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by Rose Knows, Toronto
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March
19, 2003 March 16, 2003 5 Days left until Spring! And how will I be celebrating? With a little jaunt down to NYC to Caribbean Soul's "Break Away from the Norm" Social which is going to showcase Pawel & Dora and Ana & Orville from Canada. I haven't been to NYC for almost exactly two years and I miss it... although I've been lucky enough to meet up with New York dancers while they visit Toronto and/or at various congresses in the past few years. Why do I miss it? Well, I consider it our closest salsa neighbours south of the border and we seem to bond instantly with their sense of humour and love of the dance and music, whether it's over the net or in person. What I love about New York men (in general) is that they connect with you as they dance -- there's always constant eye contact and a kind of flirtation that you normally don't get with most Toronto dancers -- maybe it's a little to do with how conservative Toronto is -- with Newyorkers, you feel as if you're the center of attention while you're dancing. They aren't looking away or at other dancers. When they dance with you, it's almost as if no one else exists on the dance floor; but then again, for some of their crazy turn patterns, maybe you both don't have a choice or you'd lose the connection. Also this past week, the only nights I found time to dance was at Berlin on Tuesday and Courthouse on Friday. Unfortunately for me, my cell phone got stolen out of my glovebox in my car on Friday right on Adelaide St. somewhere between 9 pm and 1:30 am in the morning. This isn't the first time my car has been broken into in that area and I've had friends whose car was broken into while at El Rancho's dancing -- and coincidentally, it's always happened on a Friday night -- go figure. So dancers, always keep your valuables out of the cars and never leave your valuables unattended in a club -- you just never know. And finally, after two years, the Toronto Star finally finished their article on salsa dancing in Toronto. Originally it was set to go out two years ago, but it took another reporter, Melissa Leong, who loves to salsa, to finally write it... It gives a very concisely written overview of Salsa in general, with positives and negatives and maybe they tried to cover a little too much. The quote they have of me in there isn't exactly what I said, but I'm sure it's the same for others... "It's boring," says 43-year-old Alberto Gomez of the new style. He's been dancing for 23 years. "There's no feeling. People dance too mechanical and they look like robots. It's not real Latin-style. It's something totally different." Maybe that's what he feels, but for me, dancing the old Toronto style got boring as it was the same old footwork, turn patterns and tricks, year after year, and the girl had very little room to express herself. Now with the integration of New York and LA, we have more room to express ourselves and be playful to the music. What do you think? March 12, 2003 Who's going to the Finals? It just seemed like yesterday that the preliminaries had started at Berlin, but next week, the heat is on as we begin the semi-final rounds for Amateur and Pro. For fun, as I did last year, let's see if our readers can pick who will be the 6 finalists in Amateur and Professional. March 9, 2003 Shall we Burn the Floor OR Gorillas vs Peacocks P3  It
was a very non-stop weekend of dance events... starting with Friday
at Courthouse. After helping to teach the Intermediate class with Jessie,
I had a few quick dances with a dancer from Japan who is now living in
Montreal to learn French. Apparently, he's part of the SalsaEtc troupe
in Montreal and has his own personality on the dance floor that gives
the lady enough time to play before the next turn pattern. Apparently Teddy of United Salseros ran into him in Montreal and invited him to Toronto and he had a blast dancing with the "superstars and other lesser beings"; and plans to come back again! Then I had to rush off and meet up with the dancers from "Burn the Floor" for an interview. I got to meet them all but spent most of the interview talking to Dermot Klemenger about his life as a dancer and working with Burn the Floor. He was very chatty and 20 minutes just wasn't enough before they had to go and change. In fact, my interview with Tony Meredith and Melanie LePatin sometime ago lasted for more than an hour... It will take me sometime to transpose it, but as you talk to many of the professional dancers, you will find that they are really no different than the rest of us -- they share the same love and passion for the dance. Because they are ballroom-trained, they knew many of the other dancers that were part of the troupe as they have competed together in various competitions. He mentioned how it was awkward at first as many of the dancers had to learn to let go of their egos as they never really got to know each other as friends, but as competitors. He said it took awhile, but from travelling and dancing together, they