me with the type of song (bachata, salsa, merengue or cumbia) and which album they came from to save me time and to keep the lyric pages consistent.

And finally, why am I dancing as fast as I can, well, as always, I'm trying to find the balance between work, TOsalsa, salsa dancing and personal time, and it's getting tougher as this website and the salsa scene just keeps growing by leaps and bounds. This year is going to be hotter than ever.

January 8, 2001

Things to make you go hmmm...

Well, well, well, it's only been about a week into the New Year, and for those of you who had the time to venture out while I was tapping away on my computer, you may have gone and taken a sneak-peak at Jai and Candy when they were here on Dec. 28th and 29th. For the ultimate salsaholic who doesn't get enough of New York-style salsa on 2... it was a treat to have them here... for me, it was a case of bad timing cause I made a resolution to myself to stay home and work on some things for the New Year, including the new look on our home page. It also helped that the weather was cold, that I had already seen them in NYC back in April at Latin Madness and again at the East Coast Congress in August.

Then this past weekend, we had a surprise guest yet again from NYC, Frankie
Martinez from Abakua! He showed up at Courthouse and closed the place and wowed many of the dancers who have never seen him before. I had every intention of going down to Courthouse that night (not knowing he would be there), but I had "closed" Babaluu's the night before, and just ran out of steam. Again, everyone told me what a great night it was, but I was lucky enough to meet, watch and even have a few dances with Frankie back in April (NYC) and in May (Detroit); so I really didn't feel like I was missing out.

On Sunday, January 6th, some of us got together with Frankie in the early
evening and watched the Puerto Rico Bacardi Salsa Congress on tape. I always find it a treat to be able to sit down in the presence of Frankie and get a chance to absorb his knowledge and tid-bits he's picked up while travelling around the World performing and teaching; and from his own
in-depth studies on the salsa music and the dance itself. Then afterwards,
we went to Left Bank and hung out and danced. I introduced Frankie to DJ
Fab and that sparked a rather spectacular set of music that was amazing to dance to! In turn, that inspired Frankie to have some really great dances with some of the experi-enced "on 2" dancers, such as Dora Paszuk, Stephanie Gurnon and Michelle Tanchoco.

What was fascinating to watch was how Frankie would interpret the music and the personality of his partner into his dancing. He wasn't into the complicated turn patterns that some dancers love to lead, but more about accentuating the feeling of the music through his own signature, subtle body movements which would also complement his partner or some lightening fast footwork (shines) -- which commands a different appreciation of the dance vs. the LA-style lightening-fast dips and tricks. And that's what makes salsa such a fun and fascinating dance... to watch or to dance as it is danced differently all over the world and you'll never be able to keep track of all the various turn combinations and patterns that's out there -- I've given up trying!

On a fun note, knowing his martial arts background and the fact he can do
splits sideways (not front and back), I just had to ask Frankie to
do it once again. The first time I saw him do it was at the Detroit
Bacardi Salsa Congress last May during one of our group photos... the only
other dancer I've seen able to do this move is one of the boys from Young
Ambition and he was almost half the age of Frankie! What's great about
Frankie is that he's always a good sport and he did it just for me!! In
turn, some of my friends made me do "my signature split" -- which isn't very original, but always entertains my friends (maybe because I never need to warm up -- I just pop them when I feel like it) and plus I have fun shocking my dance partners who don't know I can do them.

On another note, it's now not only about the feeling dancing actually gives me, but to take the time to learn, understand the history of the dance and the music itself that is also fascinating; plus listening and learning viewpoints from other dancers who are passionate about the roots of salsa.

What still fascinates me is the difference between "on 1" and "on 2", and to throw another twist to the dance, how about "dancing on the clave".

