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by Rose Knows, Toronto
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November
30, 2002 November 28, 2002 December Madness... Just started to post up all the new events for December and some great Dance School Xmas Parties that are all bunching up mostly in mid-December along with my own office xmas party... ahhh... plus I've been able to put names now to most of the SF dance groups, except for two, thanks to a bunch of emails from salsa dancers from the south! Also, have another Top 10 Salsa Song List from Peru, just posted a great list of top salsa songs from Steve Shaw of SalsaNewYork (it's about time NYC!) and also a cha cha list; and finally his take on how DJ's should play music. Finally, I can't wait for more dancers to cast their vote in our Reader's Poll for Salsa Congresses, cause Toronto is winning by a slight margin right now, followed by Puerto Rico! Quote: Dancing, like laughing, releases the soul of the person... November 27, 2002 Salsa Video Madness 2! Here we go again... here are 18 dance group clips from the San Francisco Salsa Congress! Enjoy and don't forget you need to download Quicktime Player. And with Christmas around the corner, then the New Year? It's going to get HOT internationally as there will be some BIG international competitions coming up in LA and Puerto Rico next summer! Oh the agony of deciding where to travel... and on that note, let's see where all the Salsaholics will be going this year... click here! November 26, 2002 Salsa Video Madness! Tadah! Thanks to the determination and drive of Orville Small of Salsation, we can present videoclips of the 12 competitors of the San Francisco Interna-tional Salsa Competition on 1 and 2 -- check it out! And by this weekend, I'll also have about 18 group clips posted up... Orville got a little excited as you can see... must have been the rush of winning... he had so much energy he just used it up on clips! Also special congratulations goes out to Sonia and Moris of San Tropez, Montreal and Ana and Orville, Salsation, Toronto for being pre-selected as the two Canadian couples to represent Canada at the 2003 West Coast Salsa Congress in LA, along with an amazing line-up of top instructors and teams that includes Eddie Torres, Frankie Martinez, Seaon Stylist & Amanda Estilo & Stylists Dance Company, Johnny Vazquez, Luis & Joby Vazquez & Salsa Brava, Francisco Vazquez & Los Rumberos, Edie "The Salsa Freak" & Al Espinoza, Jai & Candy, Nelson Flores & Descarga Latina, Ismael Otero and Caribbean Soul and many more... click here! November 25, 2002 Salsa Marathon continues... Whew, the auditions are finally over, it was a very nice turnout of dancers from which I had no clue were interested in signing up; and Sonia and Moris are on their way back to Montreal. The weekend just flew by between dancing, meetings and an Afro-Cuban class. And the smart regulars will definitely go out dancing on Tuesday and Wednesday as there will only be one club instead of two to choose from -- Berlin and Babaluu. November 21, 2002 And we keep going and going... Just getting ready for a crazy-busy weekend as Sonia and Moris from Montreal will be coming to Toronto starting tomorrow night. Our first salsa stop will be Courthouse, Saturday is iffy right now, Sunday at either Babaluu's and/or Left Bank, and Monday at the Salsa Team Canada auditions at the new Sweetwater Latin Mondays from 7-9 pm and then the Grand Opening party... Just received a great review of the San Francisco Salsa Congress from Maya, an SF dancer who paid us a short visit sometimeago. November 20, 2002 No rest for the wicked... or is it salsa-addicted... well, now that I'm totally immersed in my real job and religiously going back to the gym, and trying to get out a little more, it's hard to take a "day off" the net as it's been crazy-busy as well -- must be the winter season where people like to stay in a little more and write or email, not including the fact I'm making a lot of new salsa e-friends from around the World who love to chat as much as I do. Due to these great contacts I get to find out things that you wouldn't know unless you live in their city. So where have I gone dancing these days? Well, after the action-packed weekend with Angus' bday, the ballroom show and Edwin Bonilla being in town, I headed to Berlin's last night to check out Evarito Muchado and they were great, but it was mostly cuban timba music and again, I have to stress (and I don't care what you timba lovers think) it's not the best music to dance to if you are dancing on 2 using alot of turn patterns. Don't get me wrong, the music is probably great for dancing cuban style, but I felt like I was either on a roller-coaster ride when they would speed up or we would have to abruptly cut the flow of the turn patterns to dance on time to the music. Also, they would have these abrupt breaks in the music which sounded like the ending, we'd cut off our dance, and then have my partner apologize cause he thought it was the end of the song, and I would respond, "It's okay, welcome to the world of timba music!". Later in the evening, I had the chance to watch one of the singers dance cuban style and yes, they do know how to get it down in their own style and looked great, but that's not the only style that looks great or is the only way to dance salsa. On the web, there's a great photo review of Latin Madness in New York City and of the Dominican Republic Salsa Congress (which I totally forget about). I love how Pablo designed the page linking photos to each show to the actual playbill -- there's some really nice pics! I heard through the grapevine that the show didn't have the same umph as the 1st one, but most of the reviews were by New Yorkers who obviously have "seen it all". As this production matures, they will obviously look at what they did right and wrong and just take it to the next level. November 19, 2002  Oh Canada! And why am I singing... well, for starters, back on Friday August 2, 2002, a night I'll never forget, when the organizers of the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress picked Salsa Team Canada to close the Friday Night show over the usual routine of having Salsa Brava from LA, the standing ovation (which was totally unexpected), and then all the great feedback we got over the net and in emails about how we set a new standard for teamwork and the challenge was on for other countries to try and do the same. And then this past weekend hearing that Ana and Orville had actually beat out two of the top LA couples internationally, and to see our Canadian flag in 1st place over all the US flags... what's next? When we started this website, one of our goals was to help make Toronto one of the capitals of salsa alongside New York, LA and Miami... and I'm proud to say our hard work is payng off... Toronto has come along way in the past 2-1/2 years since we started this site; and then to see this quote for Ana and Orville, ""Perhaps the best Salsa routine since Johnny and Olivia! They brought the house down and received a standing ovation - TWICE" and I also heard they also had perfect scores (50) from all the judges. Way to go Ana and Orville! And what move got the crowd going