learned to become a family and their name tags say, "Burn the Floor Family". Then we got to have a taste of "Burn the Floor" live as their routine started with a cha cha and moved through a dance-off between the two couples. I wasn't allowed to film the live footage as I would only be allowed to air it within 48 hours due to copyright, BUT thanks to Hummingbird Centre, I have some "b-roll" clips of some of the dancing from the show. In the "Wanna Dance" open-ing no., you'll see these two couples in exactly the same costumes they use on stage; and the other clip I've posted is the lindy hop, a livelier version of swing or jive dancing. In terms of salsa, they use some of the dance and the rhythm in the finale, but are not very familiar with it as a dance form. On Saturday night, after volunteer practice and classes, we quickly ate and zoomed out to the Denim Salsa Party in Etobicoke. We got there just in time for the two shows by Dance To Live and Grupo Sabroso. The energy was high that night and the two groups gave it their all and the crowd loved it. You can check out a piece of the action on video or through photos. Everyone was having a good time either dancing or chilling as DJ Mas spilled out the tunes. Arthur did a fabulous job as MC by ensuring the who's who of the salsa scene was acknowledged; while Salsaspot was busy manning the door. And while I was dancing around, 8 more readers wrote into the Clicks and Cliques discussion and thanks to Eva, Ophelia, Joshua and Maria -- it's become the hottest topic around town; with more dancers tuning in everyday to see what all the hoopla is about and wanting to read every last detail. The best rendition of this debate has to be from Eddie, a dancer from NYC, who visited my site and emailed me about places to go dancing and got totally hooked by this discussion and wrote back, "Im so hooked on your site. Reminds me of the time I was fixed on this Spanish Soap opera... " It's a hilarious summary of what this debate is all about through another city's eyes. Click here... And on a final note, maybe partially thanks to these hot topics(?), we've moved into 5th place in the rankings in the Google search engine when you type in "salsa dancing" only surpassed by Amsterdam, Salsaweb (LA), SalsaNewYork and Salsacrazy (SF). March 6, 2003 Gorillas vs. Peacocks P2 Well, the saga continues as we now have 8 more posts, including a final word from me... To ensure that EVERY-ONE understands how I use the term, "charity or sacrifice dance", it's NOT for beginner dancers, but for dancers who pull your arm off, throw you into dips and whiplash your neck, are drunk and bump and crash you into other dancers. Have you ever experienced that? If not, you're lucky, I have from not refusing a dance from anyone who's asked me whether it's Berlin Nightclub, El Rancho's, Plaza Flamingo or even Babaluu's. Editor's Note: My long-term memory clicked in and I see where the typo was in my Berlin story and that's what happens when you write at 2 am in the morning when you're in a hurry to finish and you don't read what you write too carefully. My apology to those who were understandably offended by it. Also, if I thought dancing with beginners was a charity dance then why would I help volunteer-teach beginners -- it's a great way to help dancers improve one-on-one and makes me remember what I might have forgotten about the basics myself. The only time I refuse a dance is when I need a break and then I promise them a dance afterwards and KEEP my word. Click here... And for some of you who think the "superstars" are showing off, maybe you should read my article on "How to Get Your Salsa Groove Back". Did you ever think that MAYBE they are dancing as if nobody's watching? And more Dear TOsalsa, plus a review of the Hong Kong Salsa Congress by Tom who lives in Hong Kong and has agreed to be our official HK correspondent. March 5, 2003 Gorillas vs. Peacocks... Sigh... will it ever end... in the past 3 years, it never ceases to amaze me how writers can write something in innocence and have someone turn it around into a catfight on the net. And yes, I'll say catfights, because most of the "nasty emails" have been by women! Why do dancers who don't know anything about another dancer judge and criticize before they even get to know the person; believe everything they hear from their friends without finding out for themselves until they just boil over; or if they have a beef, have the guts to face the person rather than attacking them with email rage; and/or find a way to actually twist the actual meaning of the story to suit their attack? People forget how easy it is to let loose on the net what they wouldn't do in person, but they also forget that sometimes the damage goes too far to turn back the clock and they may never be trusted again or forgiven, especially in the salsa WWW. Then again, if we didn't have these little net-spats once in awhile, maybe we'd have one less thing to gossip about in the clubs. And to Ophelia and others, your email rage has just brought the "clicks" closer together as we ended up having fun all night