Each workshop is $35 per person or attend two workshops for $65 or three or four for $30 each.

NEW Introduction to “On 2” Workshop!
Become bilingual! Learn how to transfer your skills from On1 to On2. If you are an intermediate/advanced On1 dancer or a On2 beginner, this workshop is for you! During this workshop you will learn how to “feel” the On2, deconstruction of the rhythm & musicality, polishing of the basic step, transfer of your On1 turn patterns and learn new fun ones! For dancers who have completed Level 3 or higher. Mon Dec 14th from 7:30 – 9:30pm at Empress.

Tango Up Your Salsa Workshop!
Searching for a new way to move in your salsa dancing? Tango Up Your Salsa! This workshop will show you how to capture the sensuality of Argentine Tango in your salsa dancing. Learn how to add Argentine Tango moves such as ganchos (hooks), boleos (leg “throws”) and molinetes (windmills) within the structures of your on-1 salsa footwork. For dancers who have completed Level 2 or higher. Sun Dec 6th from 3:30 – 5:30pm at Empress.

Dips & Tricks Workshop!
Want to kick your dancing up a notch by adding a few fancy dips and tricks? This workshop will teach you how to use your core to execute and balance dips and tricks effortlessly on the dance floor. This workshop will also focus on turn pattern options for proper and safe execution of getting in and out of dips and tricks in a social setting. For dancers who have completed Level 3 or higher. Sun Dec 13th from 3:30 – 5:30pm at Empress.

Casino Rueda Workshop!
A salsa style originating from Cuba, Casino Rueda is danced with partners arranged in a circle, or wheel (Rueda). Characterized by multiple partner and pattern changes called out from the circle leader (or caller) throughout the dance, Casino is a fun and highly interactive style of salsa dancing. Learn the meaning and execution of moves such as Da Me Uno (“Give Me One”), La Flor (“The Flower”) and Setenta (“Seven”). For dancers who have completed Level 2 and higher. Sun Dec 20th from 3:30 – 5:30pm at Empress.

The post New Intro to Salsa ON 2 Workshop! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

We have just posted an Intro to Dancing Salsa ON 2 workshop on Saturday March 7th from 5:15 – 7:15pm at Empress. Open to those who have finished level 2 or with permission, this workshop is taught by Teddy Olaso from United Salseros and is $35 for students and $30 for helpers.

Here is a description:
This workshop will focus on introducing the proper fundamentals of dancing On2, covering proper footwork, musical pacing and timing. Musical tips will be given on how to feel the On2 beat much more effectively and how to enjoy it differently from dancing On1 so one understands the music better. Students will convert commonly used turn patterns On1 to On2 timing so they can focus more on the timing rather than the choreography. Since most On1 turn patterns were originally based on On2, transition will be easier and less complicated. However, an intermediate level turn pattern On2, along with styling (body isolations & hand movements) body movements that go with the accent, will also be introduced at the end of the class.

You can register online through your profile. We are still looking for one more workshop topic for April so get in your request soon!

The post Just Posted appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The next new class to be offered is the very famous Zumba Fitness Workout 5 week session. This is a high energy, fun cardiovascular exercise program that incorporates Latin dance footsteps, body movement and arm movement to get the heart pumping and the muscles working. No partner is required. Cost is $70 for 5 weeks and the class takes place on Wednesdays 5:45 – 6:45pm starting November 19th. Here are some more details regarding this program:

What is Zumba Fitness?
Founded by celebrity fitness trainer, “Beto” Perez, Zumba Fitness Classes Toronto fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic workout system that will blow you away. It’s an exhilarating workout of caloric-burning, heart-racing, muscle-pumping, and body-energizing movements meant to engage and captivate for life! The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat.

In the past years Zumba Fitness Classes have become nothing short of a revolution. Coining the concept of “fitness-party” and making fitness fun, Zumba has spread like wild-fire throughout North America. The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms, and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavor and international zest into the mix and you’ve got Zumba Fitness!

Zumba Fitness Classes in Toronto will get you grooving to Merengue, Salsa, Reggaeton, Cumbia, Bachata and Cha Cha Cha. The progressive level 1 class will start you with the basic footwork patterns and as the weeks progress, styling and fitness elements will be added to have you really working up a sweat! What are you waiting for? Join the party!

Toronto Dance Salsa offers Zumba Fitness dance classes in Toronto for beginners. This five week introduction class will address all the basics of the dances including technique, footwork, arm movements, body movement and styling.

Our Zumba Fitness Toronto classes are taught by Tracie Macko. Here is Tracie’s bio:

Tracie Macko, Salsa and Zumba Instructor
Tracie first fell in love with salsa in 2002 at a club in her hometown of Winnipeg, MB. Moving to Toronto that same year, Tracie saw the diverse dance and performing arts community that Toronto had to offer and immediately immersed herself into the Latin dance social scene. She quickly obtained a position as a Salsa dance group and private class instructor at Soles Dance Studio, and was a main dance instructor there until Soles closed its doors in the summer of 2004.

