• Turning down a dance
It cannot be stressed enough that rejecting someone’s offer to dance can be a very negative experience for that dancer and has even led some to give up dancing. Do your best to accept every offer unless you are uncomfortable with the person. Remember that people have very long memories and one rejection (for whatever innocent reason it may be) may be remembered for a long time. The salsa scene is a small one and people do relay stories about others. Be as gracious as possible. If there is a legitimate reason for the refusal, please specify it (e.g., I have just been dancing up a storm and am taking a break, I promised someone else this dance but maybe we can dance later, I am just about to leave, etc). Don’t forget to ask that person to dance later on if it is possible as a show of respect. Try to never reject a person and then go dance with another person immediately after. Dancers, especially beginners, are trying to build, gain and maintain confidence. This can be very hurtful and affect a person’s ability to ask others to dance.

If you are on the other side of this scene where you have been rejected for a dance, keep a practical and positive perspective and remember that it is not a rejection of you as a person but potentially the circumstance. There are many other dancers who would be more than happy to accept a dance.

• Ladies – how to get asked to dance
If you are not comfortable in the asking role, there are many tips to use to be more approachable. Always make yourself visible. Stand at the edge of the dance floor. Make eye contact with potential dance partners around you and those coming off the dance floor. Let your interest and eagerness to dance show and never stop smiling. Remember the rules of body language – gestures such as crossing your arms, looking down, looking bored, uninterested or unapproachable and congregating with groups of friends are just a few things to avoid. Dance with anyone who asks as women who dance throughout the night are seen by male dancers as more likely to accept their invitation to dance. A man is more likely to ask a woman as she is walking off the dance floor after completing a dance then one who is standing around. Also, the more partners you accept, the more dancers you get to know, and this opens up new networks and groups of dancers to you, as dancers often introduce you to their friends and fellow dancers.

• How to read your partner’s skill level
Every partner you dance with will be at a different level. If you are a male the best process to use is to start slowly and gain momentum according to your partners’ skill level. Begin by executing basic footwork, turns and basic cross body variations. If your partner is following with ease then slowly introduce more difficult moves. If you are a beginner female, specify this when you are asked to dance so the male is aware of your position and can work with your skill level.

Part 3 coming up in the next blog post!

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Whether you are too young to get into the salsa clubs or are just not ready confidence/skill wise to make that leap, Sunday Salsa Socials are a great alternative. There is a weekly DJ playing great music, the lights are turned down to make dancing less stressful and add to the ambiance and there are plenty of helpers to dance with everyone.

If you are a more advanced dancer then come out too! We had plenty of instructors, helpers and senior students who come out and would love the challenge.

If you would like to be a guest DJ for an hour for the socials, let us know also!

Our next Sunday Social will be after the long weekend on Sunday August 10th from 5:30 – 8:30pm. Remember there are no socials scheduled on long weekends.

Here are the photos from this Sunday’s outing where we had about 100 people dancing up a storm. See you at the next outing!

PS the office is closed Thursday July 31st to Tuesday Aug 5th. Email us and we will do our best to get back to you. Classes on Friday and Saturday are on as usual and Sunday and Monday are off for the stat. Have a great wekend!

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SG – “What does salsa mean to you and how has it changed your”

SM – “Phew, this story is long but to keep it short…Salsa has changed my life completely. From a person who was overweight with no confidence to who I am today – it was a loooooong journey. But you know who I am today and what I am, and that is important. I love my dancing and traveling – meeting people and saying what I am saying now, to get everyone together. I am sorry if I come across as a sad salsa loving teacher but I do love everything about it and more……I love teaching and sharing this knowledge that was given to me and dancing with so many lovely dancers around the world. It’s all good.”

SG – “What are some of your salsa goals for 2008?”

SM – “Salsa Goals….hmmm….I always like to go to 2 new countries every year. And this year, I have Taiwan and Lithuania. So goals achieved. ;)”

Fore more info on Super Mario and to try a free online class, visit his new website:
www.salsaclass.tv

Thanks Super Mario! By the way Super Mario is visiting mid June and I am taking him to Babaluus. Will let you know closer to the date so you can come and experience some of his awesome moves. He is also donating 20 DVDs to the competitors of the the Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Salsa competition so thank you to him for all his support and help!!

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“Dancing away the woes
Vasumita S
Daniel Clifford, a salsa dancer and trainer conducted two-week salsa workshop for prison inmates at Central Prison Bangalore

For the many inmates at Central Prison Bangalore, salsa was not a term they may have been acquainted with before. But that is exactly what they got to enjoy and experience in the two-week salsa workshop that Daniel Clifford, a salsa dancer and trainer conducted for them recently. Daniel proposed this concept to the Additional Commissioner of Prison, H A R Ramesh. “The police department was very interested in my proposal, for they thought this kind of dance therapy can have a positive influence on the prisoners. The class itself turned out to be an amazing success, as more than 170 prisoners joined up for the workshop on the first day, and they were very interested in learning the dance technique,” says Daniel. The workshop that he conducted in January had a two-week course on salsa, samba, Cha Cha Cha and other Latin dance forms. The workshop was also filmed by BBC Worldwide.