long dancing together at Berlin and with other dancers NOT in our "clique". You have obviously totally missed my point in my explanation and choose to ignore everything I said and in turn, contradicted yourself in your own response. It was tempting to rebuttal back, but I won't waste my precious time as I have more positive things I like to do with my time. As someone else has said, "I thought we were out of high school!" But you can check out the feedback from a few of the people you personally attacked in your email. And on that final note, to quote what a New York Dancer said about coming to Toronto, "I can't wait! Gorillas dancing with Peacocks? I'm bringing my camera. love -e" March 4, 2003 The Heat is On! The colder it gets, the hotter it seems to get via the internet... dancers are still writing in and due to the amount of responses, I've had to open up a page for Clicks and Cliques; and the African- Canadian comment. March 3, 2003 Baby, it must really be COLD outside... Wow! It must be really cold outside as it seems people are choosing to stay in, surf and write... It's only been two days and we've been swamped with more emails regarding music and more debates in our Discussion Forum... and in Dear TOsalsa the age-old debate about clicks... cliques... whatever... some of Joshua's findings are valid, but then again, the salsa is always greener on the other side... check it out and email your own feelings about this matter as it sounds like it just might turn into a debate... and two more Top 10 Song Lists... one Bachata List from Montreal and one Salsa List from Peru... March 1, 2003 Do you Wanna Dance with Me? As we "march" our way into Spring, it's warming up to be a hot month of salsa in Toronto. This Friday, March 7th, if you're a dance fanatic, you can't afford to miss seeing upclose two ballroom couples, Dermot Clemenger & Diana Karlsson and Hubert Pierzchalo & Magdalena Pozarska, either at the Toronto Eaton Centre from 12 noon to 1:30 pm with a demo and master class or later in the evening at the Courthouse at 11 pm. How did it come about? Well, Hummingbird Centre just happened to contact me to let me know that these dancers were coming to town and doing a dance demo, and I casually happened to ask if they were doing anything that night... after all, many ballroom dancers also like to dance salsa... and voila... upclose and personal, how lucky can we get... Click here for all the info... And for those of you who can't get enough of dance videoclips, I've posted up some new clips of Toronto's Berlin Salsa Dance Preliminaries and some nostalgic highlights of the 2000 Toronto Salsaweb Convention right here in Toronto, just a week after we launched our site. This is what kick-started many of us into learning how to dance on 2 and shines. Click here to see clips. And what were your favourite video picks? Top 10 Feb. Dance Clips 1 - 2002 Berlin Pro - Ana&Orville 2 - 2002 Berlin Amateurs 3 - Frankie & Aisha - Palomillo 4 - 2001 Berlin Pro - Steph&Oren 5 - Bong & Trionne in Detroit 6 - Frankie Social Dancing #1 7 - Oscar & Vanesa, Bar One 8 - Frankie Social Dancing #2 9 - Berlin Semi-Pros, MarcA&Mona 10-Nelson Flores Social Dancing Top 10 Countries 1 - United States 2 - Canada 3 - Netherlands 4 - France 5 - Italy 6 - Mexico 7 - UK 8 - Singapore 9 - Argentina 10 - AU February 28, 2003 Baby it's Cold Outside! Check out Dear TOsalsa and the Discussion Forum... it's been over the top! and Another Month bites the dust... It's hard to believe how fast this past month has flown by... and even though I'm swamped every which way, I now treat myself to a few nights of salsa dancing or I'd go crazy... Once again, I was at Berlin on Tuesday -- not only to get my fix with all the dancers that showed up that night, but I also had fun watching the contest and of course, taking pictures, especially at the end of the night, when I can get some of the dancers to "ham it up". In the amateurs, there were 3 couples. I remember two of these couples trying out last year, and another couple who didn't make it last week into the semi-finals, but bravely tried out again and got in. That's what I call persistence... if you don't succeed, try try again! In the professional category, Frank Bishun with his new partner, competed first. He's a veteran of our Toronto salsa scene and it was hilarious to hear DJ Victor announce him and say something like "and this should be interesting to watch"; and have Frank look up and make a face at him. I wasn't sure if he was commenting on his dance style or just the fact he was a veteran of the dance scene challenging the new Pro generation. Next was Pawel and Dora, who won 2nd Place last year and were Champions two years ago at Berlin. They wowed their crowd with some of their funky sensual moves. And finally, Bong with his new Cuban partner, Irene, demonstrating their version of the Cuban style of dance -- something we really haven't seen in a contest here in Toronto. She is an exceptionally strong, trained dancer who has no problem doing splits any which way; and it's going to be interesting to see what they come up with