wild, well if you're not familiar with their routines, then check this out... so LA! What probably made this contest really unique was that they split up the on 1 and on 2 dancers into two separate contests, which means you were judging purely on the merits of the two styles, rather than trying to pick out the best couple out of two totally different styles -- makes great sense if you have enough contenders and much easier for the judges to mark. The look and feel of on 1 and on 2 in competition I would imagine would not be the same. On 1 dancers in competition tend to lean towards tricks, drama and flash, whereas on 2 is more about dancing with a lot of style or attitude with very few tricks or dips. It would be difficult to judge fairly -- like oil and water. These past few years, since many of the pros have learned to dance on 2, Toronto can proudly say that we can dance on 1 or on 2 with the best of them, even Ismael Otero, after watching Pawel and Dora win the Ottawa Salsa Competition with their innovative routine, that NYC should watch out -- Toronto has grown up fast since the first time New Yorkers came to the Toronto Salsaweb Conven-tion back in April 2000. And on the website front, TOsalsa is no. 6 on the search engines, beaten only by Salsaweb, Salsa New York and a few LA websites. In the past 6 months alone, I've been surprised by the no. of readers who visit from NYC and LA on a regular basis, not including our growing international readership, along with our totally addicted Toronto dancers who tell me they check the site more than once a day during breaks at work, to relieve stress or in case I did an update. Let's keep this salsa flame alive and I can't wait to see what 2003 will bring -- way to go Toronto and Eastern Canada! November
18, 2002 November
18, 2002 November 17, 2002 Dance Crazy Weekend! As you know it started on Thursday, when I danced all night at Bab's, and then on Friday, a bunch of us went to a latin ballroom show with Slavik Kryklyvy & Karina Smirnoff who were third in the overall Latin division at Blackpool this year. As always, these shows are inspiring to watch and the lady always wears the most gorgeous dance outfits. With the speed of their movement, it was difficult to get the best photos, plus they also covered the whole floor during a dance routine the way figure skaters do. Karina was apparently quite sick with a 32 degree fever, but you couldn't tell -- that's how professional they were. Some of the funniest moments dance-wise, was watching Oscar of Latin-Energy, trying to pick up on the line dance for the first time with Bong; needing some moments to pause while dancing a Viennese Waltz with Frank Bishun; and Jason Ng, who's competed in ballroom and myself, about to attempt a waltz (which I haven't danced in two years), but we both chickened out; and watching our salsa friends jump up to dance to merengue, because they all didn't know how to dance any ballroom so grabbed at any chance they could to dance. After the show, some dancers headed down to Courthouse and I went to Palazzo's to check out Edwin Bonilla (who was absolutely wonderful), but for whatever reason it wasn't packed that night. I'm not sure how busy Palazzo's is normally, but it's not the same as it used to be when it first opened. On Saturday night, even though we had our first snowfall, I went down once again to Lula Lounge just in time to catch Con Cache, and later danced the night away to the music of Edwin Bonilla. He played a wicked first set, but wore the dancers out, including me, as every song was fast. They didn't start the second set until 2 am, but most of us left as we were all tired from the last few nights of dancing. While we've been partying here in Toronto, Ana, Orville and Ziv are down at the San Francisco Salsa Congress. Albert Torres even made a special announcement that TOsalsa and Salsation from Toronto was in the house! I should have some pics up early next week and if I'm lucky, maybe some video footage. Ziv was running around in the afternoon trying to find a way to email the pics since he didn't remember to pack the cable in his rush to get to the airport! Men! Here's a new saying -- can't work with them, can't work without them? and for that matter, in most cases, it can also be said that "you can't dance with them or dance without them" unless you find a great female lead! November 14, 2002 Never a dull moment continues.... Well, thanks to my salsaholic friends, I was swept away on the tide of let's go dancing. Since the Ottawa Salsa Congress I was immersed with regular work and TOsalsa catch-up, and reignited my Muscle Potential class which I missed for the last two weeks due to schedul-ing. I was aching from bicep to thigh from the workout yesterday and since it was Angus' bday, I headed down to Babaluu's with my friends and so many of us showed up that I haven't seen in awhile, plus DJ Carlitos was playing quite a bit of salsa -- more than usual, so everyone stayed until the bitter end and danced up a storm, including me! It was Angus' bday, you know the cool white dude that has taken TO by a storm in the past year and a half? from dancing on 1 and then the 2, throwing a bit of that funky R&B styling and having the girls just melt in his arms with his awesome lead and funky moves. After I don't know how many drinks, he still could throw down (as NY would say) some awesome moves without missing a beat... but by the end of the night, the drinks sunk in but he could still give one last funky dance. It was the first time in a long while that many of the regulars showed up and danced until the bitter end, but it's also been a long time since DJ Carlitos has played this much salsa, and we weren't the only happy dancers -- it was the most dancers I've seen who closed the place in a long time. While I was having a blast with all my friends, I came home to more salsa news, like two new club openings -- Thursday nights with Marc Anthony and Stephanie at a new club where Marc Anthony will be the DJ spinning vintage vinyl -- he used to be a DJ and went hog-wild buying up vintage salsa albums when he was in Puerto Rico; and then got an email also for a new Monday salsa night hosted by DJ Eddy at Sweetwater Nightclub on Eglinton. And I'm also happy to report that Babaluu will be sponsoring our Sunday afternoon audition on November 24th as some dancers mentioned they couldn't make the Monday night audition, so Babaluu's has generously donated their space from 4-6 pm. Monday's dance audition location has not been finalized as of yet, but will still be available so stay turned. So even if you're undecided about joining Salsa Team Canada or have any questions, please feel free to join us on Sunday, November 24th or Monday, November 25th to find out more. Also, Sonia and Moris will be here in Toronto starting Friday, so we will probably go dancing on Friday at Courthouse, Sunday at Babaluu's and Left Bank, then Monday at the new Grand Opening of Sweetwater Nightclub. Saturday may be our chill night, but who knows... And lastly, just for the record for those of you who don't know me personally; no, I'm not married to Ziv (but I spend soooo much time with him and talking on the phone these past 2-1/2 years that we act like a