A huge thanks to Evan, Sara, Tracie and Mark who joined me at the studio for a fun morning of jokes, laughter, stories (it was a long car ride!) and salsa of course.

For those of you who have never seen the show, Real Life host Sharon Caddy and co-host Tanya Prokomenko keep us up-to-date on what’s going on in the world of entertainment, fashion and beauty tips, home decor, fitness, nutrition and family fun. Visit the Real Life website at: www.reallifeoncts.com

The 3 part segment will be aired on November 17th from 4:30 – 5:30pm so check it out!

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We have a level 2 student named Prakash who recently wrote an article about how people can improve neuro skills and he listed dancing as his top 5 item. He recommends salsa dancing and TDS to learn. Check out the article on the website examiner.com

Top 5 tips to exercise your brain

Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise. Most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In short, use it or lose it.

By constantly participating in activities that you have not done before, you train your brain to go into uncharted territories, and pick up new skills. Health, or for that matter, anything flourishes, when you focus on eliminating the weakest link. i.e you are as strong as your weakest link.

Here are the top 5 tips for actively engaging your brain and in the process having fun too:

1. Break routine
Use your weaker hand to drive the computer mouse. Or try signing your name, or try punching in the phone numbers or brushing your teeth with your weaker hand. By doing it more often, you will be surprised how quickly your brain adapts!

2. Play games/sports
Any kind of new indoor or outdoor games that you haven’t played before. Or the latest craze – Sudoku. Sudoku rules are easy, and most websites carry free puzzles that you can download, and print and take it with you on your ride to work. www.krazydad.com/puzzles is a good resource to go to.

3. Juggling
Juggling is my favorite way to get my brain, eyes and arms coordinate, balance and do acts that I thought I could never do! Get yourself a good set of Juggling balls to begin with. There are a lot of youtube videos that show step by step on how to start juggling. You can drop me an email, and I can teach you myself or pass on the links. One of the best places to get juggling gear is from www.higginsbrothers.com.

4. Play a musical instrument
Learn a musical instrument. Anything that you always wanted to play. When I started learning the piano, getting the fingers and the brain tuned to the next note to play, can be really challenging and at the same time fun. Practice makes us learn it eventually and we then go on to play complex notes, songs or start learning the next musical instrument!

5. Learn a dance form
Salsa, could be a great choice. New moves to learn, new partners to dance with, and a great cardiovascular workout at the same time! If you are in Toronto, I would highly recommend torontodancesalsa.ca.

Thanks Prakash for a great article!

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“Top 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Salsa Dancing Skills

What Level are You On?

Whether you are a beginning, intermediate, or advanced salsa dancer, there are certain tips and tools that will always come in handy when you want to dance at your best. It is one of the greatest things about salsa dancing. We are ALL ALWAYS learning, so that means that even the best dancers that you look up to will never know all there is to know about dancing. If we knew everything there was to know it would quite frankly get boring. Constantly challenging ourselves, as dancers, with new styles, moves and tricks is what keeps us dancing. So with that said there are certain important tips that will never die. I have been dancing socially for about 10 years now. When I feel myself getting rusty, I revert back to the ‘ol basics.

Top 5 Salsa Dancing Tips
1. COUNT 123,4,567,8, that is right…it may sound easy, but even now when I dance with experienced dancers I find myself wondering…”What beat are they dancing on?” Count silently in your head, especially when you are just starting out. I kid you not, I was counting out loud on the dance floor for the first 3 years. Not only did it help me to stay on the beat, but if your partner is observant enough, they might actually hear you and follow your lead.

2. Make salsa tension a top priority. Doesn’t matter if you are the leader or the follower. The connection between the two dancers is what makes salsa what it is. Remember the four points of contact in the closed position. The hands, the leaders hand on the followers shoulder blade, the followers hand on the front of the leaders shoulder, and the leaders and followers elbows that line up when in closed position. Remember to meet your partners tension and adjust to each individual.

3. Watch other dancers. Whether it is the class instructor you are watching, dancers in the salsa clubs, or salsa videos. Watch different styles of dancers and pick the styles you want to adapt to your own. There is no right or wrong style of salsa dancing. The more you make the style your own, the more interesting you dancing style will become. So take a little something from everyone, keep what you like and forget what you don’t.

4. Practice the basic step. This should go without saying, but it really does make the biggest difference. Practice in your kitchen, practice when you are walking around your house. The more you engrain the basic step into your muscle memory, the easier all of the other turns and patterns will become. Build a solid foundation with the basic step. It will never fail you.