for the finals. What's also nice to see is that the crowd is truly appreciative of all the dancers -- amateur and professional. No one has to announce to the audience to show their appreciation -- everyone's into it. On another note, if you're a fan of Burn the Floor or ballroom dancing, I was able to snag a performance by two couples who are arriving in town to promote "Burn the Floor" next Friday, March 7th at Courthouse for 11 pm. They are also performing at lunchtime at the Toronto Eaton Centre downtown. By next week, I'll have more details and some info on the dancers. Also, in the next 2-3 weeks, Melissa Leong of the Toronto Star has written an article about salsa dancing in Toronto which will be featured in the new Metropolis Sunday Section, which features commentaries from many of the movers and the shakers of the salsa scene.  And
what's happening in the wide world of salsa?Well, in my not-so-busy-schedule, we also sponsored a salsa calendar which was launched at the Chicago Salsa Congress by Nadya Cortes from Chicago. In the calendar, she features some of the hottest salsa babes in North America, such as Joby Vasquez (Salsa Brava) from LA, Aisha Koswara (Abakua) in NYC, Candy Mena from NYC and more... Ana and Orville of Salsation were nice enough to bring me back a copy and the guys of course were drooling over some of the pictures. Unfortunately, I can't post them all, or you'd have no reason to buy the calendar which is retailing for $15 US, but guess what? We'll be putting up a draw for anyone in the World to win a copy of this calendar... so stay tuned... If you're interested in purchasing a copy of this calendar, let me know and if there's enough interest, we might get some copies to sell here... February 24, 2003 The Salsa Treadmill... Last week I caved into my salsa cravings after two weeks of deprivation and actually went dancing 3 times last week! On Tuesday, I was at Berlin's for the preliminaries but stayed to get my fix and ended up with a couple of "sacrifice" dances. It's one thing to dance with someone whose lead is a bit like a diamond-in-the-rough and knows some old Toronto-style with some new stuff, and you can bring a smile to their face when they realize you can follow their lead no matter what... or how about a dancer whom you don't know that just insists (and won't take no for an answer) for a salsa... and as I was dancing with him I was in fear that one of his elbows was going to hit me in the head. At the same time, I was thinking of Trish's article, the "Salsa Safai" -- he would make a perfect "Gorilla", who then turned into ' "Rabbit" when he insisted later on at the end of the night to dance a bachata with him. What was also hilarious is that he insisted that one of the bouncers hang onto my dance shoes for me while we danced. His version of a bachata was more an up and down motion (rather than side to side), and it probably didn't help that he was a little bit tipsy... What made it even more hilarious was that he kept insisting that I should "feel the music" -- here's another dancer who's oblivious to who I am... and how much I "know". On Thursday, after the STC practice, I decided to go dancing at Babaluu's as I needed a break and ended up seeing alot of the old regulars from a few years ago. It was another fun evening as I got to hangout, chill and dance with people I haven't seen in awhile. On Friday, I again decided to push myself out the door to go dancing, and headed down to Courthouse. The past two weeks I got into the bad habit of telling my friends that I was going and then not show up cause I was too tired. Many of the Courthouse regulars were there and I literally had a non-stop night of almost New York on 2 dancing; along with a fun discussion on who were the "sluttiest" male and female dancers in Toronto in terms of styling? Maybe you'll see our top pics in a new Reader's Poll and we'll let you choose. What more could I ask for? Except that tomorrow it starts all over again... And while I took a dance siesta... dancers were once again writing in, check out the Dear TOsalsa section and the Discussion Forum for another lengthy email from Vladimiar and a response to Salsa Attire... and there's more updates in the days to follow, including the 2 winners of the Tango Buenos Aires tickets... February 18, 2003 Salsa as it should be... It's been a long two weeks since I hit a club and got to social dance... and some of the best nights to dance is after watching a competition. Not only are you sure that alot of the best dancers and regulars will show up, but everyone gets an extra sparkle of energy to dance their best and have lots of fun... and possibly with one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time, it's nice to have a night where you're guaranteed to get your fix. And how was the Berlin Contest? Well, there were 5 amateur and 2 pro couples, and they all made it in except for two amateur couples. I have to admit this was a really fun contest to watch because all the amateurs were smiling, having fun and giving it all they got -- which is as it should be. It was also fun to