married couple which is why I jokingly call him my e-hubby), and we don't really have any kids except TOsalsa, although if we did have more kids, our second would be named TOmambo (my choice) and Ziv picked the name of our third child, TOmuch! Edwin Bonilla Winners Danilo Sierra Giovanny Castro Lisa Ditri Doreen Yeh Dayle Espiritu If you haven't received an email, please contact us. November 12, 2002 Never a dull moment... Just when you think you can have some time to relax, there's always something in the works... or something to be done... so here's the latest... Ottawa Salsa Congress Pics: Friday - Saturday Aventura Concert Pics More discussions... more upcoming promotions are in the works... we're even going to have a countdown starting in January towards our 3 year anniversary in April... not only are we going to have 3 new promotions from Massey Hall, the Hummingbird Centre has also given us 3 pairs of tickets to give away to Burn the Floor in 2003. And oh the pressure, we've been working on and off for the past year on our new look and I'm threaten-ing to divorce Ziv if we don't get it out in time for our anniversary! But he went one better and promised it to me for Christmas!? hmmm.... I also just got an email from David Melendez about the Canada Salsa Congress in Toronto from October 10-13, they've already signed up Ismael Otero (New Jersey, Josie Neglia (LA), Yesenia Paralta and Danny Ramirez (NY), and are working on getting Nelson Flores (NY), and Edie and Al Espinoza (LA); and we'll also be raffling off congress passes to this event too! so stay tuned... Other news... good luck to Ana and Orville who decided last minute to compete in the San Francisco Salsa Competition this coming Sunday! Bring home a trophy for Toronto! And big congratulations goes out to Nick Ali who's going to Cuba to represent Canada at the Havana Jazz Festival! "I can barely contain my excitement. Dig this - I've been asked to represent Canada at the Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba! A monsterous honour (I leave Dec 8)... however, Fidel doesn't have the funds to fly me down, so we're trying to raise it ... sooooo my 10-piece salsa group MARRÓN MATIZADO will be giving a special benefit concert on Sat., Nov 23 at the Lula Lounge in Toronto ($10), the proceeds of which will go to gettin' my brown butt down there. So puh-lease come on out and dance the night away.... you'll be supporting a Canadian jazz artist who's about to represent. Order taking for boxes of Cuban Cigars will now commence (I knew that false bottom in my horn case would come in handy some day... *rubbing hands together*)" as quoted from Nick Ali. Tentative scheduled performances will include Brownman as a featured soloist with the legendary IRAKERE, a concert with cuban drumset master Enrique Pla and a trio performance with members of the Cuban All-Stars. Having just returned from representing his country as a featured soloist at the Nomme Jazz Festival in Estonia, he's off again to spread the latin-jazz word. November 11, 2002 Here we go again... Well, while I was partying it up in Ottawa, others were writing up a storm about my opinion about latinos (not Heidy), debating about dance styles and technique again! and so on... November
10, 2002 November
8, 2002 November 6, 2002 Oh the torture... As I'm working away on all the backlog I haven't had time for this past year, I took a break and surfed over to SalsaNewYork, to find out that there's going to be an Official Cast Party after Latin Madness' last show at El Flamingo on Monday with Frankie Vasquez with Los Soneros del Barrio, who have two great albums -- it's just not fair... I am also going to miss alot of the great new friends I've made in New York City, another great show from Latin Madness and a Jimmy Anton Social?! It's hard to believe that the Latin Madness Opening Night is tomorrow! Click here for more info... Also, people have been busy writing again, two more letters regarding Cuban Salsa in Toronto, a response to World War II and the salsa syllabus and more Dear TOsalsa... And in case you forgot, this weekend is jam-packed full of salsa, such as Aventura and Son Ache in Toronto, Latin Madness in NYC, but many dancers, performers and instructors from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal will be heading over to the Ottawa Salsa Congress, including Caribbean Soul from New Jersey! And finally, something a little different, and only because I love you Bong! In case you didn't know, we ALWAYS (the chiquitas that is) love to talk about how Bong always seems to have a new dance partner and how we can never keep up; and we always joke about who the next one will be... so, I've added this fun little Reader's Poll for when you have nothing to do. So here's your chance to vote who you think would make a great new dance partner for Bong Gonzales... hee hee, have fun, but you can only pick one... psst. the hardest thing about putting this poll together was finding a nice pic of each contestant, so they may change eventually as time goes on... Aventura Winners! Michelle Sequeira Shaidy Maza Juan Carlos Buendia Noha Nour Anabel Maldonado Please email me if you didn't already get a TOsalsa email. November 5, 2002 Best Salsa Club anyone? Toronto.com is at it again, except now you can vote for your favourite salsa club... who's winning? well right now it's: 1. Babaluu 2. El Convento Rico 3. Cafe Havana 4. Plaza Flamingo 5. Berlin 6. 97 Bistro & Tapas Bar 7. El Rancho And how about the best late-night dining spot? Alot of the salsa dancer's favourite haunts are listed here... such as Swatow and Rol San. November 4, 2002 More... Dear TOsalsa and more letters surrounding the Cuban discussions, shall we call them letters of love or passion-- when they're not wielding "I know better" comments; but can have some interesting insight into other cultural view-points and brings up some interesting ideas about how you could develop your own style of salsa if you take away the rules; and some interesting moments of Arthur's photography of his own "dark" party and Halloween at Bar One... enter if you dare... PS I know I owe someone a response... but I'll be busy until after the Ottawa Salsa Congress this weekend... anyone else up for the challenge to test your own knowledge of salsa technique and possibly open your own eyes to things you usually don't think about... Remember dance is a creative and physical art form -- in the days when you couldn't communicate with someone in your own language, the only way you could learn from them was by following or emulating their movement and/or explanations through body language. Even today, when I've taken some Argentinue Tango workshops with instructors from Buenos Aires, some didn't speak a word of English and to understand different dance steps, we communicated thru dance and body signals. That became our fun, common method of communication in a noisy dance club. November 3, 2002 What's New! How about 3 new Top 10 salsa song lists and 1 cuban timba list? or more emails in Dear TOsalsa, or how about 2 more cuban salsa discussion, check them out in Discussion Forum... October 31, 2002 Happy Halloween and more!! Congratulations to our winners of the Tono Rosario Tickets. Also, a few