For those students who were asking to see our new son, here is Hayden. He salsa danced for 9 months in my tummy before arriving June 24th. Now he is learning to kick and move his arms and soon he will be the short guy all the ladies will be dancing with at the socials 🙂

So I started teaching on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays at Empress. I am teaching every level we have to offer from level 1 all the way through to level 6 which doesn`t happen every semester so I am really luck this time to get to experience all the levels. My students and helpers rock and made me feel like I hadn`t been away for long.

So I can`t wait to get to know my students better. Hope to see everyone out at our outing tomorrow evening (Friday, Sept 25th) to Peridot Lounge or at our social on Sunday evening at Empress.

Happy dancing!

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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!

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I started off by asking Super Mario what is the most important piece of advice he can offer a person learning how to dance? Here is his response…

SM – “The most important piece of advice that I could give anyone learning how to dance, well…..HAVE FUN. Learn stuff, but have fun while learning. I have been dancing for almost 10 years now, only salsa with no prior dance background. And for me, dancing with someone today is as much fun as it was the first day I took a salsa class. And knowing that when I am having fun my partner is also enjoying themselves and they walk away with smiles all around.”

The thing that I like and respect about Mario is that what he says is the truth – he really is having a blast every time he gets on the dance floor and he treats every person he dances with as if they are the best, most fun dancer he has danced with so you feel great walking off the dance floor.

I also asked Mario what are the most important actions that students can take to see improvement? Here is his response:

SM – “Hmmm…..I used to try and remember all my material when I was learning, and then one day someone showed me how I looked like when I was dancing. I didn’t like it at all. So I worked on fixing all the areas of my dancing that didn’t look good on tape. Try filming yourself dancing and you can be your biggest critic. So every now and then film yourself social dancing and then correct what you don’t like.

Dance with everyone, from beginners to advanced dancers. If you can lead something, you will be able to lead it on a beginner or advanced dancer. If your lead is weak, the beginner would not be able to follow it, so you might have to lead it differently. What you learn from this is how to lead everyone. The same move but with different tensions.

Listen to music and learn to dance all styles…..it only opens one’s mind.”

I will post more Super Mario tips over the next few weeks. In the meantime check out his website with online classes at: www.salsaclass.tv

Happy dancing!

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The first is the amount of people. We need a venue where at least 250 people can dance comfortably. That is no small feat. Most clubs can fit 250 people but not for salsa dancing. Much more space is needed for dancing and the floors have to allow for our type of dancing (hardwood is the best for this).

Second of all, we need it to be TTC accessible. Preferably on the subway or street car with street parking in the area. We want to keep it in Toronto or North York for this reason as it is much more central and more people can attend.

Third of all, we need a place that can offer us a Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening. Most places don’t want to do this as salsa dancers don’t spend a lot of money at the bar and so they make more money on regular club nights then salsa evenings. We need a club or restaurant or community centre/church with reasonable expectations that can offer us space on one of these evenings.

If you know of a place, please let us know. We would love to expand to a few more areas especially in mid town.

Happy dancing!

The post New Venues Wanted appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

“Hey TDS family,

I wanted to let you all know about something I recently experienced in hopes that you won’t make the same mistake I made. The lesson I learned is: make sure your dance shoes fit you properly!!

As a new salsa dancer, I went out in search of a pair of salsa shoes a couple weeks ago. I didn’t know too much about dance shoes, I just assumed they’re supposed to fit like regular dress shoes. I looked on the TDS website and found a place. I’m normally a 5 ½ or a 6 so I tried on the 5 ½ first and it was way too tight. The size 6 fit a big snug so I tried on a size 6 ½. To me, they fit perfectly but I wasn’t sure how dance shoes were supposed to fit but the lady assured me that they fit fine and that I’d have no problems with them. I left there very happy, not knowing what was about to happen a few days later…..

I went to my regular Sunday dance class and I found that my feet kept sliding forward in my shoes, leaving my toes to hang over the edge. I found this to be very uncomfortable so I asked one of the instructors if this was normal. She said no and suggested that I get insoles to prevent my feet from slipping. I went to a shoe repair place a couple days later and I asked for insoles and the repairman advised me that insoles wouldn’t help me because my shoes were in fact too big for me. He said that because of the material and because they’re dance shoes, I need to buy them a big snug and as I dance, they will stretch out. He also advised me that the space between my shoes and my ankles was too wide. He said that there was nothing he could do for me and that I needed to go back to the place where I bought them and get a smaller size. I called the lady from where I bought them and she said that if I want another size, I have to buy a completely new pair of shoes.

I referred back to the TDS website to see if there was another place I could try. To my delight, I found Century Wide Shoes (www.cwdanceshoes.com). The saleslady Angela greeted me with a big smile and she was very helpful and very friendly but most importantly, she took the time to make sure the shoes fit the way they’re supposed to. I left there feeling satisfied and relieved. I took a few of her business cards as I was leaving and I promised her that I’d give them to my TDS friends as I was very happy with her service. I tried the shoes in my next class and they were perfect.

My fellow dancers, when buying dance shoes, it’s important that you make sure that they fit you the right way. Make sure they are snug and there isn’t too much space in the ankle area and your toes aren’t hanging over the edge. They are supposed to fit a bit tight when you first wear them, but they will stretch out. Happy dancing!”

Written by Reshma Ramjattan

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There is a great article about this topic…click here to read it. Essentially, the article talks about the great lengths that couples are going to make their wedding unforgettable. One couple spent $2500 on 30hrs of private dance lessons to be able to really feel comfortable, knowledgeable and confident in their choreographed routine.

If you are thinking of a spicier dance for your wedding there are some things you should keep in mind. I get phone calls all the time requesting private wedding lessons and I mostly just refer them to a ballroom instructor after asking them if they want something more traditional and if they have time to commit. I would only take a couple on if a) they understand what salsa looks like, it is high paced, fun, difficult to dance in a long dress and definitely not traditional b) have they taken lessons before? Starting from scratch is really difficult. If all you want is to do the basic steps and turns, then a couple of lessons may do the trick. But if you want to competent and really make an impact, this takes time and practice. For every 1 hour of private lesson, I recommend 4 hours of practice.

If you aren’t prepared to make a commitment to practice, this may not be the dance for you. My suggestion is to decide whether you want to learn to dance for the long term benefits so that it is not just about the one night. Then take the time to take some group classes and once you are prepared take some privates to hone your skills and choreograph the routine.

Happy dancing and congrats to all the engaged couples!

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