watch and see a "signature" move from various salsa schools in the city who teach various turn patterns or styling; and it was nice to see the level of the amateurs go up another notch. In the pro division, only Rocky & Sharon, and Ana & Orville competed tonight, so they both made it in. At the end of my Berlin photo gallery, you'll see all the couples that made it to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, I know many of the faces of the amateurs that danced tonight, but I don't know all their names. They will be posted as soon as Jennifer can email them to me... On another note, one of the competitiors even admitted to me tonight that he watched my Berlin videoclip highlights to get him pumped up for the contest and that's why I posted them -- to give a little history of the dancing in TO and at the same time, give a little inspiration to the dancers who are brave enough to see how far they can take their dancing in front of an audience. It's also hilarious to meet up with dancers who know I run a website, and STILL ask if I'm going to compete... yeah right, like I need to add another 5-6 hours to an already overloaded day in the life of Rose Knows. Sleep? hmm... same no. of letters as the word, Salsa?! Is there a hidden meaning somewhere? Salsa as a replacement for sleep? not! Although I will admit I never really enjoyed sleeping until I started salsa dancing, the website, STC, and anything else I could fit in to my 24/7 lifestyle -- to the point where I was just happy go to bed and sleep as long as I want and not have to wake up to an alarm, a coffee and a non-stop schedule. Or how about co-workers who ask if you're going to compete cause you're telling them you're going to a dance convention. They absolutely have no concept of what the salsa dance world is all about and the fact that you can travel anywhere in the world and meet up with other dancers who share the same passion you do. February 17, 2003 What does it take to be a Salsa Team Canada Performer? How about being able to salsa dance in -30 C weather in Canada's capital, Ottawa. Click here for mini-story and all the pics, thanks to Michelle, STC's Communications Manager... February 15, 2003 What a nice surprise... Thank you Richard and Lou for your responses regarding TOsalsa.com, click here to read their feedback! February 14, 2003 Happy Valentine's Day... We have a new Top 10 Salsa Song List from DJ Rod in Hawaii, and Maria wrote in and asked... "Which Salsa Style is the most choreo-graphically complex? Cuban? Cuban-Miami? L.A. Style? Puerto Rican Style? New York Style? Click here and let me know what you think? Psst... I found a way to my heart... well almost, how about a fresh waffle with strawberries, a little bit of honey and icing sugar, with a huge scoop of very yummy vanilla ice cream and a dollop of fresh whipped cream on the side... and some salsa to whittle the calories away... February 11, 2003 Yet another day goes by... It's less than 3 days until Valentine's Day... and while many of us will probably be dancing in the clubs here in Toronto, some of my friends will be dancing and performing at the Chicago Salsa Congress... and you can be sure I'll have the usual scoop and probably a "few" videoclips in the upcoming weeks... And it's also pretty obvious that it must be pretty cold in North America in general because I'm finding people are getting quite chatty and writing in some quite lengthy replies in Dear TOsalsa and/or the Discussion Forum... On a disappointing note, I found out today that the Ibrahim Ferrer Concert is basically sold out and the tickets we were giving away on our site was overlooked in the usual marketing hustle and bustle. Although it won't make it up to the potential winner of these tickets, we will be giving away an extra pair of tickets to Tango Buenos Aires. So for those of you who entered both -- you'll have double the chance of winning... Also, you still have two more chances of winning tickets to Burn the Floor. For this draw, you only have to enter once and of course be a member of our mailing list to win! February 10, 2003 No Rest for the Wicked... It just doesn't get any worse than this... too much to do and not enough hours day or night... to the point where I barely have time to keep up with emails, can't take time off for the Chicago Salsa Congress as I had planned to because of my real day job, and only have time to post what's already written, such as "Dear TOsalsa" and Discussion Forum debates, including our fun Valentine's Day Salsa Song List from last year... Haven't had any time to research any new songs, but three songs that come to my mind that wasn't listed, the bachata song "No Es Amor" by Aventura, a very romantic salsa song, "Esa Mujer" by Tony Vega, which is a very beautiful ballad that you can't get tired of dancing to... or how about "Thinking of You" by Lenny Kravitz. And if you happen to be in Ottawa this weekend, you can catch dancers from Salsa Team Canada performing at Parliament Hill, click here! Congratulations to Robin Nest, Ticket Winner, Noche Flamenca February 3, 2003 A Fresh Start! Yikes, it's already February, and about 3 weeks away before the Berlin Contest starts... I thought it would be fun to put together a video collage of the winners from my video collection from 1999 onwards; and to inspire those who plan to compete this year. Hope you enjoy them as much as I had fun looking back... Also, we've posted up our official Berlin page which will as always provide complete coverage of the competition each week. You can also get directly to that page with www.tosalsa.com/berlin in your browser. Also, check out the Cuban versus North American Style Discussion -- it seems to be heating up as we are now on our 5th page! January
