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by Rose Knows, Toronto
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| June
15, 2003
June 11, 2003 June 8, 2003 June is a hot month full of salsa events! Check out our What's Happening section and the parties this month for Salsa Team Canada... After such a heavy story the other day, I decided to spend some time to surf for some new albums... This year it seems the releases were not coming out as quickly as last year... but hopefully now it will start to pick up... click here to check out what's new to dance to... Also, Larry Harlow's "Live at Birdland" Latin Jazz album is selected as a nominee in the Latin Grammy Latin Jazz category. Click here to listen to tracks from this album... And here's a great site with more audio clips than Amazon.com, Tower Records in the UK! I've given you a head start to that album with that song that Frankie Martinez danced to in Puerto Rico -- Me Prendiste Velas! June 7, 2003 Never a Dull Moment... OR Salsa -- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... Ever since I got back from LA, it's been non-stop crazy as the busy Toronto salsa season has started... It's gotten so busy that I've really had to spend time at home catching up on all my TOsalsa updates and event planning. And with all the salsa activities I'm involved in, I find that one or two nights of social dancing is enough to get my fix right now, especially when I've started back into my regular workout routine at the gym and/or at home with weights and stretching. June 7, 2003 Salsa -- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... OR Never a Dull Moment... (continued) It's so busy that unfortunately I can't even respond to emails or phone calls on a daily basis unless it's absolutely necessary. And why am I writing about the good, the bad and the ugly? Well, it's kind of coincidental, but sad that there was some politics about salsa competitions in 3 different cities -- Toronto, San Fran and LA -- either because of potentially bad judging or just poor sportmanship on the part of dancers who don't agree with the judging. What most dancers should realize is that the judging in a competition is totally out of your control, no matter how well you perform, and there will always be competitions that are not fair. Ideally yes, I would like to see people who deserve to win fair and square all the time, but after all these years, it's become a figment of my imagination. The way I view competitions is if you compete, you should do it firstly because of your love of dance and an opportunity to share your passion with other dancers, to help improve your skills as a dancer, work hard to hopefully be the best you can be as a performer, and never-ever take it for granted that you should win no matter what. If you do, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment from the get-go. What's also sad, is that pros who spend alot of time and money to get ready for competition who may deserve to win but don't, and those who won't compete because they feel it will ruin their reputation. For some students, possibly, but I think that in most cases, if you love how someone dances and/or teaches, winning a competition may increase their desirability as instructors or performers, but it will not break their career; unless you're telling me that there's only one couple or group in the world who are amazing and deserves to win every contest -- think again. All dancers have their good and bad moments, and if you dance badly one night or have a so-so routine, you don't deserve to win just because you happen to be considered the best in that City or World at that moment. But in the World of Salsa as I get to talk to other seasoned promoters, instructors and dancers or read about them over the net, it seems people have forgotten their manners and/or morals... The Good As a fellow salsa lover of music and dance (and hopefully that's why most of you come to my site and read my columns...), have you ever noticed that once you have "salsa" or "mambo" buried deep into your soul that you never seem to have enough time to do everything you want to do OR there's so much going on that you are living and loving life to the fullest and you can never get bored... If you've never experienced this, then you don't truly know what it means to live, breathe and dance salsa... Almost everyone I've come into contact with that either teaches, performs and/or dances salsa on a regular basis has had this "disease" at one time or another in their salsa lifecycle, or can never come off of it... as it can be one of the most positive life experiences you can ever have as it touches every part of your reason for being... mentally, physically, and dare I say spiritually... I know I haven't... and everytime I vow I'll spend less time on salsa-related activities to try and lead a more non-salsa lifestyle, somehow I seem to take on more -- all for the love of dance and music; and the other wonderful people out there I get to meet who inspire me and make me realize what's so special about our World of Salsa... and after coming back from the West Coast Salsa Congress, it just made me realize even further how it's become part of many dancer's daily lifestyle as a full-time career or a full-time hobby turned into a night job outside of regular work. I have met so many wonderful people via the dance floor, the net, in various cities, and at the congresses who totally are in sync with my feelings and/or share the same experiences in another part of the World. The coolest and neatest memories I have from coming back from the West Coast Salsa Congress was being able to meet up and make new friends of dancers/promoters/webmasters that I've met only over the net, strengthening our bond of future friendship; and meeting up again with friends that I only get to see potentially once a year at the Congress, potentially have a dance together and/or find time to catch up on what's happening in each other's lives. The Bad On the bad side, if you don't "think outside of the box" or sphere you live in, you never get to see how all the wonderful ways that this sub-culture can be experienced -- which totally fascinates me and makes me want to learn and know more... If you argue that there's only one way to dance salsa, only one type of music is really good, think you're the only expert or best dancer or dance group in your area and choose only to hangout with your friends or groups, or get sucked into the vicious salsa gossip circles or just take sides with people whom you consider a friend who has a falling out with someone else; or maybe you just believe what someone else tells you about someone without hearing "their side of the story" or finding out what truly makes up the essence of the person they are "attacking" -- then you're closing so many doors that could be opened for you. But what is reality is that there will always be a bad side to the salsa scene and people who always think they can take advantage of others; and it's up to everyone to realize it's there, be aware not to get sucked into the "dark side", to learn to live or deal with it, and move back to the positive things on why you got hooked on salsa to begin with. If you're the victim of it beyond your control, hopefully someone or a true friend will let you know and give you a chance to "clear your name". If not, it's their loss, not yours; and move on, as the truth comes out eventually anyways and those "nasty" people will eventually get their just desserts OR "What goes around, comes around" OR "What you give out, you get back in return". And as a victim, maybe take it as a compliment, because you are obviously doing something right, if someone else is jealous or insecure enough to spread lies about you. The Ugly Is when salsa dancers who turn it into a second job or profession can't make it on their own or decide they want to try to discredit their "competitors" and start either bad-mouthing or try to cause malicious damage that temporarily bothers or affects their "victims", not realizing that people are smarter than they think and it backfires on them as they lose their clientele and/or friends in the same salsa social circles. The salsa scene may be large, but for those people who think they are smart by badmouthing people to others in the same social circle or via the net, they don't seem to realize it comes back to their "victims" from other friends, and eventually, they will have no friends in the World of Salsa. Unfortunately, it's this same group which unfortunately will give the salsa scene a bad name; and when it gets to the point of "ugly" and try to cause "harm" to others that I think these people do not deserve any credit and/or will hopefully leave the scene when they realize they are no longer wanted. And if you're reading this post and have experienced this, you know exactly whom I'm talking about. But then again, maybe not, if they truly believe in the lies of their own making... and believe they are always right and everyone else is wrong. There are many of us who work hard to promote, sustain and encourage the World of Salsa because we love the culture and the music, and the friends we make around the World; and it's sad to see how jealous and insecure some people get when you become truly successful at what you do.
