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ACT I
- Latin Madness (the Past)
 Scene
1:
Mambo Class in NYC - Latin Madness Company (Staging by Nelson Flores)
It starts out with a typical modern day mambo dance class in NYC. In
this case I believe it was for Nelson Flores, who is known to be late
on occasion. Everyone's dressed casually, talking, doing dance stretches
and all the typical things you would find in a normal dance class. It
was fun to watch as they had all the typical types of people you would
find in a class, such as one female dancer who was constantly over-stylizing,
the ones who drool over the instructor, the dancers who get ticked off
at other dancers invading their space, and so on.
 Scene
2:
Libertad - Abakua Dancers
(Choreography by Frankie Martinez)
This dance was absolutely breath-taking in its simplicity and you have
to see it to truly feel the impact of Frankie's interpretation of "Libertad".
To quote what Frankie Martinez wrote on the History
of Dance, "One of the most basic motives of dance is the expression
and communication of emotion" and "Dancers are not just performing
artists; their bodies are also the instruments through which the art
is created" -- he definitely demonstrated this in his choreography
of this piece by going back to the origins of salsa. Click
here for more photos.
 Scene
3:
Last Dance - Ricky Quintana & Stracy Diaz
(Choreography by Ricky Quintana/Stracy Diaz)
This scene was covering the Latin Hustle era in the disco 70's, and
they danced to, you guessed it, "Last Dance" by Donna Summer.
This number got a huge response from the audience due to the no. of
typical, but difficult, lifts and tricks they used that you would see
from that era; and still see today if you watch any ballroom cabaret
shows. As you can see in the photo, she also had amazing flexibility.
Click
here for more photos.
Scene 4:
Mamaguela - Santo Rico Dance Co.
(Choreography by Thomas Guerrero)
This no.
was super high-energy, starting with merengue and then into a salsa
with fabulously colourful costumes. Santo Rico did not disappoint us
with their choreography by including their intricate shines and signature
multiple spins, including quadruples.
Click
here for more photos
 Scene
5:
Cuban Fantasy - Descarga Latina Dance Co. (Choreography by Nelson
Flores)
What better intro than to have the MC say, "Who says we can't do
Broadway?". The costumes reminded me of Fosse's Cabaret, where
all the women wear the black little bustiers and black fishnet stalkings,
high heels and hats. This was the first-time I ever witness Nelson's
dance group and they blew me away with the level of their dancing, along
with Nelson's choreography. It had it all, partner work, shine formations
and solos (male and female) and a breakdancing solo!
Scene
6: Big Spender - Latin Madness Company (Choreography by Maria Tirado)
Big Spender was a no. spoofed after musical with the song, "Big
Spender", with a bunch of run-down hookers, made up with members
from Mambo Mamas, along with of course, one signature, pretty girl,
Cindy (now with Descarga, formerly with Luis Zegarra), to carry on the
Broadway musical tradition.
Scene
7: Hey Mama - Mambo Mamas (Choreography by Abby Plotkin)
And then it moves onto the beginnings of the Salsa era, and of course,
how could they not include their signature "big people can also
dance salsa" dance co., the Mambo Mamas, doing one of their signature
choreographies to a cha cha.
Scene
7: Love for Sale - Latin Madness Company (Choreography by Addie
Diaz)
This brought tears of non-stop laughter to the eyes of many of the New
York dancers as it was a drag number with members of Descarga, Abakua
and Santo Rico working together, including Nelson! It was a salsa spoof
off one of Addie's own choreographies. Let me assure you -- I am definitely
glad they aren't women!
Scene
8: Shining Knight - Latin Madness Company (Choreography by Addie
Diaz)
Shining Knight was a Cha-Cha number dressed in swanky gangster (cool
zoot suit) outfits. Some of the dancers in this no. were Manny Blackett
amd Manny Siverio (Addie-tude), Sammy Irizarry (Descarga Latina) and
Jai Catalana (Jai & Candy).
 Scene
9:
Clave Stomp - Descarga Latina Dance Co.
