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by Rose Knows, Toronto
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October
31, 2002 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. September 21, 2002 Was it a full moon this past week? This past week, I tried to get out a little more as I've been busy working on real work and catching up on my TOsalsa housecleaning and hadn't been out dancing in a week! As always, the summers of salsa are totally non-stop now especially with all the Congresses, non-stop Toronto events and working on Salsa Team Canada, not including trying to find time for friends, family and me! So Wednesday, I was obviously at the Bar One Salsa Contest Finals, and behind the camera once again, so I don't get the full effect of watching the competition live. The place was jam-packed full of salsa dancers, new and old. How can you tell there are new dancers? Well, when you get majorly stepped on to the point where your foot swells up and you have a slight limp that bothers you the next day and when you tie your running shoes up, it hurts to pull on the laces too tightly. Apparently I wasn't the only lucky dancers, one of Grupo Sabroso's dancers, Maple, also had a very nice long scratch on the back of her foot! And how was the competition -- intense probably for Ana & Orville (who love to compete and have won in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) and for Oscar and Vanesa who are also a favourite show couple; and nerve-wracking for Sharon & Doru and Sharon & Rocky who did their best under the intense pressure of competing against some of the best show couples we have in Toronto today... Click here for the pics... On Thursday, I went to Babaluu's as I needed another fix, but was vastly disappointed. DJ Carlitos played only 25% salsa along with Bachata, Merengue and House so all the regular salsa dancers left early. What was really strange that night was being grabbed by people I didn't know for a bachata or a merengue. Hmmm... it had me wondering about whether it was a full moon that night... On Saturday, I decided to check out El Rancho's once again on a Saturday, and it was pretty busy; but very few dancers were out so once again, I left a little disappointed... And what can you surf onto... Well, I finally had a chance to go through all my Montreal Salsa Congress pictures as the lighting wasn't very good so many of my pictures didn't turn out as well as they could have if the lighting was brighter, and if I could have sat a little higher -- that would have made a world of difference, but it was was another one of those fend-for-yourself seats. Click here for your chance to win one of five (5) pairs of tickets to the bachata concert with Monchy y Alexander at the Regal Constellation Hotel. And probably by Wednesday, I'll be posting the new raffle we have for a pair of tickets to Stomp! September 18, 2002 Never a dull moment... Just as I thought I could take a little breather from my "night job" and get caught up... the craziness just starts up again! Not only can you win Celia Cruz and Latin Madness tickets right now, but I just got informed that we will also be giving away a pair of tickets to see "Stomp" at Elgin Winter Theatre; and for you bachata lovers out there, I just found out Monchi y Alexander are coming to Toronto on October 5th to the Regal Constellation Hotel and we'll be giving away FIVE (5) pairs of tickets on our site within the next few weeks! Go figure... or is it bachata?! And for those of you who missed the Bar One Salsa Competition... congratula-tions goes out to Oscar and Vanessa who won 1st place. 2nd went to Ana & Orville, 3rd to Rocky & Sharon, and 4th to Sharon and Doru. What's interest-ing to note is that our Reader's Poll almost had the results in perfectly. Pics should be up in a few days... And for those who lack something to read, I now have congress reviews by various dancers for Miami and East Coast Salsa Congress, an insightful interview of Eliades Ochoa and a reposting of my interview from Rob on Salsafix.com, complete with some of my favourite picture-perfect moments from the last few years since I started TOsalsa. This is just a taste of more to come, as these past few days, everyone's been starting to read or write in once again... September 15, 2002 Click here to win... Celia Cruz Tickets in Toronto! Latin Madness Tickets in NYC! September 12, 2002 Salsa Mania... What's new? Well how about more fun things to click on... Bar One Semi-Final Pics! Reader's Poll for favourite Couple to Win at Bar One! A Dance Shoe Poll and 2 Videoclips from Bar One Salsa Contest Semi-finals thanks to Orville September 11, 2002  In
