Here is a list of the new classes:

Cuban Style Salsa Level 1
Learn the original Cuban Salsa Style, a fun and highly interactive style of salsa dancing characterized for its playfulness and unique turn patterns. In this course you will learn the basics steps of the dance, musicality, lead and follow, meaning and execution of moves such Guapea, Paseala por el parque, setenta, and much more! At the end of every class learn to dance these moves in a Casino Rueda style wheel.

Student Performance Class – Salsa Threesome!
Interested in taking your salsa dancing to the next level? Join the TDS Fall 2011 Student Performance Class: Salsa Threesome Edition! This class is for Level 3 and higher dancers who are interested in developing their salsa partnerwork, styling and shine skills as well as going through the performance and training experience of a performance dance team. Students will be taught and rehearse a choreographed partner and shines routine, and perform as a group before live audiences around the GTA. The Fall 2011 routine will be the fun and challenging “2-on-1” style salsa (two follows and one lead). Each class is 1.5 hours in length over 9 weeks.

MTV Video Star – Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson
Do you ever wish you could just rock out that awesome choreography from your favourite dance music video? Well now you can! Join Tracie in the MTV Video Star class where she will teach you routines from some of the most popular dance music videos. Choreographies will be built-up each week in this 9-week course: dance moves will be added each week to build a full routine; time will be given to perfect and perform the steps just like in the video, right down to the rockstar attitude! This semester will feature the choreographies from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. No experience necessary!

Ladies Styling
Learn how to incorporate styling into your salsa dancing. Tracie will show you how to add that extra “oomph” and flair to your basic steps and the combos that you already know and love so that you can start adding styling to your dancing right away. Each class will focus on the fundamental elements of building styling into your dancing: body rhythm, timing, follow technique, musicality and the essentials of clean footwork in turn patterns and spins. Each class will introduce more advanced styling techniques to add as your dancing progresses. For those who have completed a minimum of Level 2 and up.

Open Shines
Shines are an integral part of salsa dancing – it is one of the things that bridges the gap from being a student to a dancer. This class will focus on the body isolation and movement techniques essential for fluid shines and open the dancer’s mind and body to the essential element of shines in salsa dancing as well as develop a dancer’s overall musicality skills. Every week students will learn fun and challenging shine sequences (suitable for both men and women) that will be used to build an overall routine; there will also be some focus on shines improvisation. For dancers who have completed TDS Level 2 and up.

Argentine Tango Level 1
Argentine tango has been thrilling dancers for more than 100 years. Tango is loved by dancers and audiences for its beauty, passion, drama and excitement. The essence of Argentine tango is about life and, especially, about the relationship between a man and a woman. This 9-week course is intended for absolute beginners and will focus on the fundamentals of lead and follow technique, the Tango walk, close embrace, musicality and etiquette. Learn simple floor patterns that you will be able to use in a milonga (tango social).

Bachata Intermediate 9 Week Program
Learn the finer points of the body movement, lead and follow technique and musicality of the sensual and romantic dance of Bachata. New turn patterns will be introduced each class with a focus on styling, body rhythm, timing and execution. Some time will also be spent on developing musicality and learning where and how to add accents, dips and holds to spice up the dance. Completion of Salsa level 2 or assessment required.

Bollywood Flash Mob
Ever wanted to surprise your friends with a Bollywood performance? Now is your chance! Join this Bollywood Flash Mob dance class and learn how to perform a choreographed Bollywood routine, but shhh… the details are a surprise! Referred to the genre of dance emanating from the Hindi cinema industry, Bollywood dancing is a fusion of traditional South Asian dances like Bhangra with Hip Hop as well as Latin & Arab influences. In this 9-week course you will learn to move like a Bollywood movie star, building on your performance quality, and feeling the rhythm of the Bollywood beat. This course will teach you a fun and easy choreographed routine, which will be performed at a time and location known only to the performers and instructor. Get ready to surprise the audience ‘Jai Ho’ style!
Fridays 6-7pm starting Sep 30th with Sadaf

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The evening began with 3 different lessons.  Lisa and Eunjoo provided the absolute beginner dancers with a fun intro to salsa class.  Sara and Roger taught the beginner/intermediates a sexy combination.  By the way, this was Sara’s last time teaching a club class.  Sara has completed her PhD and will be moving into a full time role in her field.  We will sorely miss her and I know she had a great time teaching the class.  May and I taught the intermediate class up on stage with a huge crowd and that was fun (almost lost my voice!).

