Ring in 2010 in salsa style at our first annual New Year’s Eve Black & White Ball at Acrobat Lounge on Thursday, December 31st, 2009.

Tickets:
Tickets can be purchased in advance for $45 each or at the door for $50. Helpers receive a special $35 rate. Tickets are available by calling Acrobat Lounge at 416-489-1105 or by visiting Acrobat Lounge on Friday evenings or during our outing on Sat Dec 19th. Feel free to bring as many people as you like. Must be 19+ years old. There are only 230 tickets being sold so get yours early!

Dress Code:
Dress to impress in semi-formal black and/or white. A good example of semi-formal would be suits for men and dress for women.

What is included?
The evening will begin with a beginner and intermediate lesson from 9-10pm. Social dancing will commence after the lesson. Hors D’oeuvres will be served as well as a champagne toast at midnight. There will be special performances throughout the evening and a fun checkerboard game to get you dancing and winning prizes.

Directions: Parking lots can be found north and south of the club and there is free metered parking on Yonge Street after 9pm. By subway, it is only a 5 minute walk north from the Eglinton subway station on the Yonge line.

We can’t wait to celebrate New Year’s Eve with you all!

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Friday, December 4th – OUTING TO PLAZA FLAMINGO – (423 College St) – OPEN TO EVERYONE! Beginner and intermediate lesson available from 9:30 – 10:30pm. Cover is $10 and includes lessons. 200 people expected.

Saturday, December 19th – OUTING TO ACROBAT LOUNGE- (2464 Yonge St just North of Eglinton) – OPEN TO EVERYONE! Beginner and intermediate lesson available from 9:00 to 10:00pm. Cover is $10 and includes lessons. 250ppl expected.

Thursday, December 31st – NEW YEAR’s EVE BLACK & WHITE PARTY AT ACROBAT LOUNGE- (2464 Yonge St just North of Eglinton) – OPEN TO EVERYONE! Special evening filled with lessons, performances, give-away and more. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased through Acrobat on Friday evenings or buy calling Acrobat at 416-489-1105. Only 230 tickets available!

Socials for December: Sunday Dec 6th, 13th, 20th from 6-9pm at Empress

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The band was an all-woman band called Cocomama and they were awesome! The played mostly salsa with some cha cha cha and it was sexy, jazzy and very nice to dance to in the middle of the afternoon. The courtyard was packed although I was surprised that we were one of the only couples dancing. If you are interested in checking out the band website click here.

If you are in New York make sure you get in some salsa/mambo. It is a fabulous experience!

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SG – “Are there any things students should avoid doing in their development?”

BH – “The only thing I can think of that students should avoid doing in their development is acquiring bad habits by practicing bad or incorrect techniques. It’s important to take lessons in order to find out what the correct techniques are. It is also important to do your research when looking for instructors to make sure you have found professionals with adequate credentials and experience to teach you.”

SG – “Are there any obstacles you can remember experiencing in your salsa development and how did you overcome these obstacles?”

BH – “Sure I have faced many obstacles, I still face them today. I struggled with spinning for a long time when I started, and today I struggle most with continuing to evolve my style and evolve our choreographies. You know you are continuing to grow if you keep facing obstacles because you are pushing yourself to try things you never have before. The thing to do is just keep working at it. I get frustrated all the time when I don’t get something right away but I’ve learned that I have to put in the time and have the discipline to work at it.”

Definitely inspiring to hear that everyone struggles to grow and develop artistically. Stay tuned for part #3 of Burju’s interview. But in the meantime check out their website at www.hymstyle.com.

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“SALSA IN TORONTO FESTIVAL

Salsa at Ontario Place:
Thursday July 10

Salsa on St. Clair Street Festival:
Saturday, July 12 – Noon to 11pm, and Sunday, July 13 – Noon to 8pm

Salsa Fever Takes Over Toronto with the launch of the Salsa in Toronto Festival!

The Salsa on St. Clair Street Festival shot onto the event scene like a cannon in 2005 uniting diverse cultures that share the passion and love for Latin culture. The Festival has attracted over 750,000 revelers to the streets of Toronto since its launch. This year, TLN Television, the City of Toronto, Hillcrest Village BIA, and Ontario Place have joined forces to make Canada’s most successful Latino street festival even bigger. Salsa on St. Clair will be transformed into the Salsa in Toronto Festival and include multiple destination partners between July 10 -13, a week which has been traditionally recognized as Latino Week in Toronto in honour of the festival.

Salsa in Toronto Festival highlights include the inaugural all-day Salsa at Ontario Place on Thursday July 10 and the 4th annual Salsa on St. Clair Street Festival on Saturday July 12 between Noon and 11pm and Sunday July 13 from Noon to 8pm in midtown Toronto just west of Bathurst Street between Christie St and Winona Drive. Play, Dance, Sing, Eat, and Parade in a carnival of fun.”

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SG – “Are there any obstacles you can remember experiencing in your salsa development and how did you overcome these obstacles?”