June 2, 2003 June 1, 2003 Congratulations to... Ana Ivic, Toronto Canada Salsa Congress Pass Winner. Everyone still has two more chances to win in June and July... click here! You only have to enter once! Salsa Calendar - Inter'l 1-Rene Bergevin, Ottawa 2-LeNay Eastman, Alameda US 3-Andrea Katynski, Ottawa 4-Samantha Likely, Calgary 5-Jose Valdes, River Grove, US Salsa Calendar - Toronto 1 - Jaime Orozco 2 - Belinda Domingues 3 - Veronika Doma Congratulations to all our Winners, you will be contacted within the next few weeks. TOsalsa May Trivia... Top 10 Countries (not incl. US and Canada...) 1 - Netherlands 2 - Mexico 3 - Italy 4 - France 5 - United Kingdom 6 - Australia 7 - Japan 8 - Germany 9 - Belgium 10 - Sweden Top 10 Spanish Lyrics 1 - Aventura - No Es Amor 2 - Aventura - Amor de Madre 3 - Aventura - Obsesion 4 - Monchy y Alexandra - Hoja en Blanco 5 - Monchy y Alexandra - Te Quiero Igual Que Ayer 6 - Elvis Crespo - Suavamente 7 - DLG - La Quiero A Morir 8 - Adolescentes - La Persona Ideal 9 - DLG - Todo Mi Corazon 10 - Grupo Niche - Gotas de Lluvia Top 10 Videoclips 1 - Amir & Isabelle, Berlin Amateur 2 - Dora & Pawel - Bar One Semi 3 - Frankie Martinez Social Dancing 4 - Sonia & Moris - Berlin Pro 1st 5 - Ana Machado - AfroCuban Demo 6 - John & Monika - Berlin Ama 1st 7 - Frankie & Aisha - Palomillo 8 - Bong & Irina - Bar One: 2nd 9 - Orville & Ana - Berlin: 2nd 10 - Dora & Pawel - Berlin: 1st May
29, 2003 May 28, 2003 Sleepless in LA... Part 3 OR How the Kids Stole our Hearts... Just to show you how much enjoyment I got out of this Congress, here's the next set of pics from the Saturday night performances which is also considered usually the best night where the best of the best perform -- Show 1 and Show 2.  I
am still so tired from the past week of non-stop work and non-stop Congress
running-around that I just don't have the energy to go out and party it
up in Toronto just yet. It's not possible to go auto-pilot back to normal
Toronto time when I was used to going to bed at 7 to 9 am Toronto time
(LA is 3 hours behind), and getting up no later than 10 am, which was
about 1 pm TO time.Coincidentally, I got a few emails today from dancers in the US who got hooked on my Congress Updates, and/or just saying HI since they either met me at the Congress or somehow missed me in the day-to-day activities. It seems many of the same people are also planning to hit the New York Salsa Congress... and if I'm lucky, I'll finally get to meet up with them there. There just wasn't enough hours in the day or night to do everything I would have liked. On Saturday night, I had a chance to talk to one of the radio announcers being honoured that night and his son just happened to be the oldest member of LA Salsa Kids. At the time (when I was awake), I spoke to him about possible interviewing his family, but by the end of the night, we all just wanted to get out of the show tent and relax after about 2 sets of 19 shows each, totally about 3-4 hours of performances. Saturday night happened to be the busiest night as the tent could hold approx. 2400 people and the band, dance floor and booth area, could hold about another 3500 -- which equated to a jam-packed night of about 6000 people. Also Oscar D'Leon was featured to play that night, along with Johnny Polanco, but because the shows were so long, we really didn't have time to listen to them.  On
top of that, during the intermission, I decided to go to the main casino
area to quickly check on the dancing, but was stopped by the Fire Marshals
prior to getting back to the casino. They warned us to go back to the
tent as there was no guarantee we could get back in. But then when many
of the dancers headed back to the tent, we were stopped again at the other
end and told to line-up in an already long line of people who had paid
and were waiting to get into the tent to see the shows. By this time,
many people were upset, either from waiting in line after paying for an
evening pass OR after having just stepped out of the tent without being
told that we would have problems getting back in. Some dancers had left
their bags in the tent and for myself, I had my cameras inside with my
friends. Even if you were media or a performer -- they didn't care and
wouldn't let us in. After about 10 minutes I finally found someone in
charge who was understanding and finally let me in... Needless to say,
there were many people upset by this incident.Unfortunately it didn't end there, at the end of the night when we everyone including performers headed back up to the main congress area, we were stopped once again as it had quickly reached capacity after the shows and many of us had to wait up to an hour-and-half to get back in; and pretty much missing most of Johnny Polanco and Oscar D'Leon's performance. By this time, I also lost any energy I might have had left to even remotely be interested in social dancing so basically I strolled around checking out the dance circles, which for me (as a slightly jaded Congress goer) wasn't exciting any more as the novelty of watching congress social dancing has worn off. Also, after taping and taking pictures on and off over the last 6 hours of the evening... you just aren't interested in taping any more; plus some circles was so crowded, I would have needed a tripod and a chair to tower over enough to videotape... so I chose not to... Through the grapevine, I also heard that when Francisco Vasquez and his group was stopped at the front of the line, a fire marshal had the nerve to put his hand on Francisco's chest and warned him to back off while Francisco politely but firmly told him to take his hand off of him and to keep his distance. Needless to say, there were some tense moments that nearly could have gotten out of hand. Those fire marshals seemed to take their job a little too seriously and dealt with the public in a manner that didn't make anyone want to cooperate with them. This was unfortunately, the only really bad experience from this whole weekend; and it was surprising that Albert and Maya hadn't foreseen the possibility of reaching capacity as they so meticulously start planning almost a year ahead and obviously didn't have a plan for how to control this type of situation. And which dance teams made a lasting impression on me?  Tropical
Gem from Italy -- They had a strong all woman routine the night before,
and then there was this number which included the men. Unfortunately,
the principal male dancers could not perform in LA as they were denied
entry by Customs at the airport. But even without them, they managed to
pull off a highly-charged energetic show. This is the first time they
have appeared at the West Coast Salsa Congress and are regular performers
at the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress and back in Europe at various congressos. Edie
the Salsa Freak and Al Espinoza, LA -- Of all the routines I've seen them
perform together, I think this is my favourite... and not because they
are wearing all black (grin -- my favourite wardrobe colour). I find this
routine the most intense in terms of role playing and I like the mix of
hip-hop, salsa and tricks with a little batman-catwoman acting thrown
in -- perfect show material. This
martial arts and salsa routine by two male dancers was also a crowd-pleaser.