dancers have written in and their view of the music and dance that was so narrow in thinking, that I just had to respond. As other dancer(s) put it, why not just "shut up and dance" instead, although that would give you one less reason to come back to my site?! (smile) After all, who really cares what style you dance as long as you enjoy the music and find someone who enjoys dancing it with you. There's room for all styles. It's about sharing our love of dance and music -- not who's right or wrong... On another note, I don't think musicians wake up one day and decide they are going to play that style of music because it's commercial, they are playing whatever style of music they feel from their heart, whether it's old school, new salsa, cuban, puerto rican, colombian -- whatever. And on a funnier note, I don't ever see anyone arguing about the right way to dance merengue or bachata -- only salsa! Tono Rosario Winners! Reggie Masionis - TO Arianni Sanchez - TO Linda Garisto - TO Sherry Ipanaque - TO CarrieAnn Tehaney- TO Please email me to confirm ticket pick-up. October 30, 2002 Wassup outside of TO? Apparently
Eddie Torres is teaching workshops this coming weekend (Friday and Saturday)
in Montreal, but I don't know where because my contact keeps forgetting
to tell me... go figure... also, if you go to Dear
TOsalsa, Patricio of La Isla in Ottawa has just informed us that
there are only 7 couples registered, but none from Montreal or Ottawa
-- could he mean all the couples are from Toronto? hmmm... also, he's
announced that the Puerto Rico Bacardi Salsa Congress organizers will
be in Ottawa that weekend and whomever places will be invited to the
Salsa Open in Puerto Rico next July... how's that for incentive... October 29, 2002 Congress Mania... Less than 10 days to go, and for those of you who are thinking about going to the Ottawa Salsa Congress -- I finally have the tickets! If you want the discounted rate before October 31st, please email me or call and leave a message with details at 416-988-1389. Click here to find out what kind of tickets you can purchase. I might be at Babaluu's tomorrow night and Courthouse on Friday for those of you who wish to pick up tickets. For those of you who like to plan ahead, apparently the organizers of the Chicago Salsa Congress are offering Toronto dancers the Pass in Cdn. $, more details will be posted as I get more information. For those of you who are looking to perform or teach at the Chicago Salsa Congress, please contact Sue. October 28, 2002 Ottawa Salsa Congress Pass Winners: Andrea Katynski - Ottawa Michael Greenstein - TO Dancers: You have until October 31st to purchase the discounted tickets. Latin Music Mania Part 2? Just got the listings for Lula Lounge, and not only do we get to experience Edwin Bonilla at Palazzo Nightclub on Friday, the party continues into Saturday as he will be playing with Con Cache at Lula Lounge! A nice bonus for those of us who have decided not to check out Latin Madness that same weekend (boo hoo! I know it's going to be great!) While I was taking a break, I do what I can never resist doing but continue my research on music... and the latest find is an obscure, but fact-filled website on the Dominican Republic with clips and biographies on many of the popular merengue and bachata artists, click here for the website. Click on the following links to take you to some of the top artists heard today and the history of the music or artist... Bachata History of Bachata Aventura Joe Veras Monchy y Alexandra Merengue History of Merengue Fulanito Oro Solido Tono Rosario October 27, 2002 Latin Music Mania! Here we go again... what is that saying about when it rains, it pours... well just when I thought we would calm down a little, we've posted up three (3) more promotions where you have a chance to win one of 5 pairs of tickets to Tono Rosario, a merengue artists from the Dominican Repulic, Aventura, a hot New York Bacahta Group which readers have been emailing me about when they're coming to Toronto, and Edwin Bonilla, a Salsa artist from Miami. I don't have all the details yet about when and where on some of the concerts, but it should be up by next week. And while surfing for music information, I found some great new sites with top 10 salsa, merengue and bachata charts with audio clips, and another great site that has some hard-to-find videoclips of Aventura, Tono Rosario and Monchy y Alexandra, and more, click here to find all the links.  And
did I go dancing? Unfortunately not, with all the deadlines at work on
a new B2B website I'm working on and my new workout schedule, I just didn't
have the energy for anything except the Celia Cruz concert last night.
I wasn't sure what to expect as she is such an international star well-loved
by many -- latino and non-latino alike. I would have thought she would
have played more of the songs from her new album, but instead she chose
to play many of her classic salsa and cha cha hits from her entire musical
history, including Que La Den Candela, Quimbara, Cucula, La Negre Tiene
Tumbao, Oye Como Va, Guantan-amera, and the most popular song of the evening
was La Vida es un Carnaval, which she played twice. It was interesting
to also note that the musicians were mostly from Venezuela (drums) and
Puerto Rico (horns) and one horn player from Pittsburgh, PA. She was called
back 3 times to sing and everyone on the main floor moved up to the front
of the stage as no one wanted to sit anymore through her songs, they all
preferred to dance. They got so excited, that a few people went up to
the stage to dance, but then they started to crowd around Celia so that
they had to take her off the stage, which unfortunately put a damper on
the final encore. Even though she spoke only in Spanish, she was very
responsive to the audience and tried to accommodate them as much as possible
including singing a Colombian cumbia song which was obviously not part
of her list of songs that night. And she got the audience laughing as
she came out during one of the finale songs and lifted the bottom of her
gown show-ing her legs, just as some of the stars do when they want to
get the audience going. All in all, it was an enjoyable concert and great
to see one of the legends and the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. October 24, 2002 Dear TOsalsa! To many of the Readers who are looking for answers to their questions, a fellow salsera was kind enough to contribute ALOT of answers and I was even able to easily find out the name of a few songs for readers from today! Major brainwave today... take a phrase of the lyrics and type it in a search engine such as google or into a lyrics website and voila, you can find out the name of the song and the artist! And in case you forgot, you only have until Monday to enter your chance to win a free Ottawa Salsa Congress Pass! October 23, 2002 Do you Wanna Dance With Me? Here's a great trailer from the Burn the Floor website which will be coming to the Hummingbird Centre, Toronto, in the Spring... (it will take awhile to download in Quicktime, but if you love dance trailers, you gotta check it out) and of course more Dear TOsalsa Updates and discussions... October 22, 2002 Look who's coming into town on November 28th! 