Social dancing began at 8pm while the competitors, judges and performers prepared.  Winnie Fung was our Stage Manager and did a fantastic job organizing the evening.  The judges arrived and were briefed, we drew numbers to see the order of the competitors and everyone was getting their makeup done professionally by the fabulous ladies from Mary Kay.

At 9pm sharp, the awesome Tracie Yee in her gorgeous orange dress started the night.  She was truly an amazing emcee – engaging, entertaining and natural.  She kept the evening flowing beautifully and allowed enough time for the judges to tally up their scores.

Our judges for this round were Teddy and Rene from United Salseros, Angus from iFreestyle, Jennifer from Steps and Oscar from Latin Groove Productions.  Thank you so much judges for your input and support!

We had 8 couples compete:  Nina and Branco, Ileana and Martin, Monique and Joseph, Alexandra and Yuri, Anny and Tony, Sandra and Vig, Stephanie and John and Sanaz and Khemara.  Each couple was fantastic – you could really see the effort that was put in for the freestyle round which is difficult to do without knowing the song that is coming up.

While I tabulated the judges’ scores we had six amazing performance by the TDS Cabaret Team, Latin Grove Productions, TDS Reggaeton Team, Sumeet and Crystal from United Salseros, Daniel and Sandra’s Argentine Tango performance for TDS and the amazing TDS Pro Team debut performance with Jessica and Olivier.  A huge thank you to everyone who performed – you should all be so proud!

It was finally time for Tracie to announce the 5 couples who will be moving on to the finals and in no particular order they are:  Nina and Branco, Ileana and Martin, Anny and Tony, Sandra and Vig and Sanaz and Khemara.

Thanks to DJ Suave for the great tunes, Evan for keeping the evening running so smoothly and everyone else who made the night so memorable for almost 400 participants.  I can’t wait for the finals on Sunday June 26th at 6:45pm at Six Degrees Nightclub!!

The post TDS Amateur Competition Preliminary Round! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

How does it all work?
The first round involves many dance couples, usually dancing 2 minutes to a song showing off their ability to dance without a routine. This is a great round to determine a teams’ timing, smoothness and moves while trying to make it work to a song they won’t know until they hit the stage. Don’t forget the great performances as well as tons of lessons and social dancing.

The final round involves the top 5 winning couples from round 1 doing a 2.5 min routine to a song that they’ve chosen. Featuring costumes, lifts and tricks, you’re bound to see some amazing performances by TDS dancers who’ve been training hard to win the coveted first place!

While it can be scary to compete, you never know as you may just get inspired by this years’ teams to get ready for next year!

Till then,
Stay Shining Salseros!

The post The 5th Annual TDS Salsa Competition! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

Searching for a different way to improve your Salsa dancing? Ask any experienced dancer and they will tell you that learning the fundamental techniques of another dance form helps improve your skills as a dancer overall. In this class Tracie will lead you through technique exercises used by Argentine Tango dancers to develop their centre, poise, isolations and body awareness and show you how to apply those fundamentals to your salsa dancing. Also learn how to add sexy Tango leg styling within the structures of your on-1 salsa footwork. This class is also suitable for Argentine Tango dancers wishing to develop their Tango fundamental techniques of posture, balance, disassociation and execution. For dancers who have completed Level 2 salsa or higher. Also suitable for dancers who have just completed Level 1 or 2 Argentine Tango.

Brazilian Samba
with Tracie Yee
Starting April 29th 6pm for 9 weeks at $117 plus HST at Empress

Samba, the national dance of Brazil, is perhaps one of the most energetic and exhilarating South American dances! Learn the basics of Samba no pe, the style of samba most associated with Rio de Janeiro’s carnival. This class is suitable for female dancers with no experience with Brazilian samba, or those wanting to further develop their basic samba footwork, body movement, rhythm and styling. Improve coordination, core and leg strength and learn a fun, new (and easy) Brazilian samba routine. Join Tracie to dance and sweat to some of the most fun music on the planet! No prior dance experience necessary. This is a solo female dance class, no partners necessary. Please note that this class will be conducted in bare feet.

Reggaeton Funk
with Tracie Yee
Starting May 1st 11am for 9 weeks at $117 plus HST at Empress

Ever get seized with the overwhelming desire to flee the dance floor when Reggaeton comes on at the club? Well, flee no more! Learn how to get your funk on with this fun new dance class that blends the grooves of hip hop, funk and Jamaican dancehall. In this non-partnering dance class for both men and women, Tracie will focus on rhythm, body isolations, execution, styling and coordination. Once you’re done with this course you’ll have no reason to sit out the reggaeton music sets at the club!