They did a fabulously intense sword fight that looked very real and then
had some wonderful crowd-pleasing shines and tricks which got the audience
roaring their approval. In fact the audience this whole weekend was totally
supportive of all the dance groups; but because the shows were so long,
the audience started to lose their energy about halfway in the second
set of shows and became "desensitized" in showing appreciation.  And
from Puerto Rico -- on your left you have Jayson's Molina's troupe; and
then there's Papa Tambour on the right. This time there was only male
dancers representing this troupe, but because they had so charisma, they
didn't need partners. Or
how about Caribbean Soul Dancers in their latest routine... The audience
just fell in love with their interpretation and choreography as they used
a little bit of imagination and used the ladies' backs to become musical
instuments that blends very nicely with the salsa guitar music. Apparently
our Toronto talent pool inspired Ismael to take his group routine to the
next level; and it seems their shows never seem to disappoint me while
watching and also inspires me to do my best as a dancer. And
finally, the act that stole the show almost completely
once again -- Royalty Salsa Kids! This time only one boy and girl performed,
and put on such a show that they once again got a standing ovation. This
routine had more cartwheels and some aerials which were moving so fast,
it was difficult to capture the golden moment on digi-film. You can be sure you'll be seeing a lot more of this dance troupe. 
And here's another 12-year-old female dancer who was absolutely amazing to watch. Samantha and David had great charisma, stage presence and a few tricks up their sleeves (right). TOsalsa on the Move! Never thinking it would be possible for it to happen so quickly... today, we officially made the 2nd highest no. of hits ever since the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress photos were posted, have also set a new record month of hits ever as of today; and have also climbed to the no. 4 spot in the google search engine for salsa dancing -- only surpassed by Amsterdam, Salsaweb and SalsaNewYork. And don't forget to enter the draws for a Canada Salsa Congress Pass and/or a copy of the new Salsa Calendar which closes at the end of May. Winners will be announced in early June. May 27, 2003 Sleepless in LA... Part 2 OR Welcome to the Party... What Party? Well, no pun intended, but "Welcome to the Party" is the name of an awesome song that was used at least 3 times on Friday night alone! In case you don't know this song, you don't know what you're missing or maybe after hearing it so many times you got desensitized... It's the new favourite "performance song" of the Congress -- we must have heard it at least 6 times the whole weekend. In fact, there's an interesting discussion on Salserosweb regarding Frankie and Seaon and the use of this song. And what were my favourite performances that night? Well, let me start by saying that the quality of the shows this year was better than last year and there was a lot less non-interesting shows to watch... 
The group that totally stole the show from everyone this weekend, was
the Royalty Salsa Kids, starting Friday with their "Michael Jackson"
routine which was a spin-off of the Royalty Salsa routine from last year...
It was obvious that they had jazz and ballet training.
May 26, 2003 Sleepless in LA... Part 1 Here's a snippet of my diary at the beginning of the week... Last Friday was a non-stop day of meeting up with dancers, instructors, promoters and webmasters from all over the World. Everyone I've met via the net over the past few years is here in LA and already some of us are surviving on 3 hours sleep... Just finished watching the preliminaries of the Smooth Moves Salsa Competition and there were 11? couples competing -- mostly from LA. It was a fun competition to watch, but not many of the cream of the crop decided to compete -- which was very disappointing. Unfortunately, I don't remember all the names of the finalists for the final competition, but you will see Alex Da Silva with his new partner, and Eric Gonzalez also from LA, along with 3 other couples. Last night, I also got to meet the gang from Salserosweb.com, the usual Congress superstar regulars (too many to name), and really had a chance to really sit and talk to some performers and promoters whom I only used to say "Hi" in passing. It never ceases to amaze me how you can really connect with the salsa community and totally be at one in our love of the dance and music. Tonight
(Friday), the performances start and the salsa insanity of trying to
find your regular friends to dance with begins... but as Ziv has discovered
as he is a West Coast Salsa Newbie, you can pretty much ask anyone for
a dance... and I've noticed it too, there's a lot less rejection on
this dance floor, everyone's here to have a good time. And if you're
not too intimidated to ask someone, almost all of them will say "yes"!
An interesting observation made to me by the guys was that many of the
LA girls love to dip themselves... May 21, 2003 My Tradition Continues... well almost... or is it just more trials, tribulations and ramblings of a Salsa Dancer... not quite, as you have to be in a typical salsaholic's dance shoes to totally understand why we do this to ourselves... Right now I'm reminiscing how many times in the past 3? years I'm zooming around my place getting myself packed and ready for LA tomorrow night or some other salsa city. The only difference this year is that I'm not staying up all night packing and doing last minute updates with Ziv on the other end of the phone keeping me company with an hour to sleep as I have to be at the airport at 6 am; but instead eaking out every minute with real work and packing; and wishing I was dancing like most of my friends are in TO or south of the border already in LA. As my New Year's Resolution was to spend more time on me... I wasn't really paying attention to the amount of time it would take to include more salsa into my life, along with workouts and other personal commitments. So how did I try to do less salsa which really meant I had less time to go out and just dance for the sheer joy of dancing (that disappeared after the first 1-1/2 years of TOsalsa.com) from 4-6 days of social dancing down to "can I fit in at least 1-2 days of good quality social dancing so I can get my usual salsa fix?" Now my salsa schedule is as follows: Mon - STC Coordinator Meeting via MSN; Tues - TOsalsa updates along with appts. for massage, etc. and maybe a little dancing for stress release; Wed - my one night to myself is presently spent working late at work and/or catching up on stuff at home; Thur - STC practice and then home, and if I have the energy, I might go dancing; Fri - the one social dance night I try to get out every week if I can find the energy at my usual hang-out, Courthouse, and then late-night dining with fellow salseros afterwards. Sat - sleep in, get up in time to work on TOsalsa and head over to the United Salseros class to volunteer teach and then our own US Volunteer practice session; and the remainder of the night is a toss-up. Sun - the one day I leave open to do absolutely everything or nothing to do with salsa. And since it's the summer, at least one weekend is spent away in another City in North America at a Salsa Congress or STC Fundraiser until October. So for those of you who wonder why you never see me in the clubs as often, find I don't seem to respond to calls or emails as promptly; OR seem to be a little more withdrawn or preoccupied... with a non-stop salsa schedule, at least 50-100 emails now coming in everyday (thanks Rob of Salsafix.com who jinxed me when he asked that question in my interview and I thought I'd never see this many emails coming in) and which also doesn't include some other projects in the works for the latter part of the year... not including the normal parental nagging from not enough visits... I'm amazed I haven't keeled over already! On a funny note, I have salsa and non-salsa friends who keel over for me when I tell them my typical schedule. And somewhere in the midst of all this I pretty much do something on TOsalsa everyday, and somewhere inbetween we're still working on the next "frameless" phase of TOsalsa.com; and somewhere in all of that, I keep forgetting to somehow schedule "downtime" where you just veg doing absolutely nothing or is that Sunday? And