In Puerto Rico, Frankie and I sat with some other dancers and talked until
dawn (after the dancing was finished) about the dance and the different
aspects of dancing on 1 and 2. One of the comments I vividly remember was that he's met dancers who learn "on 1" who then learn to dance "on 2" and don't go back to "1", but he's never met any dancers who have danced "on 2", who learn to dance "on 1", and want to stay "on 1", they always prefer "the 2". It's an indescribable feeling as if you're dancing with the music.

From the many articles and discussion I've read so far, many people are told dancing on 2 is also dancing on the clave; but according to some dancers -- that's not really true.

Another Puerto Rican dancer whom I occasionally chat over the internet with, gave me his interpretation of what he called "salsa on 2" and "salsa on clave". When you dance "on clave", you are following the sounds that can change within the songs; but when you dance "on 2", you will dance to counting and it will not change. Puerto Ricans don't count, they just follow the clave, whereas Newyoricans follow the count which is not always on the clave beat.

There is an article on salsa music by Arturo O'Farrill which talks about the
clave and learning how to play salsa music. What was fascinating was that
this article states you just can't play salsa technically, you have to feel it; and the only way to do that is to actually play it...

"Part of us listens to music intuitively," Arturo says. "Maybe that part doesn't even understand what it is we're hearing. With Latin music, you can teach people the patterns, you can write out the patterns, and have the players play them perfectly. You can put them all together, but it won't have the drive and swing of the real cats, the guys who do this regularly. And the thing with Latin music is that most of the time, you're playing right in the center of the beat. So you'd think if people could read and play the stuff accurately, it would sound like the real thing.

"Well, I finally figured out that it's not so much about playing on the beat as it is about having a sense of the two-bar phrase: the clave. I think clave is very much like breathing. It's like yin and yang. Breathing in those longer two-bar phrases affects the placement of each individual beat.
You can read the beat and play it exactly, but when you breathe the clave, you tend to expand and contract your concept of the beat within each phrase. Musicians have to work hard to achieve metrical accuracy, but it's also okay for music to ebb and flow.

"Real music breathes. If you're so obsessed about accuracy that you're not willing to let the music rush and drag a little bit, you've lost the organic reality of human life. Sometimes we rush and drag through our existence. Sometimes we live in the beat, right smack dab in the center of our schedule."

"Just use the Force. Feel the clave, Luke. The Jedi knows how to let the clave flow through him."

What's fascinating about reading that article, was that in a discussion with
Frankie about dancing and also with other dancers -- many point out that the greatest dancers don't just move with the steps and turn patterns, but the music seems to actually move through their body, or they syncopate the music with their dance movements -- you can almost see or feel the music through their dancing.

If you have social or performance dance tapes or can find clips on the internet, take the time to really listen to the music and watch how some of the best dancers are dancing, such as Frankie Martinez (on 2), Seaon Bristol (on 2) or Johnny Vasquez (on 1). I just reviewed the photos of Frankie dancing with Aisha, and you can see the subtlety of their dance movement captured in these still photos. With Johnny Vasquez, it's not just about the great tricks, but how he hits the accents using various parts of his body to hit every accent. And if you think of the many arguments people have about what makes great dancers -- that's usually what they are trying to convey. They don't just do patterns, they listen to the music and let their bodies move to the music using not just the arms and legs from point A to B, but using every part of their body, such as shoulders, hips and facial expression.

Another thought to keep in mind, how about the days when there were no
formal classes on how to dance salsa, the days when people would learn from others in the clubs by watching or emulating their movement. And with the great dancers who are teaching who don't speak a word of English from other countries, such as Felipe Polanco from Puerto Rico -- what choice do you have, but to follow their lead and copy their steps.

Which brings me back to reality... I'm sure many of the Toronto dance
instructors have already set up their new classes for January, so you should be checking them out now so you don't miss the first class. For those of you who want to do something a little different and mix your salsa with your cardio, you may want to check out the various fitness clubs that offer cardio salsa classes. They're popping up everywhere... Offhand, I know Giovanni teaches CardioSalsa classes in my gym at Lifesport at Yonge & St. Clair, and Trionne Moore (our newest TOsalsa writer for health and fitness articles) is teaching a 10-week session at The Delisle Club at Yonge & St. Clair.