Memory Of...It just seems yesterday that I could recall all the feelings I had that momentous day, worrying about all my friends and family in NYC and Washington... What was also coincidental was meeting up with a dancer whose aunt was considered "missing" that fateful day via the internet at the Montreal Salsa Congress. We had communicated a year ago and forged a bond that we both still have not forgotten and it was a sad moment to find out that she never did find her aunt. We would like to take a moment in silence for all those that suffered needlessly through this tragedy... and for those of you who lost loved ones -- remember they will always be in your heart forever... Click here for last year's memories from Toronto... September 7, 2002 TOsalsa Top 10 Trivia... Just thought I'd share some facts with you about TOsalsa that shows you interesting salsa stats from last month's readership... What were the top Videos most clicked on... 1. Caribbean Soul p1 (NJ) 2. Descarga Latina (NJ) 3. Ana & Orville (TO) 4. Merengue Lesson with Rose and Oro Solido (TO/NY) 5. Royalty Salsa (LA) 6. Los Rumberos (LA) 7. My Escape w/Rose p1 (TO) 8. LA Salsa Kids (LA) 9. NY Boys in PR (NY) 10. Caribbean Soul p2 (NY) What are the reader's favourite lyrics they like to sing to... 1. Te Quiero Igual Que Ayer - Monchi y Alexander (bachata) 2. Hoja En Blanco - Monchi y Alexander (bachata) 3. Gotas de Lluvia - Grupo Niche 4. La Quiero a Morir - DLG 5. Pedoname - Gilberto Santa Rosa 6. La Persona Ideal - Adolescentes 7. Volvere - DLG 8. Una Y Mil Veces - Jerry Rivera 9. Todo Mi Corazon - DLG (bachata) 10. Amor a la Mexicana - Thalia (cumbia) What countries have been visiting our site, not incl. US and Canada... 1. United Kingdom 2. Netherlands 3. France 4. Germany 5. Spain 6. Mexico 7. Australia 8. Italy 9. Venezuela 10. Belgium What cities around the world keep coming back for more, excl. US or Canada... 1. Amsterdam, Netherlands 2. London, UK 3. Madrid, Spain 4. Paris, France 5. Caracas, Venezuela 6. San Juan, Puerto Rico 7. Brussels, Belgium 8. Mexico City, Mexico 9. Milano, Italy 10. Santo Domingo, DR What North American States & Provinces... 1. Ontario 2. California 3. New York 4. Quebec 5. Florida 6. Texas 7. New Jersey 8. Virginia 9. Illinois 10. Massachusetts September 5, 2002 "Local" Salsa News... Congratulations goes out to the following winners of the Club Med Salsa Competition in Montreal: 1st - Ana & Orville, TO 2nd - Montecristo Couple 3rd - Sonia & Moris, Mtl Also, for those of you who are interested in perform-ing and/or teaching at the Ottawa Salsa Congress, please contact Sonia & Moris. September 3, 2002 Montreal Congress... Well as I suspected, we had a great representation of dancers from NYC, so even if I can't make it out to the East Coast Salsa Congress, at least I had the chance to experience a cross-section of great dancers while at the Congresses in Detroit, LA, Puerto Rico and Montreal! Montreal wasn't the best organized congress as the line-ups for dance groups and instructors were only decided the night before, but I think most dancers who went got what they wanted out of the experience, including me. In many ways, the smaller congresses are the best to get to dance and socialize with other dancers from other cities; and this was no exception. On Thursday night, we decided to check out Cubanos at about 1 am which wasn't as packed as I thought it might be, then we headed over to Salsatheque which was jam-packed, but your typical latin nightclub. On Friday, we had a free day so I spent it going to my favourite brunch restaurant, Eggspectation, and then shopping along St. Catherine's all day. That evening, we hit the dance shows which didn't start until 10:30 pm, then we rushed over to Salsatheque at about midnigt to rehearse and put on a mini Salsa Team Canada performance at Salsatheque at 1:30 am. It was a challege as we had less dancers from each city, but we've gone thru so many variations depend-ent on what dancers could perform, that it wasn't too hard to figure out a new formation for each City. On Saturday, we dragged ourselves out of bed, so some dancers went to the Workshops from 1-6 pm, while I went back to the San Tropez studio to help with the STC costumes and checked TOsalsa email. Since we had about 30 dancers at Salsatheque, and another performance on Sunday, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry. Then met up with the dancers in Chinatown for a meal, changed and zoomed down to the Congress for the next set of shows. There were almost 20 dance groups, and it went on for 1-1/2 hours. It was my "free night" of no STC perform-ances so I was in the mood to social dance, so I got to have some on 2 dances with some of the best, such as Ismael Otero, Mario Gonzales, Milton Cobo and Danny Ramirez. Then afterwards, one of the Montreal dancers, Ivan, had an after-hour house party, where we got to chill and mingle, and in the end, Toronto once again closed out the party in the wee hours of the morning. On
Sunday, we had to drag ourselves out of bed and we tried to make it
