The evening began with 3 different lessons.  Lisa and Eunjoo provided the absolute beginner dancers with a fun intro to salsa class.  Sara and Roger taught the beginner/intermediates a sexy combination.  By the way, this was Sara’s last time teaching a club class.  Sara has completed her PhD and will be moving into a full time role in her field.  We will sorely miss her and I know she had a great time teaching the class.  May and I taught the intermediate class up on stage with a huge crowd and that was fun (almost lost my voice!).

Social dancing began at 8pm while the competitors, judges and performers prepared.  Winnie Fung was our Stage Manager and did a fantastic job organizing the evening.  The judges arrived and were briefed, we drew numbers to see the order of the competitors and everyone was getting their makeup done professionally by the fabulous ladies from Mary Kay.

At 9pm sharp, the awesome Tracie Yee in her gorgeous orange dress started the night.  She was truly an amazing emcee – engaging, entertaining and natural.  She kept the evening flowing beautifully and allowed enough time for the judges to tally up their scores.

Our judges for this round were Teddy and Rene from United Salseros, Angus from iFreestyle, Jennifer from Steps and Oscar from Latin Groove Productions.  Thank you so much judges for your input and support!

We had 8 couples compete:  Nina and Branco, Ileana and Martin, Monique and Joseph, Alexandra and Yuri, Anny and Tony, Sandra and Vig, Stephanie and John and Sanaz and Khemara.  Each couple was fantastic – you could really see the effort that was put in for the freestyle round which is difficult to do without knowing the song that is coming up.

While I tabulated the judges’ scores we had six amazing performance by the TDS Cabaret Team, Latin Grove Productions, TDS Reggaeton Team, Sumeet and Crystal from United Salseros, Daniel and Sandra’s Argentine Tango performance for TDS and the amazing TDS Pro Team debut performance with Jessica and Olivier.  A huge thank you to everyone who performed – you should all be so proud!

It was finally time for Tracie to announce the 5 couples who will be moving on to the finals and in no particular order they are:  Nina and Branco, Ileana and Martin, Anny and Tony, Sandra and Vig and Sanaz and Khemara.

Thanks to DJ Suave for the great tunes, Evan for keeping the evening running so smoothly and everyone else who made the night so memorable for almost 400 participants.  I can’t wait for the finals on Sunday June 26th at 6:45pm at Six Degrees Nightclub!!

The post TDS Amateur Competition Preliminary Round! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

If you are interested in competing on a larger scale you may be interested in the US Salsa Open Championships taking place July 22-25 in Oakland, CA. Don’t worry if you are still at an amateur level as they have 4 divisions just for the amateur category and lots of other categories for all types of competitors.

Ricardo, one of the organizers, has also been kind enough to provide our two final winners of the 2010 TDS Amateur Competition two full passes to the Championships.

For more info, please visit their website at: http://ussalsaopen.com/

The post US Salsa Open Championships appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The time has come to battle it out on the dance floor for the champion title at our Fourth Annual Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition. Last year we had some amazing couples compete for some serious loot and the results were fantastic!

Both rounds are confirmed to take place at Six Degrees Nightclub at Yonge & Eglinton on the following dates:

Preliminary Round – Sunday April 25th at 7pm
Final Round – Sunday June 20th at 7pm

If you are a level 3 and up student, helper or assistant registered or assisting in the spring 2010 semester at TDS who has not been paid to teach your own salsa class or perform, then you qualify! Don’t get discouraged that you are still in the learning phase – everyone else will be in that phase also and remember that a competition will increase your confidence, showmanship and skills tenfold.

The preliminaries are freestyle which means you do not have to choreograph the performance as you won’t know the song you are performing to although you can practice together, decide on how you will enter and exit, and what dips and tricks you will add to the dance, etc.

To assist you Evan Carmichael has offered a free private lesson to each couple who enters the competition to assist them in preparation! Five couples will move on to the finals where the finalists will choreograph a 2.5 minute routine to their song choice.

More details can be found on our website. Please email us if you are interested in participating at info@torontodancesalsa.ca. We will accept up to 15 couples.

We are also looking for companies who would like to sponsor the event. Gift certificates, dance shoes, music, travel vouchers, congress passes, lessons, cash prizes, restaurant certificates and much more are needed – please let us know if you can sponsor a prize or collect prizes.

We will be sending an official Anyvite with evening details closer to April 25th so just save the dates.

Email us with any questions and good luck to all the competitors!!