And for those of you who have included fitness as one of your New Year's
Resolutions for general health or to build up your stamina for the upcoming
dance competitions and conventions, you can read up last year's "New Year's Resolutions" to help become a well-rounded dancer.

In the near future, you can look forward to get some great fitness and dance-related articles by Trionne Moore who has completed her personal training certification. I'm really excited about this new section as I've always wanted to know more about fitness and how it relates to our health as individuals and as dancers, and now I've found someone who can share some of that knowledge -- stay tuned... as we're just putting the finishing touches on her first article... "Posture -- on and off the dance floor."

January 3, 2002

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful start to the New Year... as we sure did. Have you noticed the morphing we've started of our home page... hopefully, it's making your surfing around our site alot easier and more enjoyable with anything and everything a total salsafreak could want all on one page... to surf to your heart's desire! I also surfed over to the the u8tv salsa house party, and guess what! you can still catch everyone dancing -- so if you didn't get to see Grupo Sabroso or On Beat perform, here's your last chance before their new season starts! Just click on u8tv, go to "Missed a Show", and click on House Party and pick your connection, sit back and enjoy.

On another note, it's great to see people are starting to surf again after the holidays. We've gotten emails from Budapest, Florida and England; and it's great to see how much people love the latin music. Regarding the letter on the song from Cuba, Maonese is by Chocolate 2000, I have a Colombian co-worker who told me this single is the hottest thing in Colombia right now; and they also seem to enjoy belly dancing (click on the pic with the girls dancing). Dancing to Maonese is a hot new dance where you shake your booty like "mayonnaise"...

You can also check out Liliana Vasquez and Marcus Nieves dance on to Wayne Gorbea in a gorgeous belly-dance outfit on justsalsa as they have a salsa dance clip and pics. They are from NYC and presently dance with Nelson Flores of Descarga Latina.

And finally, after over 6 months(?), I went back to Babaluu's on a Thursday and closed the place. It's still the happening place to be on Thursdays as you get the great party mix of salsa club regulars who love Thursdays/Sundays at Bab's and the great looking club chicks which the guys always appreciate. Appar-ently DJ Carlitos has taken a 2? month hiatus from the club and the new DJ plays a mix of salsa (old, new and romantica), cumbia, merengue, house and R&B. If you get there by 10 pm, you miss the line-ups and get a good hour of salsa before the long sets of everything but salsa kicks in.

December 30, 2001

Countdown to the New Year... and flashbacks!

Yikes, it seems like this past year has just flown by so quickly with all the events in Toronto and the congressos I was "forced" or was it "coerced" to attend. But at the same time, it seems a lifetime had passed with all the massive changes on our site as our "baby" is start-ing to be able to stand on its own -- our readership has grown 500% over last year, but not just from our loyal Toronto readership, but from dancers in the US and throughout the World! Many thanks goes out to so many salsa dancers and music lovers who believe in our dream and have generously contributed to our site this past year... and/or have joined me in "passionate or heated" discussions about anything and everything to do with salsa -- you know who you are... and also the Readers who contribute their great feedback via letters to "inspire me to greater salsa heights" or through the "intense" discussion forums.

Another major change was the level of our salsa dancing in Toronto as we are inspired by all the great talent around the World which we get to witness at the various Congressos; and as a result, the time and commitment from our dance instructors and performers to put together our own unique style to make us a force to be recognized in the World of Salsa. I've heard over the last 6 months that many dancers from other cities have been impressed with how we can incorporate and/or blend the various dance styles, such as NY and LA together, or are surprised by our level of dance skill. It was also fun to tease dancers I met a year later, who didn't know, like or want to dance on 2 and then to meet up a year later to actually dance together on 2! And because of our multi-culturalism in Canada, many of us have a more open mind to accept the many styles of Salsa and also have the goal to be able to dance with anyone in any style, any beat they wish, or from any region around the World.

