Show time: The stage was weird, it was round! I think I prefer a round stage, I liked it. My favorites were the young couple from Seattle Washington with the red hot ruby shinny glittery costumes. They were hot, energetic -- they were show time spectacular and exactly what I want to see for my hour and a half long trip out to the Catskills!

Nancy "Chacon" Ortiz and Juan "Pachanga" Matos were also my favorites they surprised everyone with their routine, they got down and the crowd loved it. Nancy's costume looked spectacular especially under the professional lights. I can tell you first hand how hard these two worked for this night and it was well worth it! Juan and Nancy have done something I've never seen before... they gave their written heartwarming thank you for David Melendez to read before they went on and credit their motivations and success to those they felt deserved an honorable mention in THEIR moment... it was in my opinion, VERY impressive. Right before they came on the stage they had David read a note (even this was funny becase he couldn't read the last word... that's when Albert Torres got up from his seat and handed his reading glasses to David while on the stage). They thanked Michelle formerly of Young Ambition, Lily director of Young Ambition and (myself) Nilda Borrero for the continued support and belief in them. Even before they stepped foot on stage, the crowd was cheering hard for them the crowd loved them so much that after the intermission they brought them back for an encore performance - very unusual to do, but it happened!

Honorable mention to the Japanese group who traveled from the other side of the globe to be part of the show in New York. David Melendez always very affectionately acknowledges them as every year we watch them getting better every year. We always extend a warm welcome especially to those who have a passion to learn about our dance and music particularly if they aren't Latino.

Karisma Dance Company as always showed their elegance and classy style (Amanda Estilo and Victor "Moreno" main dancers, Picachu no se queda atra'). Amanda will be going to Japan very soon. Thank you for the ride Amanda and Moreno; they are genuinely beautiful people and very sweet, I know this on a personal level and it's reflective in their dance as well.

Yesenia Peralta and Danny Ramirez doing their hip-hop thang turned into rumba and Mambo with side by side killer shines and hats on their head for the dramatic entrance, marvelous darling. No I'm not going to talk about the part where the music was cut off accidentally in the beginning of their routine due to a small power failure. Ooops, did I just say that? Well now that I have, I also must say that David Melendez under the heat and under that pressure to stall for time until the situation was fixed handled it like a pro that he is. For some reason he reminded me of Diana Ross. Yes, Diana Ross and how much of a pro and how well she handles awkward situations on the stage especially when caught off guard the woman is known for keeping professional flow under pressure. Just like the one that happened with David Melendez when the music abruptly stopped and the microphones weren't working. Diana Ross would have done the same thing David did on Saturday! It was wild, I was watching this man naturally entertain the crowd as if it were part of the show, he kept the crowd entertained with no sound and spontaneous interaction with the crowd like Carol Burnett used to do. Only a veteran and a pro can do that and do it that well, my hat goes off to him...David I'm taking notes! He made up jokes, some slow, some old but we didn't care cause we love David and we loved the way he interacted with the audience & even though I wanted to see the magic trick with the pin and where he was going with that one, he admitted there was no real joke about the pin and dropped it so it dissappeared. He joked about how horrible the food was and they had to endure eating yellow split pea soup, what was that about? In short, he had the crowd in the palm of his hands the entire time! When the power finally came back on he tested the mike which still wasn't working and the audience yelled out "can you hear me now, can you hear me now" we chuckled and that's when it finally came on, everybody clapped and on with the show. Well, finally the microphone started working and David picked it up right where he left off, with Yesenia and Danny who were cut off inadvertantly by the inturruption with the power loss. Out again and this time they went through the number without a hitch! They did wonderfully, all dressed in white and the hat thing worked again even the second time around. You go Yessie and Danny!

Winsome Lee performed with a swing theme it was cute, she came out chewing bubble gum as part of the routine and her hot pink dress was beautiful actually my favorite color when I was a just a child. Phantom of the Opera is my favorite musical when I was a teenager, Jai and Candy performed the Salsa routine keeping in the theme of Phantom of the Opera. Xibicion Santo Rico performed as well. Nydia Ocasio and Tito Sandoval did a rumba number all dressed in white. Heart Break Boys and Jr. Heart Break Boys always get the crowd screaming with their strip tease and chair routine... they are soooo cute these kids! One of the former members who made up the routine actually joined them on the stage boy was he going crazy up there, whooph! Young Ambition tore it up as always, these three little girls could really move, very energetic, entertaining and professional. Lily the director of Young Ambition does such a wonderful job with these kids!!! There was a Friday favorite group which was brought back on Saturday for an encore performance. It was a penguin Salsa number. It was cute because in reality this group comes from the heat of Arizona and their routine was about the cold and icy storm of the arctic. They looked like penguins and danced like penguins as part of their routine in character, the Salsa song was singing about "penguins". Another group which was a little too wild for me...now I don't remember who this team was I'm about to mention... eventually I will find out but I was taking mental notes so I'm not even going to try and remember their names so forgive me for now... I have to tell you I was shocked, shocked, shocked. Like the first time Roseanne grabbed her crotch and spat on the floor during the national anthem. Shocked like when Michael Jackson grabbed his crotch during his video for the first time. Well there's this one shocking group with this shocking routine I've never seen before. It was I believe three couples on the stage at the same time at some point the guys push down the girls heads in a suggestive way and they stay there for a little bit they eventually come back up. As if that weren't enough shock, at one point the ladies grabbed the guys crotches and this was the tone of the entire routine shocking value! That's the only reason why I remembered them because after that was just painful to watch.