with Ziv being in LA this year, we actually have a flight booked back together on Monday where we have no choice but to spend at least 8 hours together -- which could make us or break us as that's the most time we've had together in person in the last 2 years as it wasted too much time to try and meet up when you could talk via phone or email at our convenience. So for all you loyal readers who love to find out what's happening in the clubs each week or in the World of Rose Knows; well, you can only talk about it so much on a weekly basis unless there's a special salsa event happening somewhere that I just "have to attend", but you can be sure, I'm still in the loop... thanks to all my salsa friends... On the international front, I had a quick email from Bong Gonzales who's in Cuba right now and saying he loves Cuba more than Puerto Rico with its rich culture of musicians and dancers all in Havana, and has taken lots of pics and videos which I can't wait to see as this is one of my wishlist trips when I have more time. By coincidence, I occasionally keep in touch with the musician, Bill from Mamborama.com who has that fabulous song, "Cuba Te Llama". He's also presently in Cuba and has just finished his newest album which he says is the best yet. And I also got an email from the agent for Salsa Celtica, a Scottish Salsa Band, who has just released a new album which they would like me to review. For me, it's been really quiet on the musical front as I haven't seen as many CD releases as there was previously last year... There have been some great albums launched this year, but I haven't found any sites that have audio clips online to be able to check them out, such as Grupo Caribe from New York City who had a great new album release at the beginning of 2003. On another note, I was doing some surfing and found an article on "Salserosonline.com" talking about the Mayan Club Competition and commenting on the International Division: "Most of the people in the club (including myself) were expecting at least one of the international couple to get into the first three places, I do not know what the judges saw but Orville & Ana from Toronto and Victor & Gaby from Mexico (both international couples) were favorites to win. After Josie announced the 3rd and 2nd place everybody started cheering Mexico, Mexico, Mexico for Victor & Gaby; but their names were not called (neither Orville & Ana) instead Jimmy and Miriam were announced as 1st place. People started to boo and even some started to throw napkins to the stage showing their disappointment. As
in events like this the top salseros were present, I had the opportunity
to get the reactions and opinions from Janet Valenzuela, Joby Vazquez,
Edie "The Salsa Freak", Rogelio Moreno, Al Espinoza and Randy
Newman among others, most of them have been judges in other salsa competitions
not only locally but internationally too, their answer: 1st and 2nd
place either Victor & Gaby or Orville & Ana, 3rd place Roni
& Dinora, why they did not win? Who knows, is it the Mayan politics
not to allow international couples to win? May 20, 2003 Less than 2 days before I hit LA! Is there a full moon out there? It's less than two days before I hit the LA Congress and anything and everything that could happen via the net and the phone is hitting me all in one day... ahhh... Maybe that will give me some food for thought while I'm on the plane working on a game plan for the rest of the year... For the webmasters from around the World who are also attending the LA Congress, it's going to be hard to find each other... especially as everyone has different schedules each day... I suggest that you will definitely find me in the front section (probably to the left of the stage) photographing and/or videotaping each night and probably hanging around the workshop area during the day. Now if I knew I was going to meet so many of you, I should have had some TOsalsa gear to wear during the Congress... oh well... maybe next year... May 19, 2003 New Videoclips are Up! Just posted some new videoclips from the Bar One Salsa Competition here in Toronto, including a clip of a demo by Ana Machado showing Afro-Cuban Movement and also had a response from MamboSF in San Francisco about Maya's opinion of the contest, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. May 18, 2003 Mayan Results... Thanks to a phone call from Orville and a thread from Harry Lee on Salsaloon.com, here were the final results. As I expected, none of the international dancers placed in the top 3 -- which just reconfirms why I didn't waste my holidays going back to this competition. Why call it Mayan Club Pro International Competition if the international competitors will never get a chance to win or even place! On top of that, these dancers are taking time out of their own work schedules, holidays and forking over $$$ to fly down to LA almost a week before they might be attending the West Coast Salsa Congress (like I did last year). Regarding the International Competition the previous night, I was told that the Calgary couple didn't even dance clean (they messed up in their footwork), but still placed in the Top 3 -- go figure. And here are the results as quoted from Harry Lee from Salsaloon.com: "5th
(178 pts) - Victor & Gaby I have to admit I was surprised when they announced 1st place. Victor and Gaby's routine was amazing and Ana and Orville did their awesome blade routine. The crowd was pretty much expecting Victor and Gaby to win after they announced 3rd and 2nd places and they were surprised at the results. There was quite a bit of booing and chants of "Mexico, Mexico"... Anyways, if you guys get a chance to see Victor and Gaby's new routine, SEE IT. It was awesome." And click on this discussion thread from LA for more...May 17, 2003 The Pics are Up! Bar One Salsa Competition Finals Mambo in Motion Salsa and Ballroom Charity Fundraiser for the Athritis Society San Francisco Team Salsa Competition Pics and Review! If you would like to see the clips of the group routines, check out this site! and finally... the latest News from the Mayan Club Salsa Competition! Got a call last night from Orville and here's who made it to the finals tonight... Ana and Orville, TO Victor and Gaby, Mexico David and Kelly, Calgary Stay tuned for more news after tonight's Pro Finals at the Mayan... May 16, 2003 Salsa in Motion p2... Stay tuned on our Canadian long weekend as I'll have the pics up from the Bar One Salsa Contest Finals and Mambo in Motion Fundraiser, along with a review and pics of the San Francisco Salsa Team Competition as Ziv was in the house in San Fran; and if I have the time, maybe a few new clips as I've got some great new footage from the past few days. It will be flying by fast as I count down the days before I head over to the West Coast Salsa Congress for an action-packed weekend of shows, workshops, great bands and another international salsa contest open to everyone in the US. And finally, let's send out our best wishes to Ana and Orville from TO and Sonia and Moris from Montreal as they represent Canada at the Mayan Club International Salsa Contest Preliminaries tonight. Go Canada Go! May 15, 2003 Salsa in Motion... As the Bar One Salsa Competition came to a close... some dancers are off to Cuba the very next morning for a week to 10 days; and then there's Ana and Orville who are heading off to LA to prepare for the Mayan Competition, along with Sonia and Moris from Montreal. Let's hope they both make it to the finals on Saturday; and you can be sure "someone" will be getting a call on Friday to find out how they did -- or else! And tomorrow night, there is a black tie charity dance fundraiser with about 8-10 salsa and ballroom shows starting at 7:30 pm with a kids show. It's for a good cause and should be alot of fun. And who won the competition? Well, congratulations goes out to: 1st - Pawel and Dora 2nd - Bong and Irina 3rd - Ana and Orville You can look forward to pics in the next few days along with the highlights from the Mambo in Motion charity event. May 12, 2003 How