It's just getting hotter and hotter here in Toronto with all the latin artists that are coming into town... Tickets are now on sale for her concert at the Air Canada Centre. Check out her website, it's got photos and videoclips for your viewing pleasure... Salsa in the Big Apple!  More discussions posted and how about the scoop on the Grand Opening of Copacabana Nightclub in NYC. Thank goodness for some fabulous people I met last year who keep me posted on what's happening in NYC! Click here to see a videoclip, story and photos of the Grand Opening via LaMusica.com. If you go to this link, you'll probably recognize some of the current salsa divas from NYC, such as Stracy Diaz of Descarga Latina, Candy Mena of Jai & Candy, and Yesenia Peralta (Ismael Otero of Caribbean Soul's sister). Eyewitness News Story for more photos. LUCKY WINNERS! Latin Madness Tickets: Mildred Maneiro of NYC Celia Cruz Tickets: Liz Traszik, Toronto October 21, 2002 The debates continue... Alright, everytime I get a lull in emails, I should be thankful as I get to do things I normally wouldn't have time for... but here we go again as we have some new emails in Dear TOsalsa in which I even got caught up in a response and some new posts in our Discussion Forum... including a "fresh" argument about where salsa really came from again in the North American vs. Cuban Salsa again... as usual it deviates from the dancing into a huge discussion about where salsa really came from musically... no wonder everyone's confused about salsa and its origins... October 20, 2002 More surfing and a question... Although I've had very little time to go out dancing this past week, I still can't resist surfing the net in my "spare time" to find out what's happening in the world of salsa... and found some links including some I knew, but forgot about... The newly revamped Eddie Torres website, and for whatever reason, he's put a separate (unlinked) website for his dance lessons, on2online, which has men and ladies' basics with some shines and turn patterns on 2. Another hot little find was Harry Lee, an LA dancer who was born in Toronto, with some great videoclips of shows and social dancing from various events this past summer. And on a sillier note, I always get a kick out of animated dancing characters, and if you have never seen them before, check them out, Dancing Baby, which was the rage a few years back and Raymond the mouse, dancing to "You Sexy Thing" under "Animations". And here's a question for discussion for Toronto dancers -- is it only me, but has everyone noticed a decline in the attendance at the Toronto salsa clubs. For the past couple of years, the popular clubs have been jam-packed full of dancers; but since the summer, it seems the clubs are not as full as they used to be. Are there less dancers going out during the week; are there too many clubs open during the week (where in the past there was only 1 club to go to on a weeknight and therefore you knew all your friends would be there); have dancers started to drift to the clubs where the bands are playing rather than the regular salsa/latin clubs with DJ's only; have we finally reached saturation point; or is this just the lull before it gets busy once again as it gets closer to the Christmas holidays. Would love to hear your opinion. October 17, 2002 Cuban Salsa Congress cancelled... Apparently, the organizers couldn't finalize the agreement with the Cuban government and therefore had to cancel the event. October 16, 2002 Stomp! Salsa? more Stomp! Well last night I got a chance to spend a little time with my e-hubby, Ziv, by enticing him with the musical, "Stomp" at the Elgin Theatre. I knew very little about it except for the fact that they use all kinds of different things as instruments and it was definitely a really fun and entertaining evening. Throughout the whole show you don't hear them speak except thru their "instruments" of brooms, garbage cans, sinks, plungers -- anything and everything you could possibly think of or not think of that can make percussive music. Here's a sampling of what they use on a weekly basis... 20 brooms 40 gallons of water 2 gallons of floor paint 6 wooden poles 5 Sunday New York Times 30 pounds of sand 7 Mop Heads 1 Fire Bucket 10 Garbage Can Lids... Items in General: 1 Stainless Steel Sink with Draining Board (every three months) 3 Damaged Kneecaps (one requiring surgery) 5 Smashed Knuckles... And remember those days when you were young and you had those musical hand-clapping exercises in school? Well, you get to experience it all over again in Stomp as they bring the audience into it. It's amazing how you can communicate through body language even in a theatre setting; and while we were driving home, we even started to do a little percussion (by clapping or tapping) to salsa in the car in tune to the music. It was interesting to see how they choreographed all the sounds and movement and after reading the performer's bios, they all have either some musical or dance background along with acting, as you needed some talent in both to be able to pull off what they did. You got so pulled into what they were doing that you actually feel like getting a group of friends together to see what kind of "music" you could put together. After watching this show, I also recall a segment from Latin Madness that was called "Clave Stomp", where they also used various things like pails and garbage cans to do some clave percussion before their salsa routine, and it was one of my favourite segments of the show last year. There's also a segment that reminds me of the live Samba Squad rhythms which are done with various metal instruments. It would be hilarious to see one of our Samba bands using these instruments instead of their drums. If you like to see what "thinking outside the box" is like and enjoy "alternative" percussion, this is definitely a must-see. It's also shows you how much "team work" is necessary to pull it off. And if you can afford to see it upclose, you'll get totally drawn into it as you fully get to experience their facial and body express-ions. It also has a comedic element to it which is all done through body language and acting. On a salsa note, after bugging Gio for months, he finally sent me the pics and I've posted some of his picture-happy moments from the past year, so click here and enjoy... And for any dancers that are in Vancouver, the Salsa Team Canada Auditions are being held on Thursday, October 17th at 7:30 pm at the Medical Student Association Center, 2750 Heather St. corner West 12th Ave. And then in Calgary on Saturday, October 19th at 1:30 pm at Fitness Plus downtown, 1709 8th Av. NE, corner Deerfoot (open to Edmonton dancers). And finally, we haven't had a little controversy in the last little while on my site, but lately someone has taken upon themselves to try and tick me off... and it's obvious they can't do it in person, so they are doing it anonymously through our feedback form. Well, I'm tired of seeing these totally "negative" emails for the past month, and have decided to make it public without going into all the gory details... Some have said just ignore them and they'll go away, but obviously they're not planning to go away anytime soon. Our