On
Sat. March 17, myself, Oscar Naranjo, Steve Russell (US), Paul
and Josephine (Berlin amateur dance competitors) drove with Bong &
Trionne who were competing in the finals of the Detroit Star Ball Salsa
Contest. Apparently, Jennifer and Giovanni had left earlier to teach workshops
and warned us that there were snow flurries from London to Windsor. The
roads were quite slippery and we were lucky that there was only one accident
during our drive there. During our service station stopover, I became
the dance guinea pig as the guys played around with some combina-tions;
and I even did the splits. One big lady was quite upset when we blocked
her way and said to Bong, "You know this isn't a ballroom",
and he replied, "Yes, but it is great exercise."
In
Detroit, Bong took us to one of his friend's homes who apparently knew
the Marcos family in the Philippines. We had a late lunch with her and
showed her how we danced salsa including some casino. Then we quickly
drove to the contest organizer's home, Elaine Marrero of Troy Dance
Studio, who was last year's Berlin Contest Pro Champion and host for
the Detroit Bacardi Salsa Congreso on May 25-27.
We rested for a bit and got ready to get on the Troy Dance Studio bus
to head over to the nightclub which was situated in a mall. I grabbed
Oscar and we did a little dance demo in front of the sign displaying
the contest for Bong's video. When we got inside, we met up with Caryl
and Angus, Ivy and Javier of oursalsathing.com, and a few more die-hards
who had a very slow drive down; then later Pawel, Dora, Stephanie, Rene
and Michelle showed up at midnight just in time to watch the competition.
The club was fairly busy, but there was quite a mixture of dancing.
The music kept rotating one song each of salsa, merengue, hustle and
swing, which was quite frustrating for us since we really only wanted
to dance salsa.
It was surprising to see how few really good salsa dancers were there
and it made me realize that most of the cities close to Toronto still
have a long way to go before they catch up to Toronto's standards. But
for swing and hustle, there were a few good couples and it seemed to
be as popular a dance as salsa in this club. While we were waiting for
the contest to start, I ran into some 'old' Detroit friends that I had
made in Toronto at the Salsaweb Convention. It was great to see them
again and catch up on what was happening. In fact, over the next few
months, quite a few of them will drive to Toronto on the weekends to
dance.
Finally, the contest started at midnight and there were 12 couples competing.
They each had a 2 minute routine and then had to do a round with all
the couples on the floor (similar to ballroom) so the judges could have
a last look for the final scores. There were only a handful of couples
which really had presence; and they seem to enjoy adding great lifts
and splits to their routines. Most couples didn't have solid basic salsa
technique, very few turn patterns, but great tricks. I know Bong was
quite concerned at how the judges would mark as the style from Toronto
was so different from Detroit. When competing, every dancer struggles
with what will win over or make you memorable in the judge's eyes. When
it finally came time for Bong and Trionne to perform, we were all rooting
for them to show Detroit what we were all about -- and they delivered
an amazing performance with no mistakes.
Unfortunately, I can't go into detail as they may be using parts of
that performance for the Berlin competition. After watching all the
couples, I figured they would make it in the Top 3 (reserving judgement
in case they didn't want a 'foreigner' to win). As they called out the
winners, from 6th place to 1st -- it was pretty tense; as one of the
couples that I thought might make the Top 6 wasn't called out along
with Bong & Trionne. We were totally ecstatic for them when their
names were called out since they won, and also because they get a free
trip to the Puerto Rico Bacardi Salsa Congress and may have to perform
there also. So you can be sure that alot more Torontonians will be planning
to go this year! A few of us wished we had also competed as the remaining
5 prizes were Bacardi Salsa Congress trips to Paris, Detroit, Miami,
and NY(?)
After the club closed down at 2 am, we headed over to the Troy Dance
Studio for an after-party which finished at 5 am! Then about 16 of us
headed back to Elaine's home for a "sleepover". As in all
salsa trips, we only got about 4 hours of sleep before we had to get
up again to go and have a farewell breakfast at the studio before we
headed back. What is amazing about Detroit is how friendly all the salsa
dancers are and we even have open invitations to come back and stay
over anytime. We especially have to thank Elaine Marrero of Troy Dance
Studio for being such a fun and gracious hostess (even though she also
had laryngitis), along with her hubby, Jessie, and her kids who had
to put up with all of us!
|