to the workshops in the Old Port, but we ran out of time and there was
no parking, so we had brunch at another great restaurant around the
corner from San Tropez dance studio, called "Reubens". We
then had a 1-1/2 hour practice, before we had to head over to Old Port
to try out the stage and iron out our kinks. We were the first group
to show up for rehearsal, then had to zoom back to get ready for our
show, and try to be back in Old Port by 9 pm. September
2, 2002 August
28, 2002 August 26, 2002 Here we go again... Well, my "holiday" is over as dancers are now starting to call/email about congress passes for the Montreal Congress this coming weekend, some last minute updates regarding Salsa Team Canada schedule for this weekend and of course, trying to find time to pack and dance over the next few days. On Tuesday, Tequila is closed this week for renovations and Berlin will definitely be the place to be for the regulars, and those that are interested in Cuban Timba will choose to go to Mana with DJ Billy Bryans. On Wednesday, Grupo Sabroso is performing in preparation for the Congress and it's the salsa contest preliminaries once again at Bar One. Then Thursday night, myself and other dancers will begin the exodus to Montreal, and will be heading over to Cactus. On Friday, Salsa Team Canada will be performing at Salsatheque at 1:30 am. There will be dance shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but nothing has been confirmed, except San Tropez on Saturday and Salsa Team Canada on Sunday. Apparently, Grupo Sabroso and Los Salsam-anos will also be performing in Montreal. If you've never been to a Congress, this is a sure bet that you'll get a taste of the real thing as some of the New York teams will definitely be there, along with dancers from Ottawa and Toronto and in Cdn $ versus US $. The cheapest deal you'll find for a congress with only a 5 hour drive away, and if you've never been to Montreal, there's one more excuse to check out this beautiful city. Still can't afford it, well, you can always enjoy the Hispanic Fiesta at Mel Lastman Square in Toronto or La Classique's final weekend of salsa, along with all the regular nightclubs. Special mention should be made of Alberto Gomez as he was one of the first instructors of salsa in Toronto, and I know when I started, many of my salsa friends were students of his and spoke very highly of him and his salsa classes. It was one of the few clubs where you could take a class, then practice with other students afterwards.. But even though he is closing up the club, you may see him teaching somewhere in Toronto. He had his own unique style which contrib-uted alot to the original Toronto-style before we started incorporating LA and NY-style salsa. August 25, 2002 Salsa in Toronto... It's been an exhausting, but fun week of salsa in TO as I decided to take a little break from the computer and TOsalsa, and just dance like I used to... for the sheer enjoyment it gives me mentally and physically without a care in the world! In fact, I had so much fun and so much dancing, I almost couldn't remember who I danced with on what night. And where did I go? Well, I started on Wednesday with Bar One as I knew many of my salsa friends would be there and it was also the 3rd week of their preliminaries. With all the "hoopla" I had after I came back from Puerto Rico, this was the first opportunity I had to get over there. It was a busy night and all the competi-tors seemed to just enjoy themselves on the floor. It was also a fun night of dancing, and what was interesting to note was that some of my on 2 dancer-friends just naturally went on 2 with me without even asking; and it just flowed that night. Click here to see the preliminaries! On Thursday, I decided to hit Babaluu's in Yorkville and got there about 10:30 pm and worried about the line-up. To my surprise, there was no line-up and it was comfortably crowded inside. At that hour, there were very few dancers that I knew. I was desperate to start dancing and grabbed one of the Salsa Team Canada dancers, Rocky, for a salsa. What surprised me, was that he decided to dance on 2 with me; and although he's still learning, his lead is much more clear than it was when I first had a dance with him in the Spring. He just proved my point once again, how perserverence, training and constant practice can really escalate your skills as a dancer. After that, I had about 5 dances in a row with guys whom I never met before, and you could tell they were just the regular club-goers who probably have never taken a lesson or take dancing too seriously. It was a challenge to try and follow them properly when you weren't sure where they wanted you to go next, but it was good practice. The only scary thing you need to watch out for is if they try to put you into a dip or a trick and you know that they don't know how to do it correctly. The part I