site is about sharing our love of salsa dance and music, initially with Toronto and now as we've matured, with the rest of the World. Our goal was to create a site that would cover anything and everything to do with salsa for anyone who wants to learn more about it and/or wants to catch up on what they might have missed on -- similar to the experiences I get personally with my salsa friends and via the internet. Well after two-and-half years, I'm amazed at how passionate I still am about salsa and hope I never lose it. Nor will I let petty, jealous people ruin or try to take down the spirit of salsa and what we hope to achieve with it. Lately in the past month, I've been getting anonymous and/or fictitious emails from someone who's obviously either insecure, jealous and/or just in the mood to take out their frustrations with the salsa community or maybe it's just with TOsalsa or me personally. At first I didn't think anything of it because we rarely get "nasty" emails, but they've been coming in about once a week in the past month. The first one was a fake email address on my guestmap criticizing our website pretending they were from another country. The second was a mini attack at me personally. The third was an email about a Toronto DJ being gay from his gay lover and if I would post it. The fourth again was another criticism about our website specifically talking about the instructors' page. The fifth was again attacking our site, its content and me personally. Well, enough is enough, whomever you are, either get the nerve to speak to me directly or use your negative energy on someone else. How do I know it's from the same person? Well, in the computer world, there are ways to check it out (even if you do post on our feedback form anonymously)... and it's very sad to see that they are taking this route to vent their frustrations. I know this probably won't alleviate all of the negativity, but if you EVER hear of people badmouthing anyone in the salsa community that comes from hearsay and not evidence, please remind them that it there is room for everyone who works hard at their craft to prove themselves and it shouldn't be about egos, jealousy, insecurity complexes or pettiness. And if they truly have an issue with another dancer, then they should try to work it out together, not just complain to anyone who will listen and create animosity or cliquey camps. I
love our salsa scene and what I thought it represented, and I don't
want to see that change for the worse. I'm also very lucky to meet so
many amazing people who inspire me either here into Toronto or from
around the World. Let's keep it this way. Keep the our salsa scene real,
fun, hot and spicy -- not petty! (sorry, couldn't resist). October 14, 2002 Stuffed... Don't know about you, but hopefully you had as much fun as I did with family, friends, food and salsa! It was a fun, relaxing weekend and even gave me time to relax and think about ideas for future stories. And where did I go dancing this past week? Well, I didn't get out as much as I would have liked as work has been really busy, so I hit Berlin on Tuesday, which was comfortably busy. Not sure what it is about the attendance at the clubs as I've been contemplating this for awhile; but I think I finally got it. I keep thinking that Tuesday nights only has two clubs to go to, but really there's three that are going strong -- Tuesdays at Berlin with their live bands and lessons by Jennifer & Giovanni, Tequila Lounge with multi-level lessons with United Salseros and 90% salsa, and then there's Mana Lounge for Cuban Timba with DJ Billy Bryans and lessons with Ana and Vladimir. If you go back 2-3 years ago, we only had Berlin on Tuesday nights; so guaranteed you'd get a great crowd and all the best dancers -- now they're spread out all over. Then this past weekend I went to Courthouse on Friday and Left Bank on Sunday, which were jam-packed full of dancers. DJ Fab plays at both these locations and is playing alot of the new salsa CD releases that I've mentioned on this site, including Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Wayne Gorbea -- great music to dance or listen to. And what can you find that's new on this site? Dear TOsalsa as always, we have alot of music aficiandos out there look-ing for help on finding songs or lyrics. Two new articles: DJ Ramos on the Korean Salsa Scene and an article by Nina contemplating the "evolution of Salsa" for its future in dance. We are giving away two Congress passes to the Ottawa Salsa Congress! Salsa Team Canada audition dates have been finalized for Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. And I've included a link to the Salsa Team Canada videoclip! And while surfing, the music clips are up for the new Spanish Harlem Orchestra album... check it out as it's considered one of the hottest new releases by many DJ's. I finally had a chance to hear the whole album and it's definitely a must-have! STOMP
Ticket Winner! October 7, 2002 Like a kid in a salsa store... Yippee... it's great to be able to see through a monitor that doesn't flash psychodelic lights at me and what's scary is that I know my files so well I could see thru all the flickering to do some very quick updates before the screen started turning so blue I was afraid I wouldn't be able to shut down my machine. At the same time, I just don't want to buy a new monitor just out of desperation so until I decide whether I want to stick to a regular monitor or LCD, I was lucky enough to borrow my cousin's and check to see if that was the only problem with my machine; and thankfully, it was! And it's amazing how a month of deprivation of "I cannot see clearly now" that was getting progress-ively worse this past month has made me eager to write as much as I can until the next computer glitch!  And
what is inspiring me, well a few things, such as I just got an advance
copy of the new Wayne Gorbea CD, "Fiesta En El Bronx"
and it's smokin! This fabulous New York Band didn't disappoint me and
has some great salsa tracks for every type of salsa lover -- slow, fast
or classic salsa dura! There's 6 salsa songs out of 8 tracks in total.
And what are my personal favourites, well, it starts with a wickedly fast
salsa on Track 1 - Sube Esa Cuesta, which just grabs you and makes you
want to dance. What's interesting to note, is that many experienced dancers
don't enjoy that speed anymore as you can't express yourself, it's just
move after move at hyper-speed. So once you listen to the rest of the
album, it's a great opener, but not the song you'd want to listen to over
and over. Then Track 2 is a "classic remake" of Clavo y Martillo,
so New York in flavour and caught my attention. Track 3, No Hay Confucion,
didn't grab me at first until I heard it again in the comfort of my own
home, perfect for beg-int dancers to mambo (salsa on 2) -- I couldn't
even find the 1 because it's so slow and perfect for the 2. Track 4, Fiesta
En El Bronx, is a beautiful song -- a perfect on 2 song with the right
mix of coro and classic mambo. Track 5 and 7 are also NY mambos and Tracks
6 and 8 could be danced to a cha cha. After listening to this album all
night, I'm totally drawn back into Clavo Y Martillo and Fiesta en el Bronx.