Daniel has been a salsa dancer for almost 10 years now and has travelled to South Africa to professionally get trained in each of the dance forms. He has a dance school in Mumbai, and conducts short workshops in Bangalore too in association with Studio 5678. He says that dance is a medium that instills confidence in people. “Dance provides you with a platform to shed all your inhibitions, and learn to enjoy yourself. Also salsa is a very vigorous and vibrant dance that has immense health benefits too,” he says.

And for those of you planning on joining up the classes, Daniel says that joining the right dance school is most important. “Bangalore has a handful of certified talented salsa dance trainers. It is important that your trainer knows what you are looking for, else the satisfaction from learning the dance will not be there,” he says. Daniel himself is planning on a short workshop in Bangalore before heading off to South Africa for further training. The workshop will include a 10-day course for children and adults on salsa and other dances starting from April 10.”

Is this a good idea or not? I say why not. The power of dance is amazing and if it can benefit and really change someone’s life regardless of where they are or what they have done then great! Thoughts?

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What does everyone think of these limitations. I can understand the minimum age limit because they are looking for adult dancers but is 30 too young an age limit to set? Are there not amazing dancers over the age of 30 who are still young, flexible and talented enough to compete with the twenty somethings?

If I think of the best salsa dancers in Canada and even in North America, they are almost all over the age of 30. This is mainly because it takes years of experience to become smooth and versatile in this dance. The other reason is because most people learn salsa as adults so it is not like ballet where a 15 year old dancer already has 10 years of dance experience.

Most other dances including ballroom, ballet, tap, jazz have dancers starting at a young age so this age limit may make sense. But it seems a shame to limit the competition when the 30 somethings will bring with them finesse, confidence, experience and a maturity to the competition that could really add an interesting element.

Oh well such is life! Comments??

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Part 1:

What will make you become a better salsa dancer faster – learning with a partner or learning on your own with a variety of rotating dancers and students? This is the question I get asked often and everyone has an opinion.

The truth is that it depends on the person, the effort and the situation. There are pros and cons in each scenario.

I was lucky to experience both scenarios. My first year of dancing was on my own. I went salsa dancing nightly and, while I had my favourite people to dance with which changed monthly, I didn’t have a main partner. This was an excellent experience in my opinion. I learned to follow every type of lead – whether the lead was gentle or firm, the timing on 1 or on another beat, the Cubans, the Columbians, those from Chile and Ecuador, those who danced LA Style, New York Style, it didn’t matter. When you dance with 20 partners a night 7 days a week you get to be very versatile. I got to know my preferences, get inspired constantly by new dancers and I was always left with the feeling that dancing was always fresh and new.

After the first year of salsa I wanted to complete and perform and obviously this can’t be done unless you get a dance partner. It worked out that I met a dance partner at one of the local clubs and he had the same goals as I did.

Although we both knew very little in the whole scope of things we were very eager and serious to learn. We practiced daily, took some group lessons, private lesson, workshops and attended congresses together and very shortly we looked sleeker and more professional. The partnership really assisted in having someone to practice with regularly, someone who would give you honest feedback and someone to challenge you to move to the next level. This experience was also excellent and really made a difference in my confidence, styling, body movement, show-ability and much more. Note however that my following skills were reduced considerably because you tend to compensate for your partner and memorize moves, back lead, etc.

To be continued on Monday!!!

The post To Partner or Not to Partner – Pt 1? appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

We were quite worried that the snow would keep everyone away. This was the 3rd outing this semester that was effected by the snow storms in Toronto. However, even the storm couldn’t keep our salsa friends away!

We started the night with 3 lessons. Kimberly and Mark taught the absolute beginner class, Emely and Rob taught the level 1 class, and Evan and I taught the level 2 and up class. Each was very well attended and, although the combos were difficult as always, our students rose up to the challenge.

At 11:15pm the helper group was announced by Caryl. The couples performing were:

1. David & Katie
2. Khemara & Kelly
3. Alex & Ildi
4. Manuel & Nicole
5. Barry & Carolina
6. George & Pansy
7. Mark & Stella

It was amazing to see the confidence in this performance. Many of the helpers had performed at least once if not twice before now and that bit of added experience makes a huge difference. I was so proud of all the performers and Caryl for creating such a great choreography and having the courage to see it through. Hopefully it has inspired many of the students to one day perform themselves.

