1) Outings and Socials – we still have a few events in the next week for you to go and practice your moves and learn some new moves.  Our big TDS Holiday Party takes place this Saturday Dec 18th at 8:45pm at Acrobat Lounge.  A beginner and intermediate lessons are available from 9-10pm where you will learn fun new combinations and meet new people. There will be performances by the TDS Pro Team, the TDS Student Team and the TDS Reggaeton Student Team to get you motivated and inspire you.  We also have our last social of the year on Sunday Dec 19th at Empress from 6-9pm.  We will then be off for 2 weeks and resume socials on Jan 9th.

2) Salsa clubs and practices – there is a salsa club open every night of the week.  Some of them even offer free lessons at around 9pm before the crowds get there so take advantage.  My favourite clubs are Babaluus in Yorkville, Lula Lounge for live music, Acrobat and Alley Katz.  There is also a Toronto Salsa Practice every Saturday at a downtown church so take advantage of these great events and dance, dance, dance.

3) Record yourself – before you forget all the moves you learn take a camera and record yourself doing these moves.  That way you can play it back and remember how to execute the moves.

4) Watch youtube videos – youtube salsa videos are super inspiring and, while it is difficult to learn from a small clip, it will still get you listening to music, watching dance moves and thinking about salsa

5) Practice on your own or with a friend/partner – practice at home if you are not yet comfortable going out.  You can practice your basics, turns, cross body leads, shines, body movement, styling and musicality.  You can also purchase our beginner DVD and work on your moves with the DVD.

Hope you keep dancing during the holidays!

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When you go out to a salsa club, dedicate a couple of songs to finding your favourite couple in the room and watch them dance. It will assist you with ideas about new turn patterns, body movement, musicality and partner dynamics. You may think it doesn’t affect you but watch often enough and you will see your own moves start to sharpen, your body movement and styling start to come out and your range of musicality will increase.

I prefer watching at congresses because you are looking at some phenomenal dancers and it is really inspiring. You may have to get over your “inadequate” feelings watching such good dancers. I remember the first congress I went to I couldn’t dance for the first night. I saw Milton Cobo dancing with Grizelle Ponce, who are still two of my favourite dancers, and that was traumatic! I couldn’t bring myself to dance after that experience. But I had to re-shift my thinking so that their dancing would inspire me to improve instead of shake my confidence. And I went out and danced all night the next day, trying a few styling moves I had seen.

You can also watch videos on the web. YouTube and MamboTV are two great websites for this but there are also thousands of clips online that will inspire and motivate you.

Happy watching!

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They have added cover for men on Wednesdays now. It is $5 and includes coat check which is still a great price but it is good for everyone to know. We didn’t have cash on us and had to go back to the car in the sleet to grab some. Not sure if this is a permanent change but bring extra cash on Wednesdays gentlemen!

I danced for about 1 and a half hours. I am usually busy dancing with friends and very rarely now get asked to dance by people I don’t know but last night I had two new dances as well as a dance with one of my level 4 students and helper, Ozzy. I was just passing by when I heard him say to Sara, one of my instructors, that he was definitely not going to dance with me – one instructor was enough for the evening. So of course we had to dance after that comment 😉 Great job, Ozzy!

I also danced with Evan, Rob, Tawfiq and Angus…all great dancers. I can’t believe how good everyone is getting. Evan has a great trick he does before he goes out on Wednesdays. He looks through our videos of salsa moves or even YouTube for new moves and memorizes one new move and tries to practice it that night so it will be incorporated into his regular repertoire. Works very well!

We saw tons of Toronto Dance Salsa students around so come out on Wednesdays and practice your salsa!

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I wish the Mambo routines were more authentic but they usually don’t even use Latin music. Below are two routines.

The first is Marie Osmond dancing Mambo. Obviously the technique is not there and her dancing is not as strong as some of the others but I preferred this routine simply because they used a Latin song

Now check out Mark Cuban who had a stronger routine but they did it to Nelly’s Rap Song…the feeling is completely changed and it doesn’t even look like Mambo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT99I6pufe8

I wish the music was more authentic because there is so much more energy to it. Anyone have any opinions about this or has any opinions as to who will win??

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If all you do is take a one hour salsa lesson once a week, you will likely not learn too quickly and it will be a little difficult for you to go salsa dancing and feel comfortable and smooth.

The general rule of the thumb is 3-4hrs of practice for every 1 hour of class time. That may seem like a lot of time but an evening of salsa dancing at one of our outings or a local club will fly by and before you know it you have put in the required pratice time without it feeling like homework! That is the beauty of salsa dancing – it is so much fun and once you go out a couple of times and get used to the salsa scene you will find it fun, social, energetic and it will enhance your life.

Other ways of practicing include dancing at home with a partner or on your own. You can use a DVD or just a mirror and some music. You have YouTube to assist you visually and you should try to listen to salsa music wherever you go. Try a Saturday practice session at Trinity Church or our own Monday practice session. Go on the forums and see where the students are heading to and post questions for your knowledge. Really get involved and you will find an amazing new world that is social, musical, fun and exciting!

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Evan and I, along with Velina and Galin, checked out the movie Sunday evening. We all had very similar opinions. Basically there was a huge disappointment that the movie had almost no dancing. We weren’t expecting the movie to be full of dancing but in the reviews most of the scenes shown were dance related and, as always, dancers love to see dance movies. That is the only reason we went to see the movie. There was almost no dancing and what was shown was the same booty grind/roll move in every scene. There was a one minute scene which had some better moves but it didn’t last long and when compared to such recent dance movies as “Step Up” and “You Got Served”, there is almost no comparison. Check out the final dance scene from Step Up by clicking here. Check out the first scene from You Got Served which had amazing hip hop dancing by clicking here.