5.Last, but certainly not least, listen to salsa music. You are what you eat, so to speak. If you listen to salsa music all the time, you will get more and more familiar with how the rhythm of the music progresses, and how your dancing will speed up and slow down with the music. Dancers connection to the music is really what make them amazing dancers. It is not about showing all your flashy moves, it is about letting the music move you.

The most important thing is to enjoy yourself. This may seem like a give in, but it is what salsa dancing is all about. It is natural to get nervous when you are first starting out. But we all started somewhere, so just communicate with the person you are dancing with and just remember that they were right where you are at some point in their dancing lives.”

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Sharon

“SOUND ACADEMY PRESENTS – DIRECT FROM CALI COLOMBIA – SON DE CALI – LIVE IN CONCERT SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, AT SOUND ACADEMY (Formerly The Docks) 11 POLSON ST., TORONTO -TEL: 416-649-7437. DOORS OPEN 8 PM.

SON DE CALI AND THEIR 14 PIECE ORCHESTRA ARE ONE OF THE WORLDS FOREMOST SALSA GROUPS. THEIR BRAND OF FIERY “COLOMBIANA SALSA” IS NOT TO BE MISSED. SON DE CALI WILL PERFORM 2 LONG SETS ON SEPTEMBER 27TH AND THE BAND’S LEAD VOCALISTS WILLIE GARCIA AND JAVIER VASQUEZ HAVE OFFERED A CHALLENGE TO TORONTO SALSA LOVERS…”LET’S SEE WHO CAN LAST LONGER ON THE DANCE FLOOR…US OR THE DANCERS.” THE SOUND ACADEMY HAS A NEW GIGANTIC WOODEN DANCE FLOOR. LITERALLY ROOM FOR HUNDREDS OF DANCERS. SO DON’T MISS SON DE CALI AND TORONTO’S SALSA EVENT OF THE YEAR!!

ADVANCE TICKETS $36.50 – AVAILABLE AT TICKETMASTER BY CALLING 416-870-8000 OR ONLINE AT WWW.TICKETMASTER.CA / ADVANCE TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE AT TORONTO LATINO: 1786 EGLINTON AVE. WEST 416-781-0919 + SUPER LATIN MUSIC: 1088 ST. CLAIR AVE. WEST 416-654 2217 + MARIO LATIN VIDEO: 616 BLOOR ST. WEST 416-537-3449 + COLOMBUS BAKERY: 2931 DUFFERIN ST. 416-782-4520 + GUSTITOS de MI TIERRA: 2708 JANE ST. UNIT #1 416-749-8777 + LA FUENTE: 9 MILVAN DR. PLAZA LATINA 416-745-0785 + CELLULAR PRO SHEIMY’S LOCATION: 1740 JANE ST. 416-249-7200 + CAFE LATINO: 3038 HURONTARIO ST. 905-949-8447 + 4UR CONVENIENCE: 3070 HURONTARIO ST.905-272-9257 + RINCON LATINO: 1352 KENNEDY RD. 416 615 2675 + LAS AMERICAS: 2260 KEELE ST. 416-246-9911 + LA FAVORITA: 18 QUEEN ST. W. BRAMPTON 905-460-1346. TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR FOR $40.00.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION + ALL MEDIA AND PRESS INQUIRES REGARDING SON DE CALI PLEASE CONTACT SOPHIE AT 416-836-2600.”

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Have you guys seen the show America’s Got Talent? Well they have a salsa act that is in their top 8 for the first time. It is a brother and sister combination – Emily and Junior and they are very young, very fun to watch and very popular. The video above shows their audition footage.

I think it’s great that salsa is so mainstream now that it can potentially win a talent show and that salsa dancers are confident enough about the dance to audition. We have to thank shows like So You Think You Can Dance for really showcasing the art form.

America’s Got Talent is actually having the public vote for the winners. If you are interested in voting on the website visit http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/index.shtml. You can vote as many times as you like – I just voted once to cheer on my fellow salsa dancers.

Congratulations to Emily and Junior!!

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SG – “What are the most important actions that students can take to see improvement?”

ATM – “First and most importantly, practice what you learn from class, both in a group and on your own. I know for me practicing in a group of 3 was very helpful as I always found it motivating. Plus, I could ask someone to take a look at what I was doing and see if they saw what I might be doing wrong. Practicing on your own is also good though since there are some things we feel less self conscious about practicing alone.

