On Saturday April 19th:

4 PM
Mad Hot Ballroom

Hot from the Sundance Film Festival where it garnered massive critical acclaim, this engaging documentary follows a group of 11yr old street kids from Washington Heights (an urban New York City neighborhood) as they compete in a city wide ballroom dancing competition.

6:30 PM
Dirty Dancing (1987)

Chronicles social dancing’s place in the 60’s as experienced by one 17-year-old girl. Like the world at large, Frances “Baby” Houseman comes into her own in the summer of 1963, but in the most unlikely of places – Kellerman’s Mountain House is the Catskills, where she accompanies her family on summer vacation. One evening while exploring the grounds, Baby comes upon the staff’s all-night dance party. Amidst the excitement she discovers Johnny Castle, the resorts dance instructor. Overnight, her …

9 PM
Shall We Dance

Chicago lawyer John Clark knows his life is almost perfect. He loves his beautiful wife, he’s built a successful career and raised two wonderful kids. And yet . . . the workday is always the same routine, the commute is a grind and the family’s usually too busy to spend time together. Sometimes John wonders if this is all there is, until one evening on his way home from work he gets off his train and does the unthinkable. Without telling a soul, he secretly begins taking dance lesson…

11:30 PM
Hollywood’s 10 Best

S7, Episode #053 Hollywood’s 10 Best Dance Movies

An interesting look at Hollywood’s 10 Best Dance Movies from the movies of today and yesterday

On Sunday April 20th

4 PM
Shall We Dance

Chicago lawyer John Clark knows his life is almost perfect. He loves his beautiful wife, he’s built a successful career and raised two wonderful kids. And yet . . . the workday is always the same routine, the commute is a grind and the family’s usually too busy to spend time together. Sometimes John wonders if this is all there is, until one evening on his way home from work he gets off his train and does the unthinkable. Without telling a soul, he secretly begins taking dance lesson…

6:30 PM
Hollywood’s 10 Best

S7, Episode #053 Hollywood’s 10 Best Dance Movies

An interesting look at Hollywood’s 10 Best Dance Movies from the movies of today and yesterday.

7 PM
W Docs

You Should Be Dancing is a one hour documentary special that celebrates the recent popularity of dancing, by exploring the personal stories of people whose lives have been unexpectedly changed by dance for the better.

8 PM
Obsession.

New ballet teacher Reed Holloway takes a special interest in Erika, who is at first flattered with the teacher’s interest in her dancing. And Erika’s newly-divorced mother, Deborah, is pleased as well, as Deborah and Reed begin to date. But things turn sour when it becomes apparent that Reed is just using Deborah to get closer to Erika, as part of a carefully designed and diabolically executed plan. Erika, it turns out, reminds Reed of his late wife, and Reed is determined to have Erika take …

Hope this gives you some dance movie satisfaction. Happy watching!

The post W Channel Gives Us Dance Movies! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

“Miami Salsa Congress 2007…thoughts by Linda Domenichini!

Saturday:
To jump-start the morning, we got a taste of Colombian Style Salsa partner work with Son de Cali. It was so interesting to experience this style of salsa, which will certainly add some flair to my dancing. We learned the Columbian basic, mark, elevation, fours and a basic with a cha cha cha, the latter being a move we were told is used often to replace the standard basic during really fast songs. With just a few basic moves, we were dancing with some Columbian flavour! We were scheduled to take ladies styling on2 with Griselle Ponce for our next class, but unfortunately, Griselle had a hairline fracture and couldn’t teach that day, so Nelson Gaston Vidarte from Energy One (Miami) stepped in to take over the class. He performed the night before, so we knew all about his fantastic body movement, but now we know that he is also a fantastic instructor! My shoulders still ache from the isolation exercises and shines combo he took us through. Shake, shake, shake! While some of us took Ismael Otero’s (New York) turn patterns on2 class, I decided to take some casino rueda with Rene Gueits & Salsa Lovers (Miami). They had three circles going – beginner, intermediate and advanced. I’ve never taken a casino rueda class before, but since I consider myself a strong enough follower, I decided to jump in the intermediate circle. It was a lot of fun whizzing around the circle and I think I had a permanent smile on my face the entire hour. If you have yet to try rueda, you should definitely give it a go. Next, we dove into on2 territory with Jayson Molina (Puerto Rico) who challenged us with a shines routine. The advanced class was tough, but I learned a lot by pushing myself to try something out of my comfort zone. After Jayson’s on2 class, I finished the day with an on1 turn pattern class with Salsa Karibe (Miami). I’m glad that we rotated frequently in this class because I got to dance with some great dancers. After a tough day, I needed a little cat-nap before the performances and evening dancing, so I decided to snooze by the pool, but of course, it was non-stop action at this event – with poolside dancing!

At any given salsa congress, the Saturday evening is usually known to be the biggest night of entertainment, and I was once again blown away by the talent on stage. My favorite performances of the evening included Al & Karla Espinoza (L.A.) who inspired me to keep working on my multiple turns! Griselle Ponce (N.Y) braved the stage in her wrapped foot (that beautifully matched her costume I might add) and proved that even with an injury, she is one of the best dancers around. Billy Fajado and Katie Marlow (Ft. Lauderdale) gave a stunning cabaret style performance with incredible lifts and graceful style, while Jhesus Aponte and Sheila De Jesus (Puerto Rico) injected salsa with a swing/jive feel. A most amazing performance was given by a troupe from Montreal (I’m still trying to track down who it was because they were so fantastic) and I absolutely loved the show by Santo Rico (N.Y) The future of salsa looks bright as we watched a group of high school kids from Massachusetts – Salsa Con Clase – who brought down the house with their funky flavour.

Once again, I was exhausted by midnight, but I wanted to check out the social dancing for a bit, and I’m sure glad that I did because Sonora Carruseles from Columbia was in the house! What a great concert.”

Last part on Monday!

The post Linda’s Miami Congress Experience Part 3 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Yesterday I spoke of some great benefits when it comes to attending a congress. The moral of yesterday’s blog entry was to attend congresses regardless of what level you are in and attend as many workshops as possible and always record what you learn.

Now let’s discuss the social dancing. This is the heart of where the learning is! I can remember several successful congresses full of great social dancing that transformed my salsa skills and gave me more confidence and creativity when I returned to my usual salsa haunts.

Don’t be afraid to ask others to dance. They will likely accept and if they don’t it is not about you. What is amazing about a congress is that you can dance with some of the best dancers in the world and it is usually a very exciting experience. Remember though that if you are a beginner you want to dance with someone who is slightly more advanced then you so that you can learn from them without feeling like you are burdening them with your dancing.

My first congress I barely danced. I mostly watched in wonder at all the amazing social dancing I was seeing. I must admit I thought about giving up dancing in a weak moment but a moment later I felt very inspired and was ready to learn more and advance so that one day I could dance like the women I had seen.

Don’t lose the chance of social dancing at a congress – it is the best training you can get and is the reason why you learned to dance.

Many Toronto Dance Salsa students are heading to Miami in August for their annual congress. They are offering us a full congress pass for $150 which is a great price. Good luck to everyone and hope you all have a great time!

The post Congresses – Part 2 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.