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Thanks to over 200 people who came out to enjoy the evening.  Olivier and Elise taught the beginner salsa class and Evan and I taught the intermediate salsa lesson.  Ladies, we needed you!  There were at least 5 men who could have used a partner so ladies, come early to the outings so you can enjoy the workshop and get to meet some great dance partners.

There were tons of new faces and dancers of all levels.  As well, it was great to see some old friends and those who have been out of the salsa scene for a while.   Thanks to all my great dances including Rob, Teddy, Bryan and of course Evan and all the new dance partners I met.

Our next outing is the last one of 2010 and it is our TDS Christmas Party at Acrobat on Dec 18th, 2010 at 8:45pm.  There will be performances by the TDS Pro Team, the TDS Students Team and the TDS Reggaeton Team.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

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Perhaps I never fell out of love, but there have been rough patches. Last night energized me as everything thats’ amazing about Salsa was present, in full-force!

The Joys of Beginning…
It was apparent as soon as I walked in that it was going to be a special night as everyone in the Beginner class were smiling and having a blast! If you’re ever in a slump, take the beginners’ class and you’ll find a sea of smiles. Seeing people connect for the first time on the dance floor is a sacred thing.

Seeing Old Friends, Making New Ones…
I almost immediately ran into a Salsera who had taken a break of roughly 8 months. It was so nice to see her radiating and dancing up a storm! I remember having a really bad night a while back and she made me feel like a million bucks with a really great dance.

I also ran into 3 people I had the pleasure of helping in their level 1 class last term. It was truly amazing to see them on the dance floor all night and having a blast! I don’t think I had the guts when I first started out and am almost certain that within a few months that they’ll be salsa addicts.

At Least One Great Dance…
One of my personal goals is to try to have 1 great dance each time I go out. Last night I had about 6! I guess the stars were aligned, but something was in the air and it all came together. Mind you, I did a few bad ones and apologize for those.

Community…
One of the greatest things about the TDS Competition is that you get to see students, teachers and performances from many of the dance schools in Toronto. I love how all of the schools in Toronto are so supportive of each other big events like last night are always a blast because diversity in dance makes us all better dancers.

Mind-Blowing Performances…
9 performances and all of them were rock-solid and unique! From the flawless United Salseros to the Show-Stopping iFreeStyle teams and Passionate GoDance team! I also have to say that the pre-teen champions of Latin Energy blew me away!

Pretty in Pink…
The TDS Ladies brought the house down in fine form! With amazing formations, shines and an insane amount of pink sparkles; they made all of us proud!

Clash of the Titans…
As I watched each of the five couples I found different elements of salsa that helped reignite my salsa passions. Joanna and Orlando’s routine was spicy hot, from the flamenco-esque entrance to the heart-stopping lifts they were elegance personified.

Omid and Maysa’s routine was all about the powerful sex appeal of Salsa. Featuring insane-acrobatics and some serious show-boating; I was loving every second of it!

Steve and Jamie were so synched and tight watching their routine reminded me of ‘Burn the Floor’ as their steps were perfect and movements were stunning.

Miro and Julia’s performance was Salsa in it’s purest form. Who could forget Julia’s amazing floor spin?! A flawless ending to boot!

Last but not least, Olivier and Elise’s routine was a perfect combination of shines, tight movements, stunning tricks and brilliant costumes! Something really special happened on stage and I was really happy to witness it. Congrats to all of you as it was a most amazing night.

All I can say is thank you to everyone who made the night so amazing! I can’t wait till next year!!!

Till then,
Stay Shining Salseros!

The post Competition 2010 appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The evening began with a fun hour long lesson. Tracie and Mark taught the beginner lesson upstairs and Emely and Olivier taught the intermediate lesson on the main floor. After an hour of social dancing the competition began and the four finalists each took the stage to perform their choreographed routines. No limits on dips and allowances on lifts meant some very showy and entertaining tricks from all the competitors.

While we tabulated the judges’ scores, we were privy to three awesome performances by Latin Energy, the Semi Pro Team at iFreestyle and United Salseros. Thank you so much to each performer and the schools for a wonderful and inspiring display of salsa!

By the time the last school finished performing, the results were in and here they are below. Congratulations to all four couples – what a great effort!

1st Place – Mridu & Elton
2nd Place – Winnie & Manuel
3rd Place – Karen & John
Runners Up – Maysa & Dan

Special thank you to Evan, George, Sara, Tracie, Mark, Emely, Olivier, Adis, Nora and our great judges Teddy, Rene, Angus, Vanesa and Oscar.

The post TDS Amateur Salsa Competition Update! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The doors open at 6:30pm and we have two lessons lined up from 7pm – 8pm downstairs (intermediate) and upstairs (beginner) with Emely and Tracie.

