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!

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Some students have been asking me what the Ladies Styling class is all about so here is some info:

I know you have heard about ladies styling and sometimes do a little styling in your classes but if you want to take your dancing to a whole new level and look smoother and sexier you will have to dedicate time and practice to the art of ladies styling.

Every 9 to 12 months we hold a Ladies Styling class for women only. Caryl, who is an amazing stylist, teaches this class on Wednesdays at 9:15pm at the Adelaide Club. It begins on March 26th for 9 weeks. In this class you will learn how to incorporate body waves, ripples and shimmies into your salsa dancing. Footwork, body movement, and body styling is emphasized. You will be able to add some personality to your dancing while looking sexy and stylish. There will be styling added to your turn patterns, to your shines and to your basics.

If you have completed level 2 (or with instructor permission) then this class is for you. It is limited to 25 women. There are no men in the class so it is a comfortable environment to really work on your body movement and styling without feeling self-conscious.

Hopefully this gives you some idea as to the style of the class. Enjoy!

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