31, 2003
January 26, 2003 January 23, 2003 Here we go again... Thanks to two passionate readers who obviously have seen the Si Cuba commercial... and more discussions or shall I say debates... And for those of you who have been wanting to know what's happening with the Canada Salsa Congress... check out their website! Also, Jennifer Aucoin has mentioned that there are dancers who are interested in competing at the Berlin Competition here in Toronto, and would like to have a dance partner... She's been telling them to sign up with our Partner Search, soooo if you're looking for a partner, you now know where to find them... We'll be posting the rules (which are basically the same as last year) no later than next week... and by the end of January, I'll be posting up some "nostalgic" videoclips of some Toronto dancers from the last 3 years, maybe more... January 21, 2003 Life Marathon... I guess you're all noticing that my stories are slowing down and maybe I don't return calls or emails as quickly... and that's because there's not enough hours in the day and night to do everything that I've been working on for the past month -- real work, home work, TOsalsa redesign, regular updates, email overload, STC, and a little bit of salsa thrown in! This past weekend was a little salsa-filled on Saturday, but there's not enough hours right now to write about it... In the meantime, you'll just have to make do with Dear TOsalsa and the usual debates in the Discussion Forum... guess which ones? The two most popular and longest running ones -- dancestyles and ballroom vs. salsa. January 15, 2003 What's New?! Coming up in February, dance competitions in Toronto and Ottawa, 2 more Top 10 Salsa Song Lists, and more Dear Tosalsa... And if you're thinking of competing, you may want to read this great article by Edie the Salsa Freak first... January 12, 2003 Reminiscing the World of Salsa... A few days ago, I got an email from Steve Shaw of Salsa New York, who truly made me laugh when he nicknamed me "unstopp-able". At first, I didn't understand what he meant and then realized it was version of what I call myself sometimes, "the energizer bunny who just keeps going and going about anything and everything to do with salsa..." He then surprised me with a mini-article about how he and DJ Nik from Boston have these great salsa/mambo song lists... "But in spite of this American display of strength, we have been absolutely trounced by Canada. Rose Lau, the unstoppable webmistress of Toronto's TOSalsa.com... Hmm... nice to see that Canada is getting recogni-tion worldwide as a mover and a shaker... And what's even more timely, I have actually finally finished my 4th List of Great Songs to dance to... and it took me less than 3 months to put it together. As always, listening to my favourite salsa tunes or finding out about songs I truly love to dance to, always brings my salsa addiction back to "normal" levels. What was hilarious is that I have a "library" of salsa music I have not had a chance to go through from the past few years, and when I started to listen to them... I was amazed to find out how many more songs I knew and have danced to... but just didn't know the artist or the name of the song... and in one night, I was able to put together 80 more songs! So here it is... my 4th list of Top 100 Salsa Songs to Dance to... If you truly love the dance, eventually you go through the many phases of salsa addiction... every once inawhile I have a good laugh and review Edie the Salsa Freak's great graph which tells you the phases you go through when you first discover salsa; and there have been days when I thought it would be fun to put together a graph for the "regulars" who just never get enough of it... If you've been in the "scene" as long as I have, and there's others who've been dancing alot longer than myself... you lose your "groove" for awhile, or just need a break to recharge those salsa batteries... Over the holidays, I took a much-needed "siesta" away from the whole salsa scene to recharge and reflect on where I've been and what 2003 would bring. 