From 8 – 9pm there is social dancing with DJ Efren who always keeps the mood fun and exciting with upbeat, sexy salsa, merengue and bachata songs.

At 9m the competition will begin. We have 4 couples competing in the finals:

Mridu and Elton
Winnie and Manuel
Maysa and Dan
Karen & John

Each will perform a 2 minute to 2.5 minute routine that they have choreographed. The judges (Oscar, Vanesa, Teddy, Rene and Angus) will have the opportunity to rate each couple and, once the 4 couples finish their routines, I will have the opportunity to add up the scores with Sara while the audience enjoys 3 performances by our fellow dance schools: Latin Energy, iFreestyle and Mambo Mosaic. The announcement of the winner will be announced after the schools perform and then DJ Efren will continue on with the social dancing for the rest of the evening.

Hope to see you all out supporting our competitors. I will post the results next week!

The post The finals are this Sunday! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

It was an awesome evening – our most organized by far! We opened the doors at 6:30pm and by 7pm when the lessons began we were already starting to fill up the huge venue. Sara and Farnoosh taught the intermediate lesson on stage and Tracie and Mark taught the beginner lesson upstairs.

At 8pm DJ Efren started spinning his very high energy salsa tunes and the lights went down. By this time we had about 400 people in attendance dancing up a storm. Upstairs in the dancer’s lounge the 18 competitors were getting their makeup done professionally by Alice from Mary Kay Cosmetics who volunteered her time to spice up the competitors. A huge thank you to her and her colleague – they were amazing and did a great job!

At 9pm sharp George(eous) our host began the competition. Funny as always (and making fun of me as usual 😉 George thanked our sponsors, the judges and introduced our 18 competitors who warmed up on stage for 2 minutes. Then each competitor was introduced with their bio and performed a freestyle performance for 2 minutes. Here are the names of the competitors in no particular order:

1. Winnie Fung and Manuel Alvarez
2. Mridu Das and Elton Martins
3. Michelle Sui and Bobby Cabral
4. Karen Di Monte and John Radtke
5. Julia Brodyansky and Vincent Cheng
6. Marta Slowik and Alex Florescu
7. Stephanie Cansino and Nick Sagias
8. Eva Wen and Derek Wisniewski
9. Maysa Tani and Dan Tahirkheli

The energy of the crowd was excellent and the judges had the very difficult job of rating each couple. Once all competitors performed Sara and I ran upstairs to tally up the scores and get the names of the 5 couples with the highest scores. At the same time, the adorable kids from Latin Groove Productions performed on stage. Thanks to Oscar for bringing his group to perform – the crowd loved the group!

Finally it was time for the results. Once again, in no particular order, here are the 5 finalist couples who will be competing for the TDS Champion Title:

1. Winnie Fung and Manuel Alvarez
2. Mridu Das and Elton Martins
3. Karen Di Monte and John Radtke
4. Marta Slowik and Alex Florescu
5. Maysa Tani and Dan Tahirkheli

Everyone received an awesome gift bag with prizes like a year’s VIP pass to Six Degrees, TDS t-shirt, El Rancho VIP 4 month pass, passes to Lula Lounge, Plaza Flamingo, Baila Society classes and more. Thank you to the sponsors for the great prizes!

Overall an amazing evening. I can’t wait to experience the final round on Sunday May 31st at 7pm at Six Degrees. Hope to see you all there!

The post The Preliminary Round of the Competition! appeared first on Toronto Dance Salsa.

The Miami Salsa Congress has always been a great friend and sponsor of TDS. As usual this year they are contributing passes to our first, second and third place winners of the TDS Amateur Salsa Competition and we are very appreciative.

“THE 8th MIAMI SALSA CONGRESS
July 29 – August 2, 2009
PRESENTED BY
SALSA LOVERS & MIAMI BEACH VISITOR & CONVENTION AUTHORITY

For a total of five days you will experience over 80 live spectacular showcases, dance to the music of some of the hottest Salsa disc jockeys & Live Bands in the industry and take dance workshops with the best instructors from around the world.

The Miami Salsa Congress was created in 2002 to give Floridians a chance to experience the latin culture of music and dance under one roof. It’s also an opportunity to bring salsa music and dance lovers from as far as the UK, Asia, South America and beyond to enjoy our beautiful sunny city while enjoying great Salsa music. This is why everyone calls the Miami Salsa Congress “The Ultimate Dance Vacation!”.

For more information regarding the Miami Salsa Congress, please visit:
http://www.miamisalsacongress.com/home.asp

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