The post The 4th Annual TDS Amateur Competition! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The evening began with a fun hour long lesson. Tracie and Mark taught the beginner lesson upstairs and Emely and Olivier taught the intermediate lesson on the main floor. After an hour of social dancing the competition began and the four finalists each took the stage to perform their choreographed routines. No limits on dips and allowances on lifts meant some very showy and entertaining tricks from all the competitors.

While we tabulated the judges’ scores, we were privy to three awesome performances by Latin Energy, the Semi Pro Team at iFreestyle and United Salseros. Thank you so much to each performer and the schools for a wonderful and inspiring display of salsa!

By the time the last school finished performing, the results were in and here they are below. Congratulations to all four couples – what a great effort!

1st Place – Mridu & Elton
2nd Place – Winnie & Manuel
3rd Place – Karen & John
Runners Up – Maysa & Dan

Special thank you to Evan, George, Sara, Tracie, Mark, Emely, Olivier, Adis, Nora and our great judges Teddy, Rene, Angus, Vanesa and Oscar.

The post TDS Amateur Salsa Competition Update! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The outings that are coming up are no exception. Here they are for the next two months:

1) Saturday April 18th at 9pm – Acrobat Lounge at 2464 Yonge Street (N of Eglinton)
2) Sunday April 19th from 6-9pm – Sunday Social at Empress (only social in April)
3) Sunday April 26th at 7pm – TDS Amateur Competition Preliminaries at Six Degrees
4) Saturday May 9th at 9:45pm – Peridot Lounge at 81 Bloor St E (at Yonge)
5) Sunday May 31st at 7pm – TDS Amateur Competition Finals at Six Degrees

We will keep you informed of any other events we hold. Please note there are no socials on long weekends (Easter Sunday April 12th) and no socials on the competition evenings.

There are also no classes on Easter Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. There are classes on as usual on Saturday April 11th.

See you at the next outing!

The post Upcoming Outings appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

What a fantastic evening Friday turned out to be! With almost 700 people in attendance the 2008 Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition Finals was a smashing success. The evening started off with a beginner lesson with Velina and Jennifer and an intermediate lesson with Rob and Sonya. Despite the large crowds both classes were fun and by the end of the hour the students were able to execute the combinations.

Social dancing began immediately after the lessons until 11pm and although we had so many people in attendance there was still lots of elbow room to really dance.

At 11pm sharp George(ous) began the competition. As usual he was funny, engaging and entertaining and the crowd really enjoyed the introductions and funny stories. The judges were introduced: Teddy and Rene from United Salseros, Angus from iFreestyle, Ana Machada and Salsa Steph from Go Dance Mambo.

Then it was time for the competitors to do their warm up. All the couples warmed up on stage for 2 minutes at which time George called each couple to perform. Each couple had been working for the past 4 weeks to create a choreography to a 2 to 2.5 minute routine and the effort was evident on stage. I was really proud of everyone – most of them had been in my level 1 a year or two ago and to see them on stage in costume performing in front of hundreds of people was amazing and inspiring.

Once the competitors finished I ran to add up the scores with Sara. At this time we had 5 performances by iFreestyle, Go Dance Mambo and Mambo Mosaic. Each one was unique and very entertaining. Thank you to all the performers who took the time and energy to perform that night.

Immediately after the performances George announced the winners – it was a very exciting moment for everyone! The winners were:

1st Place – Kelly and Barry
2nd Place – Camela and Manuel
3rd Place – Therese and James
Runner Up – Marsha and John
Runner Up – Jennifer and Tyrone

Barry and Kelly won the following:
A full Canada Salsa Congress Pass for each of them, a full Miami Salsa Congress Pass for each of them with 1 night hotel stay, a full World Salsa Competition Pass for each, 3 pairs each of dance shoes from both Century Wide shoes, Gabellini Shoes and Addicted to Dance Shoes, dinner & show from Plaza Flamingo, Peridot Rest Lounge Gift Certificates, 1 year membership to Lula Lounge’s salsa Fridays, t-shirts from Shokkwear, Meet Market Adventures Gift Certificate and Trophies

Congratulations to everyone for competing. It is such a courageous thing to do and many people don’t realize the amount of work that goes into performing so I am very proud of everyone.

Thank you to everyone who made the evening rock – Evan, George, the judges, the performers, the sponsors and the competitors. Looking forward to seeing you all next year at the 2009 competition!

