The evening started off with a beginner lesson with Velina and Stella downstairs and an intermediate lesson upstairs with Evan and I which was really fun. The groups got the combos quickly and continued to practice the new moves throughout the evening. At 10:30pm the lights went down and the music was turned up and the dancing began. More and more people arrived, all with amazing, elaborate costumes. We saw everything from the scary costumes such as vampires and demons, to movie costumes such as the trio in the Wizard of Oz, to superhero costumes, to some very unique costumes (some I didn’t even understand).

We had a group birthday dance with Sara, Ozzy and Jennifer – happy birthday to you all!

I was the bubblicious Girl all in pink and handed out a lot of bubble gum. That was fun! Thanks to all my dances that evening – it was great to see some old students drop by as well as the United Salseros group.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made an effort with their costumes. It was a great night due to all of you!

Next outing: Friday Nov 14th at 9:30pm at Plaza Flamingo…

The post Halloween Outing appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

As usual the workshop were very busy but everyone ended up getting the fun and sexy combinations. At 10:30pm DJ Duck began spinning the tunes and made sure to include lots of bachata songs so that everyone could practice their new routines.

It was also the birthday of Karina and Kamil (two of Toronto Dance Salsa’s most seniour helpers)and we had a joint birthday dance for them at midnight. Thanks to both of them for being great sports and everyone who participated!

It was great to see lots of beginner students out. If you haven’t gotten to an outing yet here are some upcoming outings that will be amazing!

1) Peridot Sunday May 25th at 7pm
2) 6 Degrees Sunday June 8th at 7pm – Preliminaries of competition with performances
3) Tentative outing to Lula Lounge Friday June 20th at 10pm
4) 6 Degrees Friday July 4th at 9pm – Finals of competition with performances

Happy dancing!

The post Peridot on Friday appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

A very short walk from the subway station and with cheap $5 parking across at the Marriott, Peridot is very accessible. There are 2 floors with 3 main sections as well as a patio. We had 300ppl there almost and there was still space for more which was such a pleasant surprise!

There are 3 main rooms so we offered 3 lessons. Velina with Mildred as an assistant did the absolute beginner class, Emely and Sonya did the level 1 class and Evan and I did the intermediate class. Classes were very busy – hopefully everyone learned the combo and were able to practice it that evening to memorize.

Peridot kindly offered us gift certificates to give away and 2 lucky dancers received those. There was also a birthday dance for Tyrone, one of our helpers. All in all a great evening. Photos will be posted this week on our “events” page.

We look forward to visiting Peridot again very soon for our next Sunday outing!

The post Peridot Last Night! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Emely and Michel taught the absolute beginners lesson. Rob and Velina taught the level 1 class and Evan and I taught the intermediate class. As usual everyone rose to the occasion regardless of the difficulty of the turn pattern.

The highlight of the evening was the Helper Performance Group’s choreographed routine. Caryl held a class in the fall for helpers only which focused on learning an intricate choreographed routine with the end goal of performing the routine. 5 couples debuted the performance in the iFreestyle Holiday Party on Dec 9th with great success. The other couples (6 in total) performed at Plaza at 11pm during the outing and it was a great performance. The choreography was excellent (gooooo Caryl!) and you can see the work put in by the performers. Here is a list of the couples that performed on both evenings:

iFreestyle Holiday Party
Nina and Tyrone
Velina and Alfred
Anna-Marie and John
Ildi and Manuel
Stella and Barry

Plaza Flamingo Holiday Party
Carolina and Mark
Kelly and Khemara
Stella and George
Pansy and Alex
Karina and Barry
David and Katie

We were very lucky to have plenty of photographers in the house. Shawn Jamali is a professional photographer and was interested in capturing dancers in motion. Avijit Bandyopadhyay who is a former TDS student, also wanted to capture the event. Caryl video-taped the performance and took plenty of photos. As soon as we get them all we will post them for you all to view.

Evan and I wanted to thank Caryl and everyone who participated in our Wedding Dance. Evan and I were married in St. Thomas 3 weeks ago and Caryl surprised us with a wedding dance after the performance…very similar to a birthday dance except both of us got a chance to dance with other partners. It was a lot of fun so thank you again for thinking of us and participating!

All the couples will be performing again at our first Montana’s outing at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb. We will announce the date soon!

The post Dec 28th Outing To Plaza Flamingo appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The evening began with our lessons. Kimberly and Emely took the beginner students into a separate room and taught them salsa basics, the Cuban inside turn and some Suzy Qs – very sexy! Evan and I taught the level 2s and up a difficult level 4 type combination. It was great to see everyone getting the combo and trying it out during the evening.

After some great social dancing we had our Amateur Salsa Competition Champions, Alfred and Nina, perform for us their winning routine. It was fun and energetic with some great tricks and dips – very entertaining!

It was Anthony Fajardo’s birthday (he has been a helper with us for quite a while) and we tired him out with a birthday dance.

When I left at 10:30pm the dance floor was still hopping – great to see everyone enjoying the evening so much!

Next outing: Plaza Flamingo either Oct 12th or 19th.

The post Montana Outing appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

First of all, remember that there are usually many people interested in participating so the amount of time you spend dancing with the person should not be long…30 seconds is the usual time frame although it depends on whether there is someone waiting. If there is, keep to the 30 second rule. If there isn’t you can go on longer until you see someone approach.

How do you aproach? First you see if there is a line up. If so, go to the end of the line and wait for your turn. If not, start to do your basic on the oustkirts of the circle and slowly move closer to the dancing couple. Make sure the leader sees you and just wait. The leader will do the rest.

If you are leading and you see someone approach, finish the combo you are doing and then execute a move that allows the follower to be led into the new lead easily. Moves like arm throws, free turns, bowling balls, etc. Anything where you direct the dancer to the new partner and let them go. Be careful not to push the person into the new partner. If you are a lead and the birthday person, gently let your partner go with a similar move and then dance closer towards your new partner.

I find sometimes dancer want to show off their most difficult moves in a birthday dance. Just remember that the birthday person has to adapt to many different partners in a very short time so keep your moves clean, easy to follow and execute, and most of all, fun.

Hope you all have wonderful birthdays…see you at the next birthday salsa dance!

The post The Birthday Dance appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Even though it was hot in there, it didn’t stop the crowd from taking advantage of the lessons and dancing non-stop. I was happy to see lots of beginners on the dance floor, practicing their right turns and open breaks and, as usual, I as always proud to see the level 3s and up practicing the more complicated moves and looking really great!

It was nice of everyone to remember that I recently celebrated my birthday and, in the usual salsa tradition, I received a birthday dance (in fact, not one but two and later on an added bonus). A birthday dance basically means everyone gathers around in a circle and takes a quick turn dancing with the birthday boy or girl. It usually lasts one or two songs. Yesterday was quite hot and it was hard to dance more then 2 songs in a row with close to 20 partners, switching from leading to following, from dancing on 1 to dancing on 2. However, it was great fun and thanks to all who participated and Evan for setting it up!

Later on Teddy Olaso and the gang from United Salseros/Mambo Mosaic did another dance which as also quite hilarioun and I danced with many partners I haven’t seen in a while…thanks to Jessie, Brian, Jason, Kerem, and more for the dance!

Many people have asked me questions about birthday dance etiquette so tomorrow I will offer some tips on this salsa tradition.

Our next outing is Friday, August 24th at 8:30pm at Plaza Flamingo for a special evening of bachata with Alex Bello. More info to follow!

The post Montana Outing appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.