2002 was an amazing whirlwind of non-stop salsa as I went wherever and whenever I could to as many events across Canada and the US as I could possibly handle, along with the new project of Salsa Team Canada. It was a very fast-paced year... as I bought a new camcorder, digi-camera and computer which helped to make my salsa experiences memorable on and off the net, travelled somewhere almost every month including Chicago, LA, Puerto Rico, Detroit, Montreal and Ottawa, got to meet or hear some of the salsa music icons either in Toronto or while travelling; and made so many new friends on and off the dance floor from all over the world. It's been a long time since I also had a chance to reflect on the ever-changing Toronto salsa scene... We've evolved so quickly since we started TOsalsa.com and started to see and learn how to dance the many styles of salsa from around the World -- from dancing Toronto colombian or cumbia style which was predominant in Toronto for at least 10 years until around the Year 2000 where Toronto began to learn LA style, Miami casino rueda style, to dancers who now regularly dance on the 2, Eddie Torres style; and a small following of dancers who are immersed with Cuban style or learning traditional cuban dances; with a smattering of hip hop, argentine tango, flamenco and belly dancing thrown in. I also spent a night reviewing old Berlin salsa competition videos, and have started to put together a videoclip compilation of all the winners from the past five (5) years. Something you can look forward to watching in February 2003 -- just weeks before the preliminaries start here in Toronto. It's guaranteed to be a fabulous snapshot of the evolution of our Toronto dance couple and performance style; and some of the movers and shakers of our ever-changing salsa scene. In the past few years, Toronto has also started to make it's mark on the international circuit as we have some established dance groups (such as Los Salsomanos, Strickly Salsa and Grupo Sabroso), dance couples (such as Ana and Orville, Pawel and Dora), and individuals such as Bong Gonzales, Stephanie Gurnon, Nicole and Mark of Soles, Jennifer Aucoin, and/or Ivy Cuervo, who have trained with some of the best around the World and bring back the knowledge to Toronto; and of course the tireless efforts of Rene and Teddy who have a volunteer teaching program which has helped kick-start various social dancers into the world of teaching salsa on a semi-professional or professional level; or just helps to take their dancing to the next level. In some instances, Canada has also gained international recognition in the past few years by either winning international competitions or getting standing ovations at various Congresses -- you know who you are... And there are some great dancers here in Toronto (male and female) who just keep pushing the envelope... I couldn't begin to mention all their names... but I think you know who you are in my books... (gee this is starting to sound like one of those thank you speeches). Special mention must also go out to the tireless efforts and talents of Sonia and Moris of San Tropez Dance Company in Montreal, who have been in the international circult now for the past 5 years... and have influenced Toronto with their professional knowledge and experience as directors of a dance group, instructors and performers. And another upcoming group from Montreal, Salsa Etc, under the direction of Edson, who captured our attention with their new Egyptian routine at the Ottawa Salsa Congress. Thanks to the goals of Salsa Team Canada, I believe we are also the first country to ever gather together a salsa choreography with over 40 amateur and professional dancers from 3 cities to perform at a Salsa Congress, close the Friday night show over Salsa Brava Dance Company (who is known to close out the show for many of the Congresses), and get a standing ovation. Will any other country be able to take up the same challenge and present a dance performance at a Salsa Congress this coming year? On the Toronto musical front, this past year has been great as we are starting to get more international artists coming to Toronto; but at the same time, we are truly blessed with the number of talented Cuban musicians and singers that are now living and playing in Toronto. On the World Circuit, I've also had the opportunity to get to watch socially and on stage; and/or get to know and/or dance with some of the best International Instructors, Performers, Musicians and Dance Groups from around the World... Through my stories, videoclips, photos, interviews and articles over the past few years and in the future -- you will eventually get to meet them all... there's too many to list... and then there's the memorable dance performances by groups who are not well-known on the dance circuit... who capture the crowd's imagination... and you can look forward to some of those for next year... And since I had time to recharge my batteries, along with a few fun nights of dancing like I used to... this is probably one of the longest stories I've written in a long while... I've already kick-started my own goals for 2003 to the point where they inspired me to write a few new mini-articles on Salsa New Year Resolutions and Tips to help improve your salsa dancing. What inspired these articles -- you, the Readers and the dancers, on and off the net who are constantly asking, writing or talking about all these salsa-related questions on dance and music.