I also played some bits to DJ Fab over the phone and he picked them out
almost before I did! Definitely a must-have for any salsa lover out there!
And you can be sure once DJ Fab gets a copy, we'll be hearing it at Courthouse
on Friday or Left Bank on Sunday depending on how fast his hands can get
on a copy after hearing mine! (hee hee)And what else have I done since I haven't been in the clubs for over a week? Well, there were two DJ's who email me the past few days with their Top 10 lists. DJ Ramos from Korea originally sent me his website link, but it wasn't up and running yet; but now it is! So check him out and a little bit about the Korean salsa scene! I was looking for a website for a top Latin Ballroom couple that's coming to Toronto on November 15th to Famee Furlane, Karen and Slavik. If I don't go to NYC, I plan to check this hot couple out, stay tuned as I will be posting information on this top World latin couple that is a must-see for all ballroom fanatics -- I know that Bong Gonzales, Jason Ng, and Frank Bishun already plan to check them out! And while I was surfing, I found by accident this website with photos from the 2002 Blackpool Ballroom Competition, click here to see some steamy dance shots! Although I didn't make it to the Monchy y Alexandra Concert, here is some feedback from our winners who went and they now made me wish I was there; as always when I can't be everywhere without burning out... Hello Rose, I had a great time at the concert. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the music, dancing and having a lot of fun, including singing along with Monchy y Alexandra. I had a girlfriend visiting from Ottawa and she was so happy she was able to experience something like this. It was her first latin concert and she truly enjoyed it. Thanks again for the tickets. -- Tina Hi Rose, I had a great time. To bad I have yet to learn the bachatta. It is on my list. I have yet to go to such a cultural event of that magnitude where the only English I heard was "Ladies and gentlemen..." Everyone was dancing up a storm and I never saw the dance floor empty.. Not once. There were lots of young kids there and everyone was smiling and having a fantastic time. I recognized a few tunes from the Left Bank and the courthouse. That was cool. But as I said at the top. I need to learn the bachatta.Thanks again for the tickets.See you on the dance floor. -- John And finally, something that I keep saying is not necessary, but with our close ties to New York City via the instructors, performers, DJ's, promoters and dancers that I either keep in touch with or email me all the time, I finally caved in and started this new section with not-to-be-missed events that I would love to see if I lived or was visiting New York City! Just in the past few months, DJ Henry Knowles at El Flamingo's on Monday nights, has had some awesome "Battle of the Bands". The most recent one last month was Wayne Gorbea versus Johnny Polanco! Where was I? Am I living in the right city... obviously not (sigh), so click here and see what you could be missing out on... I'm back... well, sort of... with lots more to add or update as the weeks fly by until November! Thank goodness for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, there will be alot to be thankful for -- including a newly upgraded computer with more toys to play with! How about a new series by Rob of Salsafix.com talking about his crazy cease and desist experiences as a Salsa Promoter in Hawaii. He had me in stitches over the internet for days telling me what happened when he just wrote about whatever he felt like over the net and what he did while working the "salsa scene". Check it out! Want something to take away the blahs at work or make you "think?" I got this email about "Take a Break". Well, I've been really busy at my real job and really didn't pay attention thinking, yeah, this is going to be easy, but you really need to "slow down" and READ. Check it out and see if you can get farther than me, I think I got cocky after Question #1 and thought I could breeze through the answers -- Not! Click here! With the Salsa Team Canada auditions coming up in a city near you, we are looking for fresh talent as choreographers, performers and/or a dedicated marketing/fundraising person in each City, so feel free to email me or Sonia for more information -- everyone is welcome to try out. Personally, on behalf of Sonia and myself, this dream became a reality and went beyond our wildest expectations. Yes, we had some bumps, headaches and learned alot along the way, but they all disappeared in the moment when we got the Standing Ovation in Puerto Rico. I believe most dancers felt in that special moment that all our hard work finally paid off. It's also a great way to get to improve your level of dancing on a performance level and a great way to bond with dancers from all across Canada! Click here for audition updates for Calgary and Edmonton! Final notes... while surfing... Edie put up her latest updates regarding her experiences with Latin Madness, and this story has to be the funniest yet... a new way to promote salsa in NYC? and Nelson will absolutely have no secrets left, and he thought I was bad? And check out my latest HOT internet find... you may or may not regret it, but I might! Oh and the final chance to win Tickets to Stomp and Latin Madness! Whew! Can I take a break now? October 6, 2002 Updates... To all my regular readers, you may have noticed that my updates have been a little more less regular. This is due mostly to my on-going problems with my computer and the fact I will probably be purchasing a new one soon. Don't forget you have until Tuesday to enter and win tickets to the Grand Opening of Stomp! Also, you'll see two new Top 10 Listings from DJ's in London England and Korea! October 3, 2002 Salsa Mania via the net... After finally venturing out on Tuesday night for a few hours to Berlin Nightclub, I've been taking it easy and just surfing the net and again I found another fabulous music site, this time, Jimmy Bosch, the trombonist from New York City! It's got some great music and video clips so you don't have to go to New York to experience his fabulous music... you can listen to him live in concert from the comfort of your own home (as I was while updating my site)! And who are the winners of the tickets to the Monchy y Alexandra bachata concert on Saturday, October 5th at Regal Constellation Hotel? Congratulations goes out to Nohemy B., Rogelio A., John VB, Tina M. and Tony O. You should have received an email about how to get your tickets, if not, email me! Also, Salsa Team Canada has been making some waves in Western Canada! So Sonia and Moris plan to audition dancers in Vancouver and Calgary in mid-October. Auditions for Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto are already in the works, so click here for the latest updates... And I finally had some time to start updating our links and included a new section with salsa song lists from around the World! Click here to check it out! October 1, 2002 The Madness continues... Well once again I couldn't resist but to surf, and found a great new Puerto Rican Singer who's got a hot new album that was released earlier this year with a tune I've probably already heard in the clubs, Lo Mio Es Cantar by Ray Viera and he's also got a great fan page which intros with this great song and has mini-clips of his debut album, and/or check out his official website. After listening to this