Since then Tracie has continued on as a private On1 Salsa Dance instructor, and, in 2005, expanded her teaching into the world of dance fitness, teaching ‘Zumba Fitness’ and Salsa Cardio at various fitness facilities throughout the GTA. Tracie has also established herself as a creative, dedicated and energetic dance performer and choreographer, making appearances on numerous Toronto stages in a variety of dance genres, ranging from cabaret style jazz to Salsa to Afro-Brazilian and Samba. She is currently a performing member of The Dance Migration, The Orient Dance Company and Las Gatas Entertainment. She is also a “regular” on the social Salsa dancing scene, dancing both On1 and On2 at clubs in the Toronto area, and is known for her unique style that reflects her diverse dance background.
Click here to view our Zumba Fitness Workout Classes Toronto.

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Flex writes:

“Let’s try to compile a list of simple basic things that followers should do automatically, but all too often don’t:

1. Wait for a lead.

2. In the absence of a lead – i.e. when the leader does not signal and initiate some change of direction or momentum – do your basic over 8 beats (many moves particularly in X-body rely on the follower executing her basic: if On1, back then forward, forward then back. Sooooo many followers don’t do this simple thing!).

3. Maintain your frame – connect to the lead with responsive arm pressure. Otherwise he can’t guide you with precision.

4. In open hold, follow the hand that is being led, with your frame. i.e. orient your frame towards it

5. When they’re below shoulder height and your hands are on his, keep the connecting hands slightly angled up at the wrist (so that, using the connection pressure, he can guide you backwards with that hand as well as forwards)

6. Keep your hands available – waist height when loose, if not in a styling moment – so that he knows exactly where to find a hand.

7. Take the offered hand, returning any pressure.

8. If the lead drapes your hand on or round his body, leave it there until he removes it one way or another – this helps him to find that hand again immediately, as he can feel exactly where it is even if he’s turning.

9. If he tosses or flicks your hand / arm up, for pity’s sake continue the movement gracefully up and around. He’s expecting you to do that, not to make your arm go stiff after moving three inches!

10. Distinguish between hand flicks where the lead wants that hand back again (the majority) from those where he is throwing away that hand in order to take the other. The beat on which this occurs is usually critical to that distinction.

11. Do not take the initiative to let go the leader’s hand, even if you worry that what he is attempting to do may result in a knot. (This assumes that the leader knows what he’s doing – if you decide not to trust him, the dance may as well end there and then).

12. Do not hold on to the leader’s hand so that he cannot drop yours easily. The initiative to take or drop a hand is his.

13. If the leader initiates a turn or spin, keep turning or spinning until he acts to stop you. Many moves over the full eight beats rely heavily on this principle and become joyfully easy if only the follower understands it. If she doesn’t, they either require a heavy mechanical lead or result in one of those moments where she knows she’s hesitated and got something wrong – but may blame it unfairly on his leading!

14. Unless otherwise engineered specifically by the lead, keep some bend in your connected elbow so that there is always some flexibility for you to step backwards as well as forwards.

15. Recognise the signals to go into a shine and learn some of the conventions to signal when you’d like to come out of it. Have a few steps you can shine with, rather than freezing in horror.

16. Recognise a block and have your bodyroll etc. ready to occupy that space of four beats until the block’s lifted.

17. If he’s doing something amazing in front of you but not leading you to do anything at the same time, don’t stand there frozen in open-mouthed wonder! Do something cute and sexy.

18. In the absence of any tactile lead, use visual cues. If he’s positioning for a cross-body lead, no contact, then do a cross body. If you’re doing X-body style and he starts walking round you, don’t turn (just do your back-and-forward, forward-and-back 8-beat basic). If it’s Cuban and he walks round you, do turn.

19. If the leader’s behind you and one or both of your hands are loose on the pause beat, make them available to him (use the seagull position if both hands, half seagull position if one hand, and if he doesn’t take them on the next beat withdraw them quickly as he may be coming round you and doesn’t want to go round a wide circle to avoid your extended hands).

20. When he starts to lead your arms overhead, take the tension/pressure off as soon as he takes the tension off (don’t fight a head-comb, and when spinning or turning keep those overhead arms soft so he can do touch-and-gos or neck wraps or hand drapes or hand flicks etc without you getting into a stiff-arm wrestle)

21. Pay attention to your leader as well as to his lead. Look at him when he’s looking at you. And smile! The least you can both do is be each other’s for five minutes on the dance floor.”

This is really a great list for followers to work on. Ladies, most complaints that men have centre around these issue so choose 1 tip a week and work on it!