The post Competition Last Friday! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Over 450 people came out to Six Degrees last night to enjoy the evening and cheer on the competitors and performers for our second annual Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition.

The evening started at 7pm with three lessons. Velina and Lovelize taught the absolute beginners, Sara and Rob taught the level 1s and Emely and Emmett taught the intermediate lesson on stage with a very sexy dip. Everyone did a great job considering the massive amount of students that came out.

Social dancing began at 8pm and it was nice to see salseros of any level dancing together. The competitors and judges also arrived by this time and we were able to draw the order of the competitors. Alfred & Nina, last year’s competition winners, also gave a short pep talk to the group of competitors and it was awesome to see all the competitors excited and pumped about going on stage.

At 9pm sharp George a.k.a. Georgeous, the man who took sexy back, and our Host with the Most started the competition. As usual George was funny, engaging and kept the spirit of the crowd high.

George asked all the competitors to do a 2 minute warm up on stage and then introduced the judges: Teddy and Rene from United Salseros, Vanesa and Oscar from Latin Energy, Ana Machado and Salsa Steph from Go Dance Mambo.

Here were the order of the competitors:

David & Milded
Tyrone & Jennifer
John & Marsha
James & Therese
Joseph & Natasha
Manuel & Camela
Jonathan & Andrea
Barry & Kelly

Everyone did an amazing job and we got to see lots of fun body waves, dips and tricks.
The crowd was great at keeping the energy high. After everyone finished I quickly gathered the numbers from the judges and, with Sara’s assistance (thanks Sara!) we added the numbers while iFreestyle and Latin Energy dazzled the crowd with some awesome performances.

Finally we were done and George proceeded, with the help of Salsa Steph, to give away 4 tickets to the Salsa Chocolate Party happening next Friday, 4 DVDs from Salsa Steph regarding Timing & Rhythm and 4 TDS DVDs.

The George called out the 5 finalist who will be performing a choreographed routine for the finals. In no particular order, here they are:

Tyrone & Jennifer
John & Marsha
James & Therese
Manuel & Camela
Barry & Kelly

Congrats to everyone who competed – whether or not you go to the finals doesn’t take away from the big accomplishment of last night. Some competitors had only been salsa dancing for 7month to 1 year so that is a huge accomplishment.

More details of the finals to come!

The post The Preliminaries appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The competitors are as follows:
Tyrone Sterling & Jennifer Botelho
James Kalfin and Therese Maceda
Barry Ip & Kelly Elliott
John Radtke & Marsha Soefredie
Joseph Sackey & Natasha Gibson
Mildred Quinto and David Charing
Manuel Alvarez & Camela Adams
Jonathan William & Andrea Ferguson

So far the prize list is amazing! We have passes to the World Salsa Championship, the Miami Salsa Congress, the Calgary Salsa Congress, dance shoes from Addicted 2 Dance Shoes, Century Wide Shoes, Gabellini Shoes and much much more.

We also have some great judges participating including:
Teddy Olaso – United Salseros
Angus Dirnbeck – iFreestyle
Vanessa Stay – Latin Energy
Oscar Naranjo – Latin Energy
Ana Machado – Ana Machado Dance School
Salsa Steph – Go Dance Mambo

Hopefully can all join us for the prelimaries which are taking place this weekend. Here are the details:

Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition
6 Degrees Nightclub – 2335 Yonge Street (North of Eglinton)
Sunday June 8th at 7pm
7-8pm lessons for beginners, level 1s and intermediates
8-9pm social dancing
9-10pm competition and performances by Latin Energy and iFreestyle
10 onwards social dancing
Cover: $12

For details on the competition click here for details.

The post The Competition is Coming! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

With almost 200 students in attendance there were partners for everyone. Many of the instructors came out as well which is great to see – Sara, Velina, Emely, Alfred, Nina, Evan and myself were all enjoying the night along with the 40 helpers that came out and all the students and guests.

It was Evan’ birthday this past week and as per tradition we put him on the spot for a birthday dance (photo above is from that dance). He was awesome and managed to get through a great deal of partners in a short amount of time. Thanks to everyone for participating and to Evan for being a great sport regardless of the partner (nice body wave Alfred :).

Our next outing is actually the Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition preliminaries on Sunday June 8th at 7pm at 6 Degrees. We can’t wait to see all the work the competitors have put into their freestyle round. There are also performances by Latin Energy and iFreestyle so come out and support the competitors, watch some great performances and have a blast! More details to follow!

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