enjoy about dancing with strangers is that you occasionally meet one or two that have a nice, soft lead, a nice smile and seem surprised that you can follow them so well, and enjoy the dance as much as you do. Another nice surprise is when you get a dance with someone you always see in the clubs and know by name, but you've never danced before. Either they've been too scared to ask you (cause they think you're too advanced) or you are so busy dancing, you just never think about it. That was probably one of my favourite dances in the evening, with someone who knows some of the moves, but has such a fun personality that can make you laugh (i.e. making silly faces when they make a mistake) and it becomes sheer enjoyment to dance with them, that you can't wait to experience it again. Then the regulars started to arrive, and that's when I got some of my hardcore dancing in (on 1 and 2) and had a chance to mingle and chat during the almost too-long one hour bachata, merengue and house set. On Friday, I hit Courthouse which is probably one of my most favourite nights due to the almost 100% salsa and since many of the advanced dancers in Toronto (on 1 and 2) hangout there. Again, I danced with many regulars, but I also had some really surprise dances that night that made me realize how much my own dancing has changed one again; or maybe it was just one of those magical nights where you feel it all comes together and you are just on or is it "on fire". And Saturday, although tired from the last few nights of dancing, I zoomed off to check out the Cuba Friendship Day at Nathan Phillips Square. Qunteto de la Trova was playing and people danced to the traditional cuban son and some cha cha. Bong also came down to join me and we took a mini-lesson in the cuban style of salsa dancing with two cuban dancers who now live in Canada (the only name I remember is the Torres part). It was a challenge for me to learn their basic step (I hope I remember this correctly), as they step forward on the right foot on 1, LF back on 2, RF in place on 3, with a little tap on the 4 with the left foot, then step back on the left foot on 1, step forward with RF on 2, LF in place on 3, and then tap with the right foot on the 4th beat -- totally opposite to our basic! We practiced that movement to a cuban timba song, and after repeating it many time, I usually got it, but then would slip back to our own normal basic (which drove me crazy)! Then I spent 3 hours checking out the Fitness Conference at the Metro Convention Centre, rested a little, then zoomed down to El Rancho's for another crazy non-stop night of dancing to the point where I actually sat down and could have fallen asleep as my feet were getting sore and I hadn't had enough sleep from the previous night of dancing; and a quick pitstop at Plaza Flamingo which was jam-packed full of young latinos mostly, playing their usual extra-long sets of merengue when I always walk in. My feet were totally dead at that point and the dirty, tiled floor at Plaza's didn't help, especially when pieces of glass were sticking to the suede bottom of my ballroom shoes. And dare I name who I danced with from the past few nights... after all, some dancers do think I favour some over others... but what everyone forgets, is that, yes, maybe some of us do... but not because these dancers are necessarily better dancers than others or the attitude that we will only dance with better dancers; but because you have a connection with them that you may not feel with others on a regular basis; these dancers are the only ones who can challenge you to get better once you realize your limitations/weaknesses from dancing with them; or there's a certain style of dancing they have that you want to experience during a specific type of song, such as songs that I prefer to dance on 2, so I look for specific on 2 dancers that can give me that fix or if I want to gauge if I've progressed; or how about a romantic salsa (would you dance romantica) with someone you don't feel comfortable with or know, then I'd rather not dance to it at all, unless I don't mind a "passionate-less" dance. But since it's getting late, I think I'll leave this discussion for another day... And what's coming up? Well, with the Montreal Congress this coming weekend, I have less than three nights to get ready as I'll be leaving Thursday night. In case you forgot and you plan to head over there over the long weekend, this week will be your last chance to buy your tickets in advance from me -- $150 VIP Congress Pass (3 nights and 2 days) and individuals tickets for the Sat/Sun workshops ($45 ea) and Fri/Sat/Sun night parties ($38 ea)... call 416-988-1389. You will definitely be able to meet up with me at Bar One on Wednesday night. Who's going to be there, well, although it's not announced officially, off the record, quite a few of the Toronto dancers