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“Miami Salsa Congress 2007…thoughts by Linda Domenichini!

Saturday:
To jump-start the morning, we got a taste of Colombian Style Salsa partner work with Son de Cali. It was so interesting to experience this style of salsa, which will certainly add some flair to my dancing. We learned the Columbian basic, mark, elevation, fours and a basic with a cha cha cha, the latter being a move we were told is used often to replace the standard basic during really fast songs. With just a few basic moves, we were dancing with some Columbian flavour! We were scheduled to take ladies styling on2 with Griselle Ponce for our next class, but unfortunately, Griselle had a hairline fracture and couldn’t teach that day, so Nelson Gaston Vidarte from Energy One (Miami) stepped in to take over the class. He performed the night before, so we knew all about his fantastic body movement, but now we know that he is also a fantastic instructor! My shoulders still ache from the isolation exercises and shines combo he took us through. Shake, shake, shake! While some of us took Ismael Otero’s (New York) turn patterns on2 class, I decided to take some casino rueda with Rene Gueits & Salsa Lovers (Miami). They had three circles going – beginner, intermediate and advanced. I’ve never taken a casino rueda class before, but since I consider myself a strong enough follower, I decided to jump in the intermediate circle. It was a lot of fun whizzing around the circle and I think I had a permanent smile on my face the entire hour. If you have yet to try rueda, you should definitely give it a go. Next, we dove into on2 territory with Jayson Molina (Puerto Rico) who challenged us with a shines routine. The advanced class was tough, but I learned a lot by pushing myself to try something out of my comfort zone. After Jayson’s on2 class, I finished the day with an on1 turn pattern class with Salsa Karibe (Miami). I’m glad that we rotated frequently in this class because I got to dance with some great dancers. After a tough day, I needed a little cat-nap before the performances and evening dancing, so I decided to snooze by the pool, but of course, it was non-stop action at this event – with poolside dancing!

At any given salsa congress, the Saturday evening is usually known to be the biggest night of entertainment, and I was once again blown away by the talent on stage. My favorite performances of the evening included Al & Karla Espinoza (L.A.) who inspired me to keep working on my multiple turns! Griselle Ponce (N.Y) braved the stage in her wrapped foot (that beautifully matched her costume I might add) and proved that even with an injury, she is one of the best dancers around. Billy Fajado and Katie Marlow (Ft. Lauderdale) gave a stunning cabaret style performance with incredible lifts and graceful style, while Jhesus Aponte and Sheila De Jesus (Puerto Rico) injected salsa with a swing/jive feel. A most amazing performance was given by a troupe from Montreal (I’m still trying to track down who it was because they were so fantastic) and I absolutely loved the show by Santo Rico (N.Y) The future of salsa looks bright as we watched a group of high school kids from Massachusetts – Salsa Con Clase – who brought down the house with their funky flavour.

Once again, I was exhausted by midnight, but I wanted to check out the social dancing for a bit, and I’m sure glad that I did because Sonora Carruseles from Columbia was in the house! What a great concert.”

Last part on Monday!

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“Miami Salsa Congress 2007…thoughts by Linda Domenichini!

One word: phenomenal! This sums up my experience at the 6th Annual Miami Salsa Congress. Held at the Miami Beach Resort & Spa on August 1-5, the event brought together all those who have a passion for salsa for five full days of parties, performances and workshops – and wow, this event did not disappoint!

We arrived in Miami early Thursday afternoon, which gave us a chance to settle in and hit the beach. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the official kick-off party at Yuca Lounge in Miami Beach. The small venue was packed with salsa enthusiasts and I had some great dances. I even learned a few new moves and a dip! Many of the instructors gave a freestyle demonstration of their talents as well. Among the salsa pros was Toronto’s very own Giovanni Torres, who tore up the floor with his shines. I was really impressed with the talent during these demonstrations – especially since the floor conditions weren’t the best (stone tiles) – but nothing could stop us from moving our feet to the beats of DJ Alberth Moreno (South Florida) and DJ Franklin Ayala (N.Y). We didn’t get back to the hotel until three in the morning!

A late-night made it a challenge to get up for the workshops, but we didn’t travel all that way to sleep in and miss out on classes with some of the most acclaimed salsa dancers in the world. With two classes (in different rooms) an hour to choose from, we had to plan which ones to take for our dance development. The program offered classes from the beginner to advanced level, ranging from various styles including Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian. On1, on2, footwork on clave, ladies styling – whatever you were after, it was there! The congress even offered a beginners bootcamp, taught by Edie “The Salsa Freak” Lewis. I wish I could have taken all of the classes, but I managed to participate in five out of the seven timeslots of classes each day.”

Stay tuned to the next post from Linda’s exciting Miami trip…

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