to Burn Yourself Out in 24 hours OR May 9, 2003 April 20-May 20 -- The Taurus Salsa Addiction This may be a little too astrological for some of you non-believers, but in my Salsa Birthday Survey, you will notice that I know more Taurus salsa and dance freaks than any other sign; and as I meet other dancers, I discover more Taurus dancers, such as the webmaster of Salserosweb in LA and pros in other cities. This weekend, the east coast members of Salsa Team Canada (Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto) will be getting together for the first time at our first official kick-off STC Fundraiser Party in Montreal. We'll be having our first practice together and then holding workshops and a party filled with performances and raffle prizes. If you would like to join us in Montreal, just check out this link. And then next week after coming back from Montreal, the salsa insanity starts again. Monday is my birthday and my recovery night (I doubt I'll go to the clubs, but you just never know), and then Tuesday is the Grand Opening of Salsa Tuesdays at Berlin, with a pit stop hopefully at Tequila first, Wednesday will be the Finals at Bar One Nightclub, on Thursday I'll be covering "Mambo in Motion" charity event with lots of great salsa and ballroom shows, and Friday (if I survive), then I'll hit Courthouse, and guess what, it's the long weekend! May 7, 2003 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words... For those of you who couldn't make it to the Semi-Finals at Bar One last night, you can have a peek at what you missed and see some fabulous dance moments either by accident or maybe it was because I was so tired, I just kept snapping and unconsciously was able to capture some golden moments... such as Dora's cartwheel in mid-air or how about Irina's perfect upside down split... click here! May 6, 2003 Things that make you go hmmm... OR TOsalsa Trivia... While surfing my own site on various features we offer, such as Partner Search and the Reader's Poll, you find out things on your own site that somehow get missed in the day-to-day "business of salsa". Such as... 1. It's less than two years since we started Partner Search and we have 167 men and 128 ladies registered. 2. Over two years ago, I did a survey on "Is Cuban Music Better?" which is stored in our Reader's Poll archives; and guess what?! When I archived it, the only people responding were Cubans and Colombians with about 300 votes... and over a year later, we now have 1670 votes with New York, Puerto Rico and NY-style being the most popular by 200-300 votes more than Cuba and Colombia! Go figure... 3. The poll, "Where in the World have you danced Salsa?" was predominantly in Canada; but in the past year, the rest of the world has been casting their votes... 4. Pet Peeves on the Dance Floor has been a really fun poll, and I always meant to list everyone's Top 10 Pet Peeves on the Dance Floor... 1- Dancers who have BO! 2 - Dancers who just want to show off -- not dance! 3 - Dancers who step on your feet! 4 - Dancers who bump into you! 5 - Dancers who give you dirty looks on the dance floor when you make a mistake! 6 - Dancers who say NO, then dance with someone else! 7 - Dancers who look everywhere except at you! 8 - Dancers who whip you around like a rag doll! 9 - Dancers who put their hands where they aren't wanted! 10 -Dancers who are drunk and throw you around! 5. And bowing down to some peer pressure, here's the "History of Salsa" Survey. 6. And just for fun, as many Readers make me laugh when they tell me how often they go to my site beyond their own control, or complain that if they visit, they get so into it, they spend more than an hour surfing... So I thought I'd have some fun and see "how often" the rest of you visit... click here to cast your vote! May 3, 2003 Surfin USA... While surfing, I came across some interesting articles on NYC dance and music... New York Salsa Article Vinyl in NYC... And on Alexa.com's most popular salsa sites, we are now ranked #3, behind Salserosweb (LA) and Salsacrazy (SF). What were the results of the Ottawa Salsa Competition Pro Division? 1 - Sonia & Moris, Montreal 2 - Ana & Orville, Toronto 3 - Janet & Phil, Ottawa Congratulations! And for your reading pleasure, here's 5 new replies to Your Favourite Dancer-Instructors in Toronto and Why? In Dear TOsalsa, there was an interesting question on Dancing on 2 or Mambo-style, which seems to confuse alot of people... A Top 10 Romantica Salsa Song List from Sweden, click here! Top 10 Spanish Lyrics 1 - Aventura - No Es Amor 2 - DLG - Todo Mi Corazon 3 - Aventura - Amor de Madre 4 - Monchy y Alexandra - Hoja En Blanco 5 - Monchy y Alexandra - Te Quiero Igual Que Ayer 6 - Elvis Crespo - Suavamente 7 - Celia Cruz - La Vida es Carnaval 8 - Adolescentes - La Persona Ideal 9 - DLG - La Quiero A Morir 10 - Ruben Blades - Pedro Navaja And which clips were the most watched? 1 - Amir & Isabelle, Berlin Ama 2 - Sonia & Moris, Winners Pro 3 - John & Monica, Winners Ama 4 - Silly Highlights in NYC 5 - Dora & Pawel, Pro Semis 6 - Taima Dance Co., NYC 7 - Dora & Pawel, 3rd in Pro 8 - Ana & Orville, Pro Semis 9 - Davin & Akila, 3rd in Ama 10 - Dora & Pawel in NYC April 30, 2003 April Snow brings May... Salsa in full force... April was a very busy month for me as I was and still juggling an insanely busy day job, workouts, TOsalsa, Salsa Team Canada practices and meetings, United Salseros volunteer teaching and practice, cutting back on event reporting, but trying to squeeze in a little dancing when I could... So what spare time I had, was spent trying to get caught up and ready as I had hoped to be able to travel almost every weekend in May to a salsa event... Unfortunately, everything isn't going to plan and I may only be able to go to Montreal for our May 10th Salsa Team Canada Fundraiser in Montreal and the West Coast Salsa Congress in LA. What would have been crazier is that I would have been away every weekend again this year if I also went to the Detroit Salsa Congress this coming weekend, and the finals of the Mayan Salsa Competition in LA. After seeing it live last year and fighting to get "front row" to take pictures with the crowds and the security guards with their piece of rope to keep us back (in which I felt I was risking my life to get the right spot), I'm more than happy to be staying home and watching it from the comfort of the internet. Tomorrow night, Orville and Ana (Toronto), and Sonia and Moris (Montreal) are competing once again in Ottawa at the Pro Salsa Contest Finals at La Isla... and based on my reliable sources (I wonder who they might be), they will be representing Canada once again at the Mayan Club International Salsa Contest; and you can be sure that I will be guaranteed the whole scoop! Go Canada Go! And while we are on the subject of Mayan Club, you'll see on various salsa chatboards everyone's views on the dancers and about who should have placed... It will be interesting to see how well Canada does this year as I have been told by various LA competitors that the judging isn't always fair and that's why many of the pros in LA do not choose to compete again. Why spend the time and energy on practicing to not rightfully win if you deserve it... And FINALLY the Travel Alert on Toronto has been lifted... I've been getting a few emails and questions regarding "how safe is Toronto right now to visit?" or "can you go to work?" and even heard that the dancers from "Burn the Floor" were given masks and told to stay away from public places -- only to find out that no one in the City was wearing these masks at all. Apparently, the news all over the World had shown Toronto as wearing masks and making it worse than it really was. But on the bright side, for those of you who love theatre, there's a great $85 deal to see Lion King or Mamma Mia, with a 3 course dinner at a great restaurant and Blue Jay tickets thrown in! Go to Mirvish.com and get all the fabulous details... And for $125 Cdn., they also throw in a hotel room at one of the downtown hotels. But did SARS stop any of us from dancing? It's really hard to say -- it was probably a mix with a really cold winter that didn't let up until the beginning of April... But by the Easter long weekend, that's when the clubs seemed to start filling up again... The only nights I seemed to ever go out this past month was Tuesdays at the new Manhattan Fuel (previously Berlin) or Thursdays at Babaluu as they are both close to home. Both of these clubs are starting to fill up again, now that the warm weather is coming back, and I'm sure the same will start happening all around along with new club nights opening up for the summer. And who's been clicking into our Videogallery this past month besides Canada and the US? How about... France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Belgium, Argentina, Japan and Israel. Followed very closely by Singapore, Mexico, UK, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Chile and Australia. And which clips were the most watched? 