Most dance movies are cheesy but if the dancing is entertaining, most of us don’t care. This movie, which had almost no dancing, was particularly cheesy. The plot was obvious, there was very little comedy, good drama or even good romance to keep us interested.

I was excited to read Reshma’s opinion because it does show that one’s opinion is just that: their opinion. We would love to hear what you thought of the movie so don’t hesitate to let us know!

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Private Lessons – Part 3: Bring a Camera

Guest writer: Evan Carmichael

When you are doing a private lesson I have said that you typically learn three times as quickly as in a regular class. In other words, in one hour of a private lesson you will know how to do what ordinarily takes you three hours to learn in group classes.

It can be hard to remember all the moves that you go over in a private lesson and if you don’t practice you will forget it. It’s also easy to forget the exact way a move is done. Because you are expected to practice at home, you don’t get as much time with the instructor to practice during the private. Chances are you are going to forget some of the exact footwork and body work and end up practicing the moves incorrectly.

A great way to prevent this is to bring a camera to your private lesson. Ask your instructor if, at the end of the private lesson, you can record the moves that you learned over the hour long session. The best way to do it is to have the instructor call out the move and then proceed to demonstrate it in slow motion as well as in real time. This will give you a good understanding of exactly how the moves should look.

Most instructors will not have a problem if you record the summary session. It will help you absorb the information better and will make you a better dancer. They might ask you to keep it to yourself and not post it on YouTube and other video-sharing websites, which is a reasonable request.

By bringing a camera and recording the moves you have a way to practice the exact motions so you do not make a mistake and you can etch it into your muscle memory. Remember that practice makes perfect but you need to practice the correct way of doing the moves so remember to bring a camera to the next private you go to!

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What is interesting is the stages of salsa. I was once at the completely addicted, couldn’t function without dancing 7 days a week, can’t think about anything else but salsa, stage. That stage can’t possibly last forever. First of all, I was sick all the time. I couldn’t understand why such a young, healthy girl who exercises all the time by dancing 30 hours a week would be sick all the time. I am quite sure I underestimated the value of sleep 🙂 Averaging 3-4hrs per night for the first year of dancing had me struggling with pneumonia, bronchitis, and every imaginable cold. And still I would dance every night!

Now if I had You Tube back then, I may have stayed home a little more surfing the video clips looking for great salsa dancing and instructional clips. I was so hungry for salsa info back then and if there was less than a tenth as much videos, blogs, websites and information online back then as there is now, I would be in salsa online heaven!

I know many of my students are religious You Tube viewers. On the show “The View” last week the young host talked about having You Tube dates with her husband where they sat together on a Friday night and surfed through videos, sharing the best ones with each other.

It is interesting to see this movement recently. I am pleased that my students have so much more info available to them and hopefully we can have even more salsa info online soon!

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What was interesting is the length she went to prior to her date to learn how to dance and incorporate herself into the culture (high heeled shoes, new cute dress, new salsa music, lessons, practicing at home, etc.). This is likely an issue many people face as salsa has become so popular and is a great idea for a date.

So here is my advice on this subject. be honest with your date about your abilities (or lack thereof) on the dance floor. Most clubs have a beginner lesson prior to the social dancing at about 8pm or 9pm. Make plans to go early to this lesson so you can practice your basic steps. This way even if you have both learned different styles of salsa prior to the date you have some common steps to work with during the date.

Try not to wear new shoes or uncomfortable shoes. If you can’t walk comfortably for an hour in your shoes there is no way you will be able to dance in them. Low heels with a slippery sole is the best bet (leather soles are great, 2 inch maximum heel for your first salsa adventure). Wear appropriate clothing. Although you want to look great, is your shirt too low or your skirt to hight? I went salsa dancing once when I first started dancing with a skimpy top which popped open during a spin – I learned my lesson quickly 🙂 Make you sure you do the salsa test on every outfit: spin and bend backwards in a dip-like stance and see if anything pops out!

One thing many beginners don’t know is there are different styles of salsa. Kristy who wrote the blog spoke of learning to dance on 2 and then her surprise at learning that everyone danced on 1. In addition to the different beats you can dance on there are also different styles. Click here for a breakdown of each style. Make sure you know what style is common in your area and which you prefer visually (youtube has great videos). In Toronto most people are still dancing on 1 with the New York/LA Style dance style being more prevalent nowadays. That doesn’t mean this is the style you need to learn but just research your options.

Hopefully this helps for all you daters out there 🙂

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So now that I am finally an official blogger, I peruse the internet to see what other dance bloggers are writing about and of course it is all about the TV hit “So You Think You Can Dance”. We have a new batch of 20 finalists competing for the coveted “Favourite Dancer in the US” spot. Last week, we were privy to the first salsa routine by Lauren and Neil which didn’t go too well for the couple. If you missed the segment here it is courtesy of YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bfoZKIrFRM

I haven’t loved many of the salsa routines shown on this show. Alex Da Silva always fulfills the tricks, lifts and dips drama that we all love but I do wish there was some of the smoothness of the New York on 2 dancing involved with a little more Afro Cuban body movement and finesse. However my favourite salsa routine by Alex Da Silva took place last season when Benji (last season’s winner) danced the Black Mambo with his partner and cousin Heidi (also a finalist). Check it out…love the speed, crispness and musical accents. Very fun performance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bfoZKIrFRM

Regardless of the salsa routines, you can’t help but loving So You Think You Can Dance. Maybe in the future they will rotate their salsa choreographers and we can see a Frankie Martinez routine!

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