Now, the key to practicing is to focus on certain things – such as spinning, body movement, social dancing, etc. Don’t try to do everything in one day. That is the downfall for most people. If you don’t find a focus, it could just end up being a waste of time. If you’re not sure what to focus on, then I’d highly recommend taking privates to help you target.

Another really great action is to tape yourself on video every couple months. You can literally document your improvement this way. The truth is that if we don’t have an awareness in our bodies, we will never really understand what people are trying to tell us to do or not to do unless we see it for ourselves. That is the beauty of video.

Now, that doesn’t mean have someone follow you around with a camera. lol Just bring a camera to practice and ask a friend to tape you social dancing or just improvising to footwork (a great substitution if you don’t have someone to lead you). These days, photo cameras or phones usually all take videos, so it’s not as hard to come by one. 🙂

I never had a camera when I started, but I was lucky that some friends did and once in a while a friend would give me a video of me social dancing that I didn’t know existed. It opened so many new doors for me…I would literally cringe at the first videos I saw of myself. I was doing so much I didn’t like, but all the corrections people were giving me started to make sense. When I would see subsequent videos, I would see the difference in my dancing and even more that I wanted to correct.

In the end, all these early videos served as motivation for me when I would get frustrated or hit a rut later on. Sometimes going back to the first videos of yourself and seeing how far you’ve come can really help to focus you once again. Here are some of the earliest salsa videos I have of myself…Maybe it will motivate someone else:

http://www.masacoteentertainment.com/videos/anaprogression/index.html

Thanks Ana for the advice and sharing your first videos. I still think your first videos are wonderful but the progression is definitely notable and inspiring for those who feel they have reached a plateau!

More interview questions with Ana coming soon!

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Here is the first excerpt from the interview:

SG – “What is the most important piece of advice you can offer a person learning how to dance?”

ATM – “Have fun! Dancing is about having a good time. Many times people begin to take it too seriously and forget why they started in the first place. That doesn’t mean don’t work hard…The beauty of salsa is that it doesn’t matter how much you learn, there is always something MORE. It is a much more challenging dance than people think when they start out, so many times people let frustrations get the best of them and they give up.

Just work hard, practice hard, and focus, but when you step out on that dance floor, don’t forget that your Number One priority is to have fun and enjoy yourself.”

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

ATM – “Most students want to conquer the world in one day instead of finding a focus. I would recommend to focus on one timing…Be it on 1, on 2, on 3….But focus on one of them until you get comfortable with it. Then, begin to expand into other timings. Salsa is just a language with many dialects. There is some similarity between all the timings, but if you try to learn them all at once, you can easily confuse yourself. Try to find one focus, but once you are able to expand, definitely DO IT! You never want to limit your partners, so it is great to learn and understand all the other timings possible.

Also, try to avoid staying in a clique. That is the biggest mistake most people make…They take classes, meet people in the classes, go out as a group, and dance only with themselves. That creates 2 problems….1) You don’t get to learn the art of adaptation. Salsa is about learning to connect with people whom you’ve never danced with before. 2) The salsa scene grows into a nice little slump of a community. The more open people are with each other and the more interaction they have with others from the community, the more the salsa community can grow together and create a healthy environment for newcomers. Just sit back and watch it blossom. This invariably helps the dancers in the community grow too.

Of course, I’m not saying not to go out with friends. By all means, find a group of people to go out with, make it a group trip, and dance with each other at the clubs, but don’t just stick to dancing with each other. Branch out and dance with others you haven’t met before.”

More with Ana over the next few weeks. In the meantime, check out some videos of Ana on her website Masacote Entertainment.

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What I like about this website is that they have started creating documentaries that you can view online. Their first documentary is about couples competing in the World Salsa Championships. It is an interesting viewing of the lives of serious salsa competitors. I loved seeing Darlin Garcia featured in the documentary. He is a wonderful dancer from Philadelphia and co-founder of Art in Motion. Four or so years ago when I used to attend a lot of congresses he was one of my favourite people to dance with – full of energy and enthusiasm. Glad to see he is so doing so well.

To see a trailer of the documentary, click here. There seems to be many pieces of the video cut into small segments so that they could upload them onto the website. It is very interesting to hear the competitors discussing what it takes to compete. Hopefully any of our students who are interested in competing in our next competition can view it and get some ideas and pointers about the sport.

I will peruse the website in more detail and highlight some of the interviews I enjoyed most.

Enjoy!

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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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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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