1 - Amir & Isabelle, Berlin Ama 2 - Sonia & Moris, Winners Pro 3 - Dora & Pawel, Pro Semis 4 - John & Monica, Winners Ama 5 - Silly Highlights in NYC 6 - Frankie Martinez Social Dancing 7 - Ana & Orville, Pro Semis 8 - Frankie & Aisha, Palomillo 9 - Taima Dance Co., NYC 10 - Dora & Pawel, 3rd in Pro April 26, 2003 Canada Salsa Congress Entries Sorry Readers, when I posted this new promotion for the Canada Salsa Congress, I didn't realize that all the entries were going into the International Calendar Draw. I was so busy this past month that I thought no one was interested in entering this draw due to the SARS virus, and duh, wondering why some people were entering the draw for the International Salsa Congress twice, thinking it was the usual hitting the submit button twice by accident. And there's no way for me to know who really entered or not, so you'll all have to enter again. The good news is, if you're from out-of-town, you'll also get a chance at winning a copy of the salsa calendar. April 23, 2003 Do you Wanna Dance with Me? It's hard to believe April will soon be over, after one of the coldest winters I can remember, and with all the news about SARS -- it was a breath of fresh air to be able to go and see "Burn the Floor" at the Hummingbird Centre and see a full house of people. This is my second year in a row seeing the show live and although I felt some of the dance scenes could have been stronger in terms of the level of dancing, it's still a crowd-pleaser and the dancers on stage were just oozing with non-stop energy. After studying and watching ballroom dancing in the past 5 years; and also having a copy of the original "Burn the Floor" cast that's on video, it's hard not to compare the level of the pro dancers from the video to the dancers which are touring on stage right now. Although the brochure did state that they've won more than 100 championship titles among them in the ballroom world. They range in age from 19 to 29 with dancers from Australia, Denmark, England, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. Don't get me wrong, they are still strong dancers from a ballroom perspective, and there's some great dance nos. which got me tapping my feet along with them; but you could tell they weren't as strong technically in the swing/lindy hop scenes. I believe in the original version they actually got some real swing/lindy hop dancers in the cast. And for those who have seen it before and think they shouldn't see it again -- think again. If you love dancing, you'll still ooh and ahh over the great music, costumes and want to see those great moves that you saw the year before or on video again -- even if it's to try and see if you can figure out how to do that move. Also, you don't necessarily see the same dancers from one year to the next on stage; and then you see a couple that you just can't stop watching. What was also cool for me this year was being able to meet two of the couples from the cast a few months ago at the Courthouse, and getting to appreciate what they do on stage after chatting with them and finding out tidbits every dancer loves to find out from other dancers about dancing, doing shows and what it takes to get where they are today... The training, discipline and stamina they probably needed for this non-stop show of dancing took my breath away. And when you see how revealing some of these outfits are and the difficulty of the tricks; you also realize how much time is needed in training their bodies to be in the best shape to handle a World Tour. And after being part of a performance group, you also begin to appreciate how much training and practice goes into the show to be able to make it look natural and not miss a step in all the dance sequences. What was different about this show versus previous years? Most of the dance nos. and songs were the same, but they did change the lighting and sets, some of the costumes in the various nos. and even some of the choreography was changed in various sequences. They also had two new dance scenes in this year's version to give it a little more variety. What they also did differently that I really enjoyed is that they showcased the couples more during various segments. The downside to that was, you were always expecting to be wowed each time they highlighted a couple with something spectacular -- either a great trick or just some awesome dance moves unique to that couple. What were my favourite parts of the show? As always, the opening number "Wanna Dance?" where you see all the dancers on stage in hot latin outfits dancing cha cha and rumba in the opening scene. The second act with the "Fantasy Waltz". For most people, waltzes are considered boring to watch; but after taking ballroom lessons, you can appreciate the beauty and grace of the dance. Along with the great music they use (my favourite being the "Pappillon" and the beauty of the costumes, it's a beautiful contrast to the opening number. In the second part of the show, the last two dance segments are also my favourites from last year and from watching it on the video. "Passionata" has a mix of all the various latin dances and some great costumes... It's in this segment you really got to see the true latin ballroom strength of most of the dancers, and some great moves and some fabulous dancing. The final dance segment is called "Hip Hot Hotter/Finale" and this is the scene where they always wear white and the dancers look hot and show off more of their fabulous moves. Would I see this show again? Yes, definitely, as it is one of the few live dance shows that most dancers can appreciate, especially now that there's so few ballroom shows on television these days since Ballroom was turned down as an "Olympic Sport". Definitely a feel-good show that makes you want to go dancing right after... And for those of you who want to dance around this site... as I predicted, the topic: Who is your favourite dancer/instructor, has had 7 more responses today! and Dear TOsalsa is on a roll also... And if you're wondering why I haven't been out dancing lately, haven't heard from me via email or phone; and/or not writing as frequently about the dance scene, I've been busy with taxes and my real job, not including my night-time commitments... probably until the end of April... And then I'll be truly dancing into the Spring/Summer Salsa Circuit where I'll be counting down the days until Salsa Team Canada performs in Puerto Rico in July, and potentially going to 1 or 2 cities each month either for a Salsa Team Canada fundraiser or a Salsa Congress weekend until the end of the year -- ahhh... and trying to finalize the next phase of our site redesign. April 21, 2003 Let's Burn the Floor! Hopefully everyone had an amazing Easter this past weekend and it's hard to believe that it's already time to Burn the Floor! Congratulations to our winners, Farid P, Dale N and Roxanne M for winning a pair of tickets to see Burn the Floor Opening Night at the Hummingbird Centre (tomorrow). And for those of you who aren't so lucky, there's another way you can burn the floor on this site... a newbie to the salsa scene in Toronto is asking for everyone's opinion on "Who is your favourite dancer-instructor in Toronto and why?" I'm anticipating that this may become the next HOT topic and have already given it a page of its own... And for those of you looking for an affordable salsa congress to go to close by, I would suggest the Detroit Salsa Congress that's coming up on May 1-4. I've gone the past two years and it's a more intimate, cozy setting that lets you get to know the dancers on a more personal level. At this time, I haven't received a confirmed list of international dancers and instructors who are performing, but I'll post it as soon as I hear... The first 50 Canadian dancers who confirm their reservation will get the congress pass at $150 Cdn! That's a $75 savings for the whole weekend, click here for more info... And for those of you looking for something different or are getting more involved with the instrumental side of the music... check out this group called iDrum Afro-Percussion with this very infectious videoclip with some hot chicks... and they're having a party on April 25th, so if you're into drumming, you're may want to check this party out... Or for creative ideas, how about getting artistic inspiration from the Cirque du Soleil website which has some fabulous mini-clips of all their shows... And accidentally while surfing, I found this website that shows you what our pages used to look like minus the graphics... how nostagically funny... you can see how much our content has changed over the years... click here! or check out the pages I selected for a laugh! Oct 2000 - Jan 2001 - April 2001 - Jun 2002 And 10 new songs to dance to or collect... click here! April