ATM – “Where do I start?! I was a broke college student…lol So, I didn’t have much money for classes and such. What I would do is save up as much as possible to take a private once in a blue moon so I could get some individual attention and find out what I really needed to focus on. Then, I would practice the heck out of what I was told to do. This won’t always work for everyone as you have to have a lot of discipline to make it worthwhile, but it definitely helped me.

Time was also a problem. MIT was very demanding, so I had little time to do much else but study and bury myself in my work. Every chance I could get to come up for air, I’d take it. I had to get good at prioritizing. I believe if you really want to do something, you find a way to make it work, no excuses. That’s why I have no sympathy when someone tells me they don’t have the time to practice. You have to make the time.

SG – “What does salsa mean to you and how has it changed your life?”
ATM – “In truth, I’m actually a very shy person unless I know you. I don’t talk much in public unless I’m forced to, but I’ve found myself being more open and much more confident as I’ve improved in my dancing. Salsa has a way of helping you let go of inhibitions.

I’m still very self-conscious about a lot of things, but we all have our insecurities, and I just learn to work through them.

SG – “What are some of your salsa goals for 2008?”
ATM – “Joel and I are working on some big productions. There’s the Fantagious CD Release & Theater production coming up May 16th (www.masacoterecords.com). WE’RE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT! It is going to be different from any other dance event or show you’ve been to before. I know there’s a lot of people from Toronto planning to join us. That is taking a lot of prep work.

We have another production to work on after that which we want to finish in a couple years, and I have a couple other projects to embark on before the end of this one, including my first solo, which I’ve been wanting to do since 2004 but wanted to wait till the right time. I’ll be working on that this year. Hopefully you guys will like it :)”

—

To join Masacote Entertainment’s mailing list please click here.

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Here are the rough details of the competition. We will only hold the competition if we have 10 couples interested so please let me know who is interested in competing so we can get the ball rolling.

Any current Toronto Dance Salsa student, helper or assistant who has finished level 2 is eligible to compete. If you have been paid to teach your own group salsa class or to perform salsa professionally you will not be eligible.

There will be a preliminary round where couples will not know the song being played so it is a freestyle round. The music will play for 2 minutes and couples will compete for 1 of 5 spots in the finals round.

For those who make the finals round, they will have to choreograph a 2 minute routine to their own choice of salsa music.

Prizes last year included congress passes, dance shoes and much more.

Holding the competition takes a lot of time and energy. So if you are interested in competing or assisting, please email me at info@torontodancesalsa.ca

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

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This is the second helper party at our place and I think it is going to become tradition to move all our furniture, blast the salsa music and dance the night away. The Dance-All-Night Award would probably go to John Radke and Emely Tapar – I don’t think I saw them stop dancing which is a good thing because the food and dessert tables were overflowing.

We also surprised Alfred for his 35th birthday. Nina dropped off a huge cake and decorations the day before and all the helpers hid upstairs and shocked poor Alfred. It was Alfred’ first surprise party and hopefully we didn’t scar him for life. Happy birthday Alfred!

Our next helper get-together is on March 15th. I am treating all the helpers to a snowtubing and dinner experience at Horseshoe Resort. Should be a blast – photos to come!

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Lucky for me there is a new dance movie coming out this weekend called “Step Up 2 the Streets” which is the sequel to Step Up which came out about one year ago. I actually really enjoyed the original Step Up. The female lead was the same girl that was in the Tango Threesome in Take the Lead which was a great dance scene. The male lead is the same lead as in Step Up 2 so hopefully it will be filled with some great street dancing scenes!

Here is a blurb from Apple.com:

The follow-up to the smash hit “Step Up,” which ignited theaters in August 2006. When rebellious street dancer Andie (BRIANA EVIGAN) lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifnto her old life. When she joins forces with the school’s hottest dancer Chase (ROBERT HOFFMAN) to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore’s underground dance battle The Streets, she ultimately finds a way to live her dream while building a bridge between her two separate worlds. Featuring the directorial debut of award-winning up-and-comer Jon M. Chu, STEP UP 2 THE STREETS reunites much of the production team behind the original film including “Step Up“‘s cutting-edge hip-hop choreographer Jamal Sims, who is joined this time by choreographers Hi-Hat (“hip-hop’s high diva of dance”) and Dave Scott (“Stomp the Yard”). Patrick Wachsberger and Erik Feig of Summit Entertainment produce with Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot of Offspring Entertainment.

Click here to see the trailer. I will write review as soon as I see it.

Happy watching!

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Also try to practice your basics, listen to salsa and watch some DVDs, video clips or youtube performances just to get your mind back into the swing of things. If you can, visit a salsa practice or club at least once. Go through the syllabus we sent you last semester and try to visual how to lead or follow each move.

We also have our Monday night practice sessions beginning Monday Feb 4th at 9pm at the Adelaide Club. It is $4 to drop in or $25 for the entire 9 weeks. Come out and practice.

Hopefully if do a couple of these things you can feel a little more confident about starting classes back up. Good luck with your first class and looking forward to seeing everyone at the outings!

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