singer's clips, I recognized his voice tonight at Berlin as DJ Victor Explosivo was playing some new salsa songs from Ray Viera, Grupo Gale and Grupo Imagen; and apparently he's picking up more... nice to see that the Toronto DJ's are starting to expand their musical horizons -- keep it up or is it keep us dancing! And who was playing tonight at Berlin? It was Dominicanada who were great and played a little of everything including Mi Todo, one of my favourite bachatas, BUT for the hardcore dancers, it wasn't the ideal salsa night. And then after I got home, I surfed over to Edie's site, and saw that Latin Heat NY has put together a great little videoclip on Latin Madness from their promotional tape (which was the same idea I had when I was talking to Nelson over the weekend). I guess they saved me the trouble. If you want to get excited about what Latin Madness is all about, click here for DSL or here for 56K modem using Real One Player. And Edie has already started posting her daily updates on her adventures in NYC which are pretty hilarious! September 29, 2002 October Mania! Well, summer has been over for about a week and it seemed things were pretty quiet overall on the salsa front, but now that everyone's settled back into work or school, the craziness will heat up again for October and probably continue until the end of the year! So much has happened already that it took me hours to update the site with all the changes from the past few months. On the local front, the only night I could find time to salsa was on Friday at Courthouse once I peeled myself away from the computer which finally was up and running after being down for a week! It's one of those nights where I know many of the regulars go out and party as they don't have to get up early the next day and it was a night where I mostly danced on 2 and sneaked in a chat with DJ Fab to see if he had some of the great new albums that just came out in the past few months, and he didn't disappoint me! Apparently that night, he played about 5 songs from a new album by Spanish Harlem Orchestra from NYC! On an international front, alot of things are in the works or just finished, such as the UK Salsa Congress which was apparently well organized and alot of fun according to Nelson Flores of Descarga Latina in NYC and Sonia of San Tropez in Montreal. Sonia & Moris have a videoclip of their show in the UK and it was great to see that the audience loved them! I met Paul Young at the West Coast Salsa Congress, he's a fireball of energy, kind of reminds me of someone I know, and he is definitely one of the movers and shakers of the London Salsa Scene. Way to go Paul! And then I happened to call Nelson Flores (which was long overdue) to get the latest scoop on Latin Madness since I happened to surf to Edie the Salsa Freak's site to find out that Edie and Al were going to be part of the new Latin Madness musical. That got me wondering -- what else was being changed, plus I figured he would be staying put as he had just got back from the UK Salsa Congress. So on the first try, I got ahold of him as I knew he never answers emails, and it's almost a completely new musical with alot of new cast members with 11 dance nos. with some new bomba, plena and afro-cuban pieces, and comedy or music spliced inbetween. This time around, instead of utilizing full dance groups, he auditioned and took in some of the best dancers in NYC. Although some of my favourite dancers and dance groups are not a part of this show due to show schedules and travel commitments, in a way this brings a fresh new perspective to the 2nd year of Latin Madness and will bring alot more stress and challenges as all the dancers get to know one another and learn all the new choreography. Way to go NYC! After experiencing Salsa Team Canada, I can more fully appreciate what they are trying to accomplish and I'm now checking flights to NYC as my gieger counter is now beeping at high speed towards NYC! But that's not all he's been working on, they finally have a Salsa Holiday Week in NYC package which includes workshops, salsa clubs and a ticket to see the Thursday night show of Latin Madness, click here for all the news on Latin Madness including a listing of the cast... Although pssst... if Nelson has his way, he may be getting another top dancer from ? (since I can't say until it's confirmed... but if he pulls it off... way to go Nelson! Latest Updates Win Tickets to Stomp! Dear TOsalsa Updated Toronto Club Listings Revlon Hair Show Pics New Spanish Lyrics 8 New Salsa CD Releases, and thru my network of friends, the hottest pics will be Wayne Gorbea, Spanish Harlem Orchestra; DJ Fab also highly recommended the new albums by Gilberto Santa Rosa and Raulin Rosendo. And don't forget to enter and win! Monchy y Alexandra by Oct. 1st Latin Madness by Oct. 9th Celia Cruz by Oct. 16th September 27, 2002 Things that can make you go crazy... or try to! Well, it's been a nutty week and a half as I've been madly trying to get my computer housecleaned, only to have my service provider suddenly go haywire and not be able to do any updates. And as I thought about it, there's been many things happening these past few weeks that had me going ... hmmm... such as 1. When your service provider goes up and down like a yo-yo and you can't do anything about it... time to look at some alternatives or maybe I'm spending a little too much time on the net when I should be out doing other things, such as dancing or spending time with friends and family. 2. People who know nothing about you and/or how you got to where you are, but because they feel they know you or think they know more than you, they think they can do it better or try to tell you how to do it better. Only time will tell if they know what they're talking about. 3. People who criticize you behind your back or insult you to your face, then have the nerve to expect you to help them out. But on a more positive note, I can finally say that I'm back on track with my workout routine and wonder now why I even stopped... On Monday I did a Revlon Hair Show at Hotel Nightclub thanks to my hairdressers, Grace and Mario of Beauty Image Makeover! I took so many pictures, that many of the attendees thought I was the official Revlon photographer -- another budding career in the making? I have some great shots of all the great hairdos from that evening -- perfect for that special evening out or if you want something "evil" for Halloween. It was a crazy non-stop evening of helping about 15 models get ready between hairdo's, makeup and wardrobe for an "Angels and Devils" Theme. Pics should be up by Monday if I can get my system back to normal. And did I dance, well, wanted to, but with all the computer craziness, it really messed up my schedule. Just when I thought people might be tired of writing -- Readers have started to write in like crazy over the past few days, but unfortunately I couldn't post. I guess everyone's settled back into their normal schedules with summer being officially over. I even have some subjects which I'm curious about what dancers think, and hopefully if my computer can settle down, I'll be posting my new stories for readers to write in and comment on. So stay tuned... PS You have until Wednesday, October 2nd to enter to win the Monchy y Alexander bachata tickets. Remember, you can email or let us know in person, any updates, feedback or suggestions on what you would like to read. |
Highlights
of Toronto's Fall Fiesta 2002
Spanish
Harlem Orchestra: 44