16, 2003 April
15, 2003 SARS Update It's our first real day of Spring... and cross our fingers that winter is finally over... and I was hoping that SARS would disappear also, but instead we get another huge quarantine of 500 people the other day... and the media is making it sound like we are all wearing masks; so I've had friends and relatives who have been wondering how bad is it and how safe is it to travel to Toronto... It is, if it wasn't, we'd all be told to stay home, but it's still business as usual with the extra precaution of just making sure you wash your hands more frequently while in public. The disease is spread from one person to another only through close contact - through droplets from coughing or sneezing, or from direct face-to-face contact. There is no evidence to date that the disease spreads through casual contact, or through the air. Most cases to date have been in the hospitals. And to keep everyone in the loop, here is a Ontario government website that has daily updates; and here's what everyone should know about SARS April 10, 2003 TOsalsa.com is now 3 years old... And to help celebrate, here's 12 clips of the Berlin Finals of Amateur and Professional, click here! April
8, 2003 April 7, 2003 Is there a full moon somewhere out there? or is it the fact we're all getting a little tired of the winter that just won't go away... at work, I started to tell people that we didn't turn the clocks ahead one hour but one month back! With all the emails that have been pouring in this past weekend and today... it's been a little crazy over the net... and we've actually recorded our second-highest record number of readers visiting our site since I posted the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress pictures last August. I imagine it's not only because of all the pics of the Berlin Competition, but probably due to the Dear TOsalsa section and the activity from the discussion forum. There's been so much activity from people staying indoors possibly due to the crappy weather and the SARS virus scare that I had to open up new discussions for the Chinese to Chinese comment by Chincub who incensed 4 of our chinese readers; and Reader's comments regarding the Berlin Salsa Competition on Saturday. And after reading some of the comments on the Berlin Competition, I myself am curious as to other feedback about something else I noticed -- is that the attendance at the Berlin Competition has been about the same the past two years, but much less than it used to be... Are dancers just not interested in watching live competitions as much anymore? Is the attendance for the finals at Atlantis Nightclub much less because of the difficulty in seeing the competitors without the big screen so why bother? Is there other things about the competition you just don't like; or are people just getting lazy to go out and are just happy to to see it via website photos and through videoclips. April
6, 2003 April 3, 2003 -- Part 2 Yikes, the weather must be crappy because I got lots of emails in Dear TOsalsa and more cuban discussion responses... and today's freezing rain and snow DOES NOT HELP! The roads were really bad... you wouldn't think it was Spring and it's daylight savings this weekend... And for those of you who are hemming and hawing about the Berlin Competition Finals this Saturday -- I really recommend that you go... I am predicting a really hot face-off in the pro division this Saturday... I was lucky enough to preview Ana and Orville's new routine and it gave me goosebumps from the get-go, and made me wonder what everyone else will do to try and upset their throne. Pawel and Dora had this amazing routine that won them the competition in Ottawa last November, and most of the pros know that they have to give it their all to win... As info, Orville has asked that no one who is videotaping broadcast their performance until after the West Coast Salsa Congress competition as they will probably be using the same routine there. And it will also be interesting to see what is going to happen in the amateur division as they are more aware of what it takes to win a competition. Good Luck to all the competitors as I know how much blood, sweat and tears goes into it and you are all winners in my books! Just remember to do your best and have fun out there! April 3, 2003 Things that happen in 3's... As most of you are probably heard at one time or another, it seems everything happens in 3's... being the year 2003, I had high hopes that this year would bring in alot of positive change; but instead so far, it's been a very trying year as we had to endure a very bitterly cold winter that still has not completely gone away, and in turn, the uncertainty of war and now the SARS virus which may or may not have had some impact on the attendance in the Toronto clubs on the weekdays... although I've noticed that Fridays and Saturdays are still jam-packed at most clubs. With the uncertainty of how the war and SARS virus unfolds, it really makes you think about your priorities and whether you should take the chance to fly out to a salsa congress or stick close to home. At my real job, travel has been postponed until further notice to ensure our safety. On a more personal note, I also had my own 3 experience. A few months ago, I thought I pulled a muscle during a Salsa Team Canada practice by doing a tango dip which overextended my leg muscle. It was bitterly cold and obviously my muscles were not warmed up enough to do that leg extension. On top of that, I had stopped my stretch and workout classes for at least 3 months which was obviously a no-no. I thought nothing of this injury, took one day away from dancing and continued stretching that area socially by doing my favourite splits and continued doing the tricks in our STC routine not realizing I actually had torn it. It was so mild that I really thought it was only slightly strained until my massage therapist took a look and freaked because it was one long, thick black and blue strip from thigh to knee. I never saw it because it was on the back of my leg. After that, I iced it more, didn't do any tricks for two weeks and now regularly go to my workouts at least twice a week to get my strength and flexibility back. So much for saying "never" as I had no injuries ever due to my regular workout routine; and it just shows you how important it is to ensure your body is in good condition to put it through the various salsa power moves that are out there. The 2nd thing that happened just two weeks after the leg injury was being rear-ended after one of our major snowstorms after a late night of working at the office at a stop sign. I was minding my own business waiting for a light to change and was hit so hard that I whiplashed my neck. Luckily for the other driver, I was fine and the car was hardly dented, but of course, you don't feel it that night, but within the next 48 hours... It's now been at least two weeks and I can still feel how stiff my neck feels... but massage and workouts are helping... A nd the 3rd incident was the cell phone being taken from my car while I was out dancing... but on the bright side, I've got a brand new phone with more bells and whistles and even got a better phone plan... And what's the moral of this story... to enjoy life and remember what your priorities are: your health and happiness. It was totally brought home to me how easy it is to take health for granted while I was in New York City. I called up an old salsa friend who I met a few years ago who is in his late 20's, and found out he had Hodgkins' Disease and has been in chemo-therapy for 6 months, and at the same time became a dad. He is one of the nicest people you could meet and yet look at what he's going through; and you wonder whether life is really fair. Also, on a bulletin board at work, they posted a story about how smoking banned at clubs decreases heart attacks by about 50%. There are have been two specific occasions in the salsa scene where two dancers died from a heart attack in a smokey club... so it just makes you think that maybe it really does make sense to not have smoking in a dance club. And to give you more food for thought but hopefully on a brighter note, check out the latest updates in all the discussion forums on the home page and Dear TOsalsa section... including a dancer who is asking for advice about her non-salsa relationship. And if you really want to forget your woes, there's 6 videoclips of the Pro and Amateur Division of the Mayan Club Competition, click here... And if you want to see what's coming up for the finals this Saturday at Berlin, check out all my new videoclips of all the finalists.... this year should get even better than the last few years... click here.... March