will be going, and I've heard that Santo Rico, Razz-M-Tazz, Caribbean Soul and Mambo Mamas will definitely be there, so it should be a fun weekend in Montreal. And I finally had some time to write about my new Top 10 List of Salsa Songs and some new internet finds. August 22, 2002 Internet Frenzy 2... Tricky little buggers, some are obvious and some aren't. Got an email which looked like it was from the Sweden dance group, Club Latino, with an attachment. The message looked cut off, so I got suspicious and forwarded it to my yahoo account so I could scan it for viruses; and sure enough it was a "Virus W32.Yaha.F@mm found. File not cleaned." So email readers who use their own servers, beware and/or have a copy of an anti-virus software. If you still refuse to get one, then forward the suspicious email to the free email services and scan it in there. And on a salsa front? Well, I'm taking alittle bit of a breather and starting my workout routine along with some regular salsa dancing in the clubs. Enough of being behind a computer, and time for a little R&R. August
19, 2002 August
18, 2002 August 17, 2002 What a week! Since August 13th, just when I completed the usual updates, my system crashed once again not to be recovered until last night. Thankfully, I didn't lose most of my data, but I did lose about a year's worth of email which I didn't back up... and the pain of restoring all the programs that is needed to run my computer. So if you're wondering where I disappeared to via the dancefloor or the net -- now you know. So for those Readers who sent me lyrics in the past 6 months -- unfortunately, those email are lost. Thankfully, I also was able to recover all my Puerto Rico pics which I whittled from 1800 down to about 1,000 which will be uploaded hopefully by early next week, so stay tuned... August
13, 2002 August
10, 2002 August 6, 2002 Canada makes it's mark in Puerto Rico... Well, I'm finally back to home sweet home... (although I wished I could have stayed a few more days and had a real vacation) and there's soooo much to review, update and think about... Although we did get a standing ovation, it's hard to know what was going through people's minds about our performance. From the first moment I witnessed the first rehearsal in Montreal, I had a gut feeling that this routine would be a winner and told the team that if we pulled it off cleanly -- we would make an impact due to the diversity of our routine. But then as I started seeing how amazing other team performances were, the elaborate costumes, and how the level of dancing was raised once again, I started to doubt the impact of our choreography until we received the standing ovation Friday night. After the show and over the course of the next few days, there were some professional dance instructors whom I would never expect to come up and congratulate us, but did. I've even heard that we've already started the ball rolling for other teams who may try to pull off what we did in Canada! We also made an impact on non-dancers who were totally blown away by the whole production as we had anywhere from 4 up to 43 dancers on stage at one time with so many transitions that no one knew where to look at any given time; and I think that's one of the strengths of our whole routine -- the variety and diversity in the transitions and dance styles. And when I started to catch up on all the emails from the past week, my internet friend, Juan from Miami, found a discussion forum which had some great responses about Salsa Team Canada and Canadians in general... "I just got back from San Juan this morning, and my god, I had the best time ever at the Salsa Congress! The dancers, the performances (the Canadian and Italian performances stand out in my mind...)... The various Canadian dance teams from Toronto, Ottowa and Montreal. Plus their combined performance Friday night which meant all 3 cities had a piece of choreography to learn on their own, separated from the other teams, and then perform ALL together on stage. Which meant about 43 dancers on the stage at any given time. To say that they won the audience over is an understate-ment. Team Canada basically raised the bar for teamwork and while they never said anything themselves, the emcees at the Congress said that Canada's performance was like an open challenge to other countries and cities to unite and put a routine together. Could you imagine all of NYC uniting? Or LA? I'd think some egos would prevent it from happening. On the other hand, it would be SO DAMN COOL if it happened and was pulled together." Beto Zaleta, DC Way to go -- Salsa Team Canada, along with the Toronto dance teams of Salsation, Latin Energy, Los Salsomanos and Strickly Salsa, Sonia & Moris from Montreal and Urban Beat from Ottawa! We did what we set out to do, make our mark internationally and let the world know that Canada can dance!