What's also nice to see is that some of the old-school Salsa dancers are starting to open up and embrace the new style rather than just stick their nose up at it as if it is inferior to the old Toronto-style. Dancers, don't forget one golden rule about dance styles in general, dance is an ever-evolving, ever-changing art form, no different from any other sport where the level of difficulty becomes greater each year (such as ice skating where a triple spin isn't enough, but you now need a quad to win).

What also needs to change is the automatic assumption that the new generation of salsa dancers dance only on 2 or that they can't dance the old Toronto-style on 1! What totally blew me away one night at El Rancho's was having Martin Samuels (an instructor who's been around for about 10 years) recognize me from the clubs as "new school" from the night at Babaluu's when I was filming the TV segment for "My Escape" and assume that he couldn't dance with me because I only dance on 2! That was hilarious as I started salsa in the old school tradition, before being exposed to and learning the various styles of LA, Miami-style Casino Rueda and finally NY-style on 2. What even made it more ridiculous was that if he was really watching, he would have noticed that I was dancing with dancers either on 1 or 2 depending on our preference or knowledge; and gee, were we dancing Casino Rueda on 2? hmmm... not!

And then there's the cyber-Salsa Explosion around the World with new websites being developed at an exponential rate since the changeover of Salsaweb and the lack of current information being provided. If you hadn't surfed to our Links page lately, we gave into salsa temptation and finally included many great sites for the ultimate salsaholic who just can't get enough of salsa on the dance floor or through cyberspace.

And as for New Year's Resolutions? Last year, I had fun putting together a pet peeve wishlist... but since 911, you may have started to re-evaluate the time you spend with friends and family, and/or your goals and dreams as I have. For those of you looking for inspiration in setting new goals and dreams -- here's some links you may want to check out that can make you go hmmm and have worked or inspired me.

A Time for Setting Goals
Peak Performance - A full-steam-ahead plan to take control of your maxed-out life and scale the heights of success
Create your own Mission Statement

What are my New Year's Resolutions? Well, you'll seem them unfold over the course of the following year on TOsalsa... but I can't disclose it yet as my ehubby might decide to run away as it might not fit in with his plans...

And after reviewing and seeing the ever-changing attitude and atmosphere in the dance scene and through cyberspace, here's this year's pet peeve wishlist...

Though shalt not...

1. Put down or criticize other dancers (unless they break etiquette or dance rules), we are all on the dance floor because we love it!
2. Say "No" when a Dancer has the courage to ask you unless you really have a good excuse. And remember, if the other dancer is really bad (as in does not know what salsa is) and it becomes you're sacrifice dance, just think of the joy and laughter you put on your friend's face because they know you're being tortured OR how happy you made another dancer because you said "yes" and they loved every minute dancing with you, even if you didn't.
3. Be so close-minded about the various dance styles that you think one is better than another style -- that is a matter of personal preference only.
4. Feel the need to insult one another through cyberspace, everyone is entitled to voice their own opinion or viewpoint.
5. Say negative comments about a fellow dancer whom you wouldn't have the courage to say to their face.
6. Take things personally if you ask someone's "honest" opinion. If you can't handle the truth or their critique, then don't ask!
7. Forget to say Sorry if you know you've stepped on someone accidentally on the dance floor.
8. Take a dancer's generosity for granted, you must also give something back in return.
9. Copy another dancers' choreography, please practice a little originality!
10. Take the attitude that you're the best, because there's always someone better or something you still haven't learned; or take the attitude that you only dance with the best dancers and only ask the best dancers all the time -- one day other dancers may start treating you the same way; OR the age-old saying, "Treat others as you yourself would want to be treated..."

And always remember to dance as if nobody's watching!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

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