31, 2003
March 30, 2003 March
27, 2003 March 25, 2003 Spring into Salsa! It was an action-packed weekend from beginning to end... we zoomed down to NYC in the wee hours of the morning... with absolutely no salsa music in the car (go figure), hung around NYC until it was time to go to the "Dance from the Norm" Social hosted by Caribbean Soul at the Bernard Martinez Dance Studio. This was my very first social in NYC, and it was a mix of a little bit of dancing, some "work" and lots of socializing with various dancers that I knew from various Congresses. I didn't dance non-stop, but had a few social dances and a few dances with some of the New York instructors and/or performers, such as Bernard Martinez (first time), Dave Paris, and Jason from Razz M Tazz. Probably the most bold thing I did while dancing with Bernard was to say "Getting the lay of the land?" while we went through about 1 minute of very basic moves and turn patterns on 2. He caught on very quickly and said "Getting bored already?" and then proceeded to do some crazy moves that I don't recall ever having been done before in that sequence. Some I got, and some not quite, but what makes it so cool was that he was able to control the lead so that I would have enough time to figure out which way I should go... ahh... that's exactly what I love about dancing on 2 with the Nuyawkers... and then, there's their attentive playfulness while you dance with them that's so contagious. I also ran into Steve Shaw of SalsaNewYork and unfortunately we didn't get a chance to dance all weekend... but it was wonderful to see him in person again as we've conversed so many times via the net. He's a huge fan of our site, as much as I'm a huge fan of theirs. So much so, that I jokingly asked "what would he do if I moved to NYC and started a New York page..." He was actually ecstatic and said "please do and then I could dance more" -- not exactly what I would have in mind for a trip to NYC -- to do more writing and updating... I just wanna dance! And then there were the performances, the reason why so many Canadians were "in the house!" Ana & Orville and Pawel & Dora were performing that night; and they represented Toronto well... Although Orville and Ana danced on 1, they brought the whole house down with their Blade routine and got a huge standing ovation... I think what got the audience going was the crowd-pleasing tricks that were so unexpected, their high energy and their "attitude" -- just as Caribbean Soul puts their heart and energy into their dance, so do Ana & Orville. To the point where you get drawn into dance. Pawel & Dora closed the performances with their clown routine on 2. All the on 2 dancers loved their routine also as it was very playful and inventive. Their routine is not a screaming crowd-pleaser, but more appreciative from an artistic standpoint. The New York teams, Rhythm Divas, Heartbreak Boyz and Taima Dance Company were also fabulous to watch and I'll talk more about them in my NYC article... I was so tired at the end of the night, I didn't have the energy to go to Copa to hear Oscar D'Leon; but I did get to finally taste a White Castle hamburger for 49 cents US! On Sunday, we woke up earlier than my usual time and headed off for brunch before the Toronto crew was leaving to go back to Toronto. I stayed back with Dora and we had a list of about 5-7 things we wanted to do, but only ended up doing 3. We started by going to the New York Museum as the Leonardo da Vince drawings were there. We were going to meet Fernando Lamadrid of JustSalsa.com there... and it ended up by being an adventure. We showed up about half an hour late because of traffic and couldn't find Fernando. I waited upstairs on the 2nd floor to only find out it was an hour-and-a-half line-up to get in. In the meantime, Dora went outside to find Fernando, while he walked 3 blocks to find a payphone to call our cell. On his way back, I saw him come in and told him to look outside for Dora. In the meantime, Dora came back up to see me and then proceeded AGAIN to walk back down to try and catch him. The entrance was so large, they missed each other again, and I had to yell down from the 2nd floor like an idiot and do hand signals so they could meet up. One of the crazy things I just love about New York (sarcasm), but definitely makes for memories you'll never forget. Afterwards, we were invited to a Rumba Party by the musician, Silverspur of Salsero Corner. Needless to say, with jumbled directions, it took us two hours to figure out where this party was, but once we got there, it seemed worth the wait. While they sang and played traditional songs with rumba clave; I took some of the best musical shots I've been striving for... Then afterwards, we hit a little salsa bar in lower Manhattan, and got to have a few dances on 2, listened to some music which we NEVER hear in Toronto, and got a chance to socialize with Jose Rodriguez of Razz-M-Tazz whom I hadn't seen in almost two years; and other dancers. Inbetween all this craziness, we were also supposed to hit two socials, but couldn't fit it in between our non-stop schedule. On Monday, I just chilled with Myra (Sweet Salsera) and tried New York Pizza for the first time (yum yum) and headed for home sweet home... things would finally return to normal -- not! While at the border, Dora's window wouldn't close and we had to drive with the window down... and she got so tired, that I had to get brave and drive stick-shift on the highway ... in less than 5 minutes I had to remember how to switch gears in sequence... Getting on the highway and off wasn't the problem, but regular road driving... how's 5th to 2nd gear sound -- any takers? And a special thank you and shout-out to Myra, who took us in and then proceeded to surprise us with a little history about herself. Remember the pic I showed you below, well that's Myra in 1987 with a dancer named "Eddie Torres". She was one of the original on2 social dancers that was supposed to be performing in Tito Puente's show at Apollo Theatre, along with David Melendez, Delille Thomas, and many others. What made it even more unbelievable was that she had a video documentary of this performance with a younger Eddie Torres, Maria Torres, Stacey Lopez from Puerto Rico, David Melendez, Delille Thomas and Freddie Rios -- one of the original Palladium dancers, and many others. You can be sure I'll try to post some highlights from this video Click here for all the pics of my visit in NYC... On Tuesday, I hit Berlin early with Sonia and Moris from Montreal. While they warmed up and hung out upstairs, I hung out downstairs and danced. Only 6 couples competed, so they all made it to the Finals at Atlantis Nightclub -- to be continued, but click here for all the pics in the meantime... March 24, 2003 To stay or not to stay...  After
an action-packed, non-stop rollercoaster of NYC dancing, music, traffic
and the most amazing Spring weather... it was difficult to tear myself
away from NYC as I didn't get to do everything I wanted to, but did get
to meet some old friends and made some new ones, along with a few surprises...
such as this one!Can you guess who is that young man posing in a pic with this young dancer who trained with him back in the late 80's getting ready for their first performance with Tito Puente at the Apollo Theatre? And while you're trying to figure it out, the rest of us in TO will probably be checking out the semi-finals for the Pro Division at Berlin. Sonia and Moris of San Tropez will be driving out from Montreal to compete again for the 3rd year in row and staying until Thursday for the Salsa Team Canada practice... March
21, 2003
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Highlights
of Toronto's Spring Fever 2003
Latinmotion, a group from "down under" in Australia, who surprised
me with the strength and energy in their routine.