Our next outings are confirmed:
Sunday March 16th at 7pm at El Rancho
Friday March 28th at 9:30pm at Plaza Flamingo

See you all then!

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It does a nice job of explaining some great benefits and the history of salsa.

Here it is:

“10 Things you didn’t know about Salsa dancing by Vanessa Wennerstrom

Salsa dancing, like salsa dip, is hot, hot, hot! Here are a few things you might not know about the wonderful and sensuous dance that is the Salsa…

1) On average, you can hope to burn around 350 calories an hour whilst Salsa Dancing. That’s a great reason to get yourself off the couch and start grinding those hips.

2) Salsa dance music usually has 180 to 210 beats per minute (no wonder you can burn so many calories!).

3) The origins of salsa dancing are widely disputed as it is a fusion of a number of different influences. It is generally accepted that the Salsa we know today was mainly developed in the Latin Quarter of New York City.

4) Salsa dancing does not travel the floor, in general, salsa dancers aim to keep their feet less than one foot apart – this of course excludes the occasions where your leg is draped over your partner’s shoulder!

5) Salsa is considered a Club or Street dance and so is not part of the ballroom dance curriculum.

6) The Einstein Aging Study found that dancing was the only one out of eleven physical activities they studied which helps prevent dementia. The reasons for this could be:

– The need to learn and remember the sometimes complicated moves and sequences.

– The positive social interaction.

– The relaxation and pleasure.

– The sense of accomplishment and confidence boosting when mastering a new skill.

These are all good for the brain and Salsa ticks all those boxes, so that’s another good reason to start dancing the fabulous Salsa.

7) Salsa is the Spanish word for sauce.

8) Salsa is one of the main dances in Cuba and Puerto Rico.

9) In an attempt to get into the record books for the Longest Non-Stop Salsa Dance, a Salsa Marathon took place in Malaysia in 2007. The dance which lasted for 14 hours raised funds for the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities and involved 250 dancers, both local and from several other countries including Cuba, South Africa, Japan and South Korea (I wonder how many collective calories were burned off that day…).

10) In the 1988 film ‘Salsa’, the character Rita is seen climbing onto Kent’s motorcycle wearing a blue backpack; in the shot showing them riding around a field, her backpack has mysteriously changed to pink.”

The post A Good Article. appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The first one was of the 2005 San Francisco Salsa Champions. I hadn’t seen this video before but I thought it was very interesting. The salsa music was very fast and if you dance salsa, you know how hard it is to keep up with all those spins to the music. I thought they were very talented and the woman’s spinning skills were outstanding. I didn’t love the repetition of the spins though – it was too much of the same spinning move and at many points the choreography and turnpatterns completely stopped which is not visually as pleasing to watch as the second video that I saw by Danny Zepeda and his group from San Francisco, I believe. You can’t see the routine well as it is filmed so far away but the routine is really great. They have the same fast salsa and almost as many spins but done in a way that blends with the rest of the turnpatterns which makes it more interesting to watch (for me at least).

I also noticed that the first clip of the SF 1995 Champions showed a bit of an error half way through. They did a great job of getting back on track but it made me think of a choreographer’s job of balancing moves that are safe and will not cause room for errors vs moves that are much more difficult and will really wow the crowd if they can be pulled off. What is better? Do you play it safe with your choreography and although it my not be as much of a wow it will be smooth and error free or do you go for it and hope for the best, taking a gamble.

I guess it depends on the confidence you feel at rehearsals trying out a risky choreography and your ability to continue the choreography if an error occurs. It also depends on experience. When you first start performing keep it simple and clean. After some experience start to stretch yourself and the choreography to keep the challenge and energy in your routine.

Would love to see the videos that you guys are watching…send them my way!!

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When you go out to a salsa club, dedicate a couple of songs to finding your favourite couple in the room and watch them dance. It will assist you with ideas about new turn patterns, body movement, musicality and partner dynamics. You may think it doesn’t affect you but watch often enough and you will see your own moves start to sharpen, your body movement and styling start to come out and your range of musicality will increase.

I prefer watching at congresses because you are looking at some phenomenal dancers and it is really inspiring. You may have to get over your “inadequate” feelings watching such good dancers. I remember the first congress I went to I couldn’t dance for the first night. I saw Milton Cobo dancing with Grizelle Ponce, who are still two of my favourite dancers, and that was traumatic! I couldn’t bring myself to dance after that experience. But I had to re-shift my thinking so that their dancing would inspire me to improve instead of shake my confidence. And I went out and danced all night the next day, trying a few styling moves I had seen.

You can also watch videos on the web. YouTube and MamboTV are two great websites for this but there are also thousands of clips online that will inspire and motivate you.

Happy watching!

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