(Choreography by Steve Seda, Julio Enrique Heredia)
This was another creative no. which starts with a bunch of bums who
use the "garbage" to make up the rhythms of the clave and
other percussions, then undress and emerge in army fatigues.
This is a performance you could watch more than once as had lots of
great shine choreography and it's impossible to absorb it all.
INTERMISSION
Act
II - Latin Madness (into the 80's and 90's)
Scene
1: Side Street Nightclub - Latin Madness Company (Staging by Maria
Tirado)
This was a fun intro into the New York nightlife at "Side Street"
where all the dancers were dressed casually, socializing, dancing and
having fun on a warm, summer day. I vividly remember Jai being made
up to be sun-burnt, Manny spoofing as a cameraman for a website, and
they were dancing to a great song by Oscar de Leon and Jose Alberto,
"Llego el Sabor".
 Scene
2: Alquien Te Esta Hablando Mal De Mi - Performed by Ray Sepulveda
This was probably typifying a salsa nightclub act with featured
singer, Ray Sepulveda, some dancers in the background and back-up vocals
(portrayed by Nelson Flores and another dancer).
Apparently Ray donated his time to this production as he truly believed
in what "Latin Madness" and the dance company was trying to
do with this production.
Scene
3: Mambo Showdown Intro - Latin Madness Company
This apparently was a spool on Luis Zegarra and his "Mambo
Showdown". He was standing their with a mike in his hand talking
(in his very fast, unintelligable tone) about anything and everything
to do with mambo showdown, the featured dance groups and so on. On his
left side, was a girl holding large que cards so everyone who couldn't
understand him, could at least read it; and the comedian, Herb Quinones,
standing behind him exaggerating Luis' actions.
 Scene
4: Indestructible - Descarga Latina Dance Co. (Choreography by Nelson
Flores)
This was another great performance with a combination of tricks, shines,
and partnering. Again, another dance no. you could watch again and see
some totally different elements you didn't remember the first time.
Click
here for more photos on their website.
 Scene
5: Matrix - Abakua Dancers
(Choreography by Frankie Martinez)
What made this no. interesting was that it was totally opposite in look
and feel to Libertad. The idea came from the movie, Matrix. Apparently
Frankie got the idea for this no. when Aisha cut her hair and it reminded
him of the star in Matrix with the similar haircut. The intro to the
song, has the Matrix movie into, "they're out there..." and
they continue it with the shiny black leather outfits and sunglasses.
It's probably the most futuristic dance no. to date in the salsa scene.
Click
here for more photos
 Scene
6: Salsa Y Sabor - Jai & Candy
(Choreography by Jai Catalano/Candy Mena)
It was a pleasure to watch Jai and Cany dance, as I have only heard
of them through surfing the websites and never had a chance to ever
witness them dancing together.
They had their own unique style and she had her own signature "splits"
which she can do both ways!
Click
here for more photos
 Scene
7: Hustler - Addie-Tude Dance Co. (Choreography by Addie Diaz)
This was
a brand new choreography by Addie using chairs and knives as dance props
which added more of a storyline to her choreography than just dancing,
including dance fight scenes.
Click
here for more photos.
 Scene
8:
Soneros (Grand Finale) - Latin Madness Company
(Choreography by Wilton Beltre)
This was the grand finale and the final number uniting all the dancers
together one last time -- all the dance groups were interspersed in
this choreography.
A beautifully
choreographed ending to an amazing production put together by a great
cast of dancers which you wanted to start watching all over again. Inbetween,
they had some great comedy provided by Herb Quinones quipping on the
Newyorkican lifestyle.
Click
here for more photos
Photo
Credits to Latin
Madness, MamboON2,
JustSalsa
and Rose Knows!
Note: Some pics were used from other shows as we were
not allowed to use our own cameras.
And a special thanks to:
Steve Shaw of SalsaNewYork.com who sat beside me on Saturday
and filled me in with dancers I didn't know and fun little tidbits;
Manny Siverio of Addie-tude and SalsaNewYork who spent time
with me on Monday;
Nelson Flores, who patiently had to deal with me "stalking
him" for information; and
All the great dancers of "Latin Madness"!
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