August
2, 2002 July
31, 2002 July
29, 2002 July
28, 2002 July
27, 2002 July
26, 2002 Backlog
time? July 21, 2002 
I think my batteries just got recharged!Well, maybe for an instant... And what did it?! Well, I think these sneak peeks of some of the fun we, or was it I, had with some of the artists help-ed... Tonight's finale to a non-stop weekend of latin music was TLN Latinfest at Canada's Wonderland! The night started out slowly as it got closer to the main acts, the crowd went into a frenzy of singing, screaming and dancing! It was definitely a night that merengue ruled with a little bachata and salsa. For merengue bands, Los Ilegales didn't show up, but Proyecto Uno took their place. And Oro Solido was something else -- total sex appeal and of course great merengue. When Freddy and I ran backstage in the pouring rain (thank good-ness for my Bloch dance sneakers), I had a chance to take some great photos of the group. Boy do they know how to ooze sex appeal -- I had no problems getting them to pose for me. What really loosened up the interview was get-ting them to demo some of the different styles of merengue and I got 3 variations on videotape which I hope to get on the web for everyone to see. What seems like a split second on videotape, felt like eons to me as they had me grinding away. I think I even surprised them that I was able to tag along with whatever my partner was dishing out. Although I think if you saw them in person, I don't think you'd hesitate too much either!  And
then there was the final act of the evening with Huey Dunbar. Unfortunately
the schedule ran out of time and Huey was only able to sing 3 songs. What
I love about him is that he gives it his all and knows what keeps the
audience happy. He played two of the songs from his previous album, Con
Cada Beso (salsa), Yo Si Me Enamore (bachata), and one song when he was
with DLG, La Quiero A Morir (salsa). He
was our final interview of the evening and we had to run to his RV to
get our interview! Gisel Della Chiara from Latin Vibes was up first. Due
to some technical difficulties, she took so long that we ended up going
for a ride back to Huey's hotel. Freddy had to follow behind in my car
as we drove to Brampton and then to the hotel. During the ride, I got
a chance to sit down and talk with Huey about his career and his philosophy
on life and his music. But
that story we'll leave for another day probably after I get back from
Puerto Rico...And what did I do the rest of the weekend, well Friday, as always, that seems to be my chill day and although I was exhausted from another non-stop week of activities, I danced up a storm once again at Courthouse (instant stress release), while some other dancers probably hit the It Nightclub party or was checking out the Latin American Arts Festival at Harbourfront. On Saturday, I took it easy and zoomed down to our last Salsa Team Canada practice before everyone starts to get ready for Puerto Rico. It was a tough one as everyone found it difficult to focus at times (maybe because we've already performed it twice). The amount of time and effort needed to just get the little details right is mind-boggling and can get very confusing, but gives you great dance training and team building. Since I only just joined the group in the last few months, I'm amazed at how differently I look, feel and think about my dancing and I think it's given me back the edge or focus I lost to improve. There's no excuse not to get better as you are working on your mind and body to get it right. After the practice, I got ready to hit Harbourfront. I was looking forward to just chilling with my friends and listening to some out-of-town groups. Harbourfront was jam-packed full of people and there were many regular club-goers hanging out. After all, where else can you get fresh air and lots of free concerts and dance shows. So what does this week bring, well hopefully, a little more time for Puerto Rico and all the last minute details. Hopefully, over the next few weeks, I'll have some videoclips up of some of the bands that played tonight. What was really cool was that TLN this year did an awesome job of making sure that everything ran smoothly and really helped us to get upclose photos and videos of the artists. I just replayed all my clips and I have to say the best clips will be Oro Solido and Huey Dunbar. Some of the footage is so close that you'll feel you were right there! Hmm... did I miss my calling somewhere -- well you decide when I get the footage up, but as always, the pics will be up in the next few days. So stay tuned... July
19, 2002 July
18, 2002
July 17, 2002 July
16, 2002 July
15, 2002 July
7, 2002
July 3, 2002 July
1, 2002 It's
a cruel, (cruel,) cruel summer
Hasta la vista, Baby!