The most artistically entertaining performances out of all, to me, was Addie Rodriguez "Salsa Diva" of Razz-m-Tazz. She did a Mission Impossible Salsa theme with a guest dancer as part of a character. The mission: to infiltrate the East Coast Salsa Congress and get the Salsa Diva safely out! Guess who the secret agent was...ISMAEL OTERO! He looked hot with those glasses... too cool! He didn't dance in the routine he just played the secret agent. I LOVED IT! They had a whole play happening and I LOVE mission impossible so they won me over fast! It begins with Ismael Otero sitting by himself, you hear the click clock of high heels walking towards him. She's like this temptress women who looks like she could be selling cigarettes. She finally approaches him and she suductively talks to him and hands him over a tape. All you hear is click clock which is her walking away. He plays the tape and that's where it all begins...the theme for Mission Impossible and the mans voice with his mission. Before the tape self disrupts, Ismael runs away and Salsa Diva comes out with her group hence the mission begins. When the mission is over you see Ismael sitting alone again. Silence falls over and all you hear is the click clock of the temptress' heels. She walks over to him and caressed his face to let him know the mission has been completed but when she talks to him again she has the voice of the man in the beginning of the tape that he played. She tells him in a mans voice that his mission has been accomplished and she walks away and you hear the click clock of the heels he looks at the audience and runs off the stage like a bat out of hell! Now THAT IS ENTERTAINMENT!!!

Last but not least... Caribbean Soul... ISMAEL OTERO. He did it again! Always something new and refreshing every single time he rises to the occasion! So creative his routine had rumba, it had hip-hop it even had two guys dancing with one girl at the same time...now I've seen two girls dancing with one guy but never two guys dancing with one girl... Griselle was the star and she was awesome, so was Natalia! Ismael danced to the tune of the piano at one solo piece to the tee he hit all the notes with his feet and he faked played with his hands then the rest of the team came back out it was interesting the change in music at one point they all lined up and hit those beats in unison... they are entertainers, they really are...I loved it! Ismael Otero always reminds me of why I love the dance and the people who make it come alive. Luis Zegarra is the butt of all my jokes with the ongoing Dinky jokes. I will retire the Dinky thing cause I heard they have a new one for me to give him. Lilo and Stitch, but I'll be nice. He tried to speak very little and walk on egg shells with me for fear I may put it up on the NYM.O page (just like I'm doing now) Salvase quien pueda it's going to happen whether you watch your moves or not cause "I gots to tells it like it is"! He cracks me up though, he is too much fun to roast. What I do is just that I roast, you know like the comedians do to one another, that's my style funny but true to your reputation. There's not bochinche central here, this is not Ebert two thumbs up, this is a real. You can easily tell who I'm refering to when they try and convince you "it's bochinche" this is their story in order to convince themselves in their own reality. They can't see beyond there own reality to believe that in the real world people don't truly percieve themselves the way others do. Reality check: right here NYM.O, "he dicho"! New York is supposed to be the toughest audience to impress for a reason, it elevates the standards for us, so for those of us who are trying to impress each other by stepping on others to elevate themselves, those who create their own realities and believe they are above and beyond anyone else just because you believe your own hype should just get over it (this is mostly for Rinky, Pinky and the brain and a few of their blind followers)! NYM.O can tell you what people are REALLY saying. So, snap out of it, listen to what people are talking about because ultimately it is the people who will decide who's hot and who's not, regardless of what you think of yourselves or how you sugar coat anything as "gossip". It is the people who determine what they want to see and what they'd rather pass on, and how do you know what people want if you don't want to listen to what the buzz is about, especially in New York City. I'm not here to criticize or gossip about anyone, on the contrary I acknowledge and respect everyone with good intentions to promote, elevate proliferate the New York Mambo without hidden agendas. Getting back to Luis, I have to say he deserves credit for being the first Dominican, oops... sorry he's Peruvian... the first Peruvian promoter famous for hiring New York dancers here and abroad, before him we've had many promoters from back in the day Lucy Lou and other promoters who used to hire dancers before the new bloods like us, people like Millie Donay and Cuban Pete (one of the New York Palladium first and famous on2 couple who ever traveled all over from New York to Catskills and yonder due to promoters who encourage dancers to perform on the same stages with musicians who traveled around the world. So he can't take credit for being the first promoter to promote New York dancers around the world, but he can take the credit for doing it in a non-conventional way the longest. He has brought on stage everyone from Eddie Torres back when he first started to do his Mambo Show Downs all the way until today as he's been known to bring a new Japanese group or Italian group as an example who are probably still in the process of learning the basics and encourages them to perform on the same stage with the rest of the pro's, just to share in the spirit of unity. Everybody and anybody who wants to perform in any event of Luis Zegarra can do so, as a matter of fact that goes for any socials in New York City as well. No auditions, no filtering process anything goes. He's a hustler, he'll tell you how hard he's worked to hustle. He can pack a place anytime, hands down because he's a hustler. If there's one thing I have to say that's even more shocking about this paragraph before lightning strikes me, it's that he treats all women with respect. In fact, this whole East Coast Congress was dedicated to the women of Mambo the positive role models and for this I applaud first of all David Melendez who's idea this was in the first place, in fact a standing O' I'll give him and then anyone else who went along with it and appreciated and respected the idea of elevating the women who complete ALL men in the dance as a couple and the business of the dance as the back bone of the art. David Melendez, Mary Perez, Albert Torres and Maya Torres and Luis Zegarra wouldn't have it any other way! Can you imagine a Salsa Congress or an event with someone who has no regard for women at all? Never with these gentlemen...Bravo to David Melendez (Mary by his side), Bravo to Albert Torres (Maya by his side) and even more shocking to even me even as I write this paragraph...bravo to Lilo and Stitch (Luis Zegarra and Sharon Gadayev, his girl by his side) all lead by example!

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