January 8, 2003 January 7, 2003 Salsa on the Net... and New Year Resolutions... Yikes, I know the holidays are finally over as I've been totally swamped with emails from the past few days... I took a nice "siesta" AWAY from the salsa scene for almost two weeks over the holidays to get ready for this super-charged New Year where once again I'll be travelling to various Congresses, dancing once again with Salsa Team Canada, possibly travelling to the Orient later this year, and trying to fit some personal life and TOsalsa inbetween it all... While I'm trying frantically to fit in my headstart on my New Year Resolutions and the redesign of our site, I've had a pile-up of Dear TOsalsa (including some letters I missed over the past few days). A Special Mention goes out to the discussion on North American vs. Cuban Salsa which was our first official topic, starting its third year of debate, and is now 4 netpages long. To kick-start some new ideas for New Year's Resolutions... so I can have it all... I found some fun websites, which gave me some useful tips and reminders to make my resolutions realistic and/or to save me time remember-ing all the things I want to catch up on before the salsa whirlwind hits again... A site on "How to Keep New Year's Resolutions" Two quizzes (home or work) you can take to see how "organized you are". A great women's site with lots of great articles, such as "Kick the chaos habit -- If you think you’re doomed to disorganization, take heart. You can conquer clutter and confusion once and for all." Feel Better with Exercise 10 Resolutions for your PC 1. Banish Junk From Your Hard Drive 2. Give Your PC a Jump Start 3. Protect Your Network 4. Give Your PC a Flu Shot 5. Browse Without a Trace 6. Say No to Sneaky Ads 7. Want to Be Spam-Free? 8. Out With the Old 9. Stay on Top of Fraud 10. Break Free of Entanglements--and Bad Posture January 2, 2003 Latino Discussion heats up in the middle of a TO snowstorm... Well, it's only the 2nd day of the New Year, Toronto is in the middle of a snow-storm; and already we have four posts in one night regarding the on-again, off-again discussion amongst latinos about class... What sparked it once again... maybe this enlightening post from a NY salsera, Janemas, and I received two more Top 10 Salsa Song Lists from various readers... Also, I've posted SIX more videoclips for those of you who can't get enough... Ray Baretto Live in Puerto Rico, more social dancing with Frankie Martinez and Nelson Flores, and others...click here! January 1, 2003 Happy New Year! Oh my goodness, it's 2003 already and I hope everyone will have as amazing a year as I think it may turn out to be... To kick-start the New Year and the countdown to our 3 year Anniversary, TOsalsa is pleased to announce that we have a pairs of tickets to 3 great shows at Massey Hall, along with 3 pairs of tickets to give away for Burn the Floor here in Toronto... and our usual dose of Dear TOsalsa... PS the anniversary refers to our site, TOsalsa... not Ziv and I, although it does feel like a marriage once in awhile! Top 10 Videoclips (Dec) 1 - Abakua, Palomilla 2 - Ana & Orville in SF 3 - Kids Social Dancing, PR 4 - Roni & Dinora in SF 5 - Frankie Social Dancing 6 - Luis & Avra in SF 7 - Drew & Claire in SF 8 - Vanesa & Oscar, TO 9 - Griselle & Danny in SF 10 - Alex & Liz in SF Top 10 Visitors of the Video Library (Dec) 1 - Canada 2 - France 3 - USA 4 - Netherlands 5 - Italy 6 - Singapore 7 - Spain 8 - Switzerland 9 - United Kingdom 10 - Australia December
29, 2002
December
25, 2002 |
Highlights
of Toronto's Winter Thrills 2002
I had fun watching them last year, but this year, they truly got into
the spirit of putting together their own routine and coordinating outfits
to try and make it to the finals. We had 12 couples compete for the
coveted 6 spots and I was proud of all of them and their efforts this
year.