June 28, 2002 Happy Birthday Canada! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you happen to be in Ottawa, don't forget our Salsa Team Canada Fundraiser on Saturday, June 29th! And if you happen to be home, don't forget to watch Salsa Team Canada as they perform on National TV on Monday, July 1st between 6pm and 7pm. Apparently, Sonia had to coordinate a 20? minute latin show with various groups and various styles of latin dances; and I'll be performing too! (ahhh...) Gotta run as we've got to make it to Ottawa for the Competition at La Isla tonight! June 26, 2002 More ahhh... salsa? Well, it's only been 3 days and it's been action-packed on all fronts... Summer definitely hit me with a bang! There's a little thing called stress and then there's a little thing called "no pain, no gain" to relieve that stress, and that's not called salsa, but that's called two workouts and a stretch class, back to back. And then that gives you the formula to roll with the punches wherever they come from... or is it to help my stamina for the coming action-packed weeks! So what is causing the stress on the salsa-front? Well, how about fitting in a little dancing with an old friend who just came back from Australia, Oren Shoshan, who won the Berlin Professional Competition last year with Stephanie Gurnon tonight, and next Tuesday at Tequila. Then Thursday, getting ready for Ottawa, but there's also a new salsa night at Ontario Place. On Friday, zooming off to Ottawa after work to get to the La-Isla Competition Finals to watch Sonia and Moris, Ana and Orville, and many others battle it out to win! Then our practice and fundraiser on Saturday, then two more days of practice, and another performance on Monday at Parliament Hill. Then back in Toronto, in time for Teddy's bday at Tequila Lounge. Wednesday, probably Babaluu's to continue my salsa education, then next Thursday, probably going to Isaac Delgado's concert and fit in an interview somewhere. What's cool is that I'm working with James of Spiconline.com to put together mini video-documentaries which will be launched off his site, and he's even coming to our Fundraiser to tape all the action so we can video-stream it at a later date. Could it be called, "The Making of Salsa Team Canada?" Then Friday at Courthouse and then Saturday, it's our workshop and party "and I'll dance if I find time to". Yes, oops, I forgot to mention we're also doing workshops at Ritmo Flamenco Dance Co. at College and Spadina on Saturday, July 6th from 2 to 5 pm with Salsa Team Canada instructors from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. We will be definitely doing a Turn Patterns class, and Sonia from Montreal will be giving a ladies styling workshop which should be awesome as she has some great dance backgrounds in hip hop and belly dancing which can add some "spice" to your salsa. More details will be available in the coming days... And inbetween all of this action, there's all of you readers who are finding time to write in and debate on Dear TOsalsa and the discussion forums... and guess who is reading and posting all that! And yes, Patrick, I won't forget you from Texas, only because you made me laugh when you just came to my site for the first time, thanks to Super Mario, and spent two days reading all the posts in the discussion forums. How's that for addiction? June 25, 2002 What does Ballroom, Timba, new Musica and Dear TOsalsa -- all have in common? More updates all came onto my site yesterday!
June 23, 2002 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 Summer Fever 2002
Spanish
Harlem Orchestra: 44
A
New Me!
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