Attention Toronto Salsa Competitors:

If you are interested in competing on a larger scale you may be interested in the US Salsa Open Championships taking place July 22-25 in Oakland, CA. Don't worry if you are still at an amateur level as they have 4 divisions just for the amateur category and lots of other categories for all types of competitors.

Ricardo, one of the organizers, has also been kind enough to provide our two final winners of the 2010 TDS Amateur Competition two full passes to the Championships.

For more info, please visit their website at: http://ussalsaopen.com/

Attention Toronto Salseros!

The Detroit Salsa Congress is having their 10 Year Reunion Celebration and they are inviting Torontonians to come to Detroit and salsa dance!

On the weekend of May 7,8,9 Michigan will open it's doors to us. Elaine, who is the organizer, has promised Toronto Dance Salsa students and friends the $150 rate in Canadian Dollars anytime.

Elaine has been very generous and is providing TDS with 10 full passes for the 10 finalists of the TDS Amateur Salsa Competition as well as 2 full passes and hotel stay for the winners of the competition for next year's congress.

For more info on the Detroit Salsa Congress email Elaine at: elainemarrero@iwon.com or elainmarrero@ymail.com or visit the website at: http://www.troydancestudio.com/

Thanks Elaine and good luck with the congress!

Thank you for all the interest in our competition. We now have 11 confirmed couples, more than ever! I will be closing the entrance to the competition now so I can focus on collecting awesome prizes. In addition to all our usual sponsors, the Detroit Salsa Congress will be sponsoring us this year with lots of full congress passes and much much more.

If you know of a company that can donate prizes, big or small, let me know. It is always an overwhelming task to get prizes.

Please save April 25th as the Preliminary date to come out and support our competitors and watch some great performances from schools such as Go Dance Mambo, Latin Energy and, of course, the TDS Helper Team and the TDS Pro Team with their sexy new Cha Cha Routine.

Can't wait for the big night :)

Dear TDS Friends!

The time has come to battle it out on the dance floor for the champion title at our Fourth Annual Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition. Last year we had some amazing couples compete for some serious loot and the results were fantastic!

Both rounds are confirmed to take place at Six Degrees Nightclub at Yonge & Eglinton on the following dates:

Preliminary Round - Sunday April 25th at 7pm
Final Round - Sunday June 20th at 7pm

If you are a level 3 and up student, helper or assistant registered or assisting in the spring 2010 semester at TDS who has not been paid to teach your own salsa class or perform, then you qualify! Don't get discouraged that you are still in the learning phase - everyone else will be in that phase also and remember that a competition will increase your confidence, showmanship and skills tenfold.

The preliminaries are freestyle which means you do not have to choreograph the performance as you won't know the song you are performing to although you can practice together, decide on how you will enter and exit, and what dips and tricks you will add to the dance, etc.

To assist you Evan Carmichael has offered a free private lesson to each couple who enters the competition to assist them in preparation! Five couples will move on to the finals where the finalists will choreograph a 2.5 minute routine to their song choice.

More details can be found on our website. Please email us if you are interested in participating at info@torontodancesalsa.ca. We will accept up to 15 couples.

We are also looking for companies who would like to sponsor the event. Gift certificates, dance shoes, music, travel vouchers, congress passes, lessons, cash prizes, restaurant certificates and much more are needed - please let us know if you can sponsor a prize or collect prizes.

We will be sending an official Anyvite with evening details closer to April 25th so just save the dates.

Email us with any questions and good luck to all the competitors!!

I received a comment on an old post that I wrote called "Salsa Tips to Keep In Mind". Here was the question that Mark asked:

"I just have a quick question. The other day I went to a salsa class and the instructor said we shouldn't use our thumbs when holding onto the woman's hands. For me I find it easier to create and control the tension if I use my thumbs especially when it comes to dancing with women who lack tension in their arms. I tried not using my thumbs and it feels little awkward. What do you recommend?"

Well Mark here is my answer:

When you close your thumb or palm over the follower's hands, the follower immediately relaxes their arms and, even subconsciously, thinks that because you have them they don't need to do anything. The result is a follower with Spaghetti arms who won't follow quickly and accurately your lead. So you may think that you have more control because you are holding on but in actuality the follower will not respond properly to your lead.

Instead, if you open your thumb and palms and curl your finger tips and try to have your partner create the same tension with only your fingertips, you will force your partner to create resistance in her frame to keep from letting go. The more often your partner lets you go the more she will strengthen her fingertips and create more resistance. So you may feel like it is out of control at first because you are losing your connection but eventually your partner will firm up her fingertips and frame and then you will have a partner who will follow you quickly and accurately.

In other words, it is worth the initial growing pains to get the right tension and frame so that you can move on to become a great intermediate and then advanced leader.

So followers and leaders, make sure you never use thumbs and palms and instead curl your fingertips slightly and pull a little to create consistent tension and resistance.

Hope that helps - happy practicing!

We are excited to celebrate Valentine's with you all TDS style!

On Saturday February 13th we will be having a special outing to Acrobat Lounge. As usual we will be holding a beginner and intermediate lesson from 9pm - 10pm. Social dancing will commence at 10pm with DJ Evan. By the way, Evan always accepts song requests so make sure you let him know what you want to hear!

We will also be having a special Valentine's Day Dancing Game which will get people meeting new people and winning prizes. Come with your partner or on your own as it is a great night to get to know many awesome salseras and salseros.

At 11:30pm we will be having special performances by:
1) The TDS Pro Team
2) United Salseros
3) Latin Groove Productions
4) Brazil Dance World

Cover is only $10 at the door (no advance tickets are necessary). Hope to see you all there!

Well it is 2010 and we just began the semester yesterday with our first set of classes and our weekly Sunday Salsa Social.

It was great to get back into the swing of things. I taught 3 sold out classes (level 1, 2 and 3). Everyone was super excited to salsa after a long hiatus and, as usual, we were a little rusty. So I wanted to remind everyone not to worry or stress too much about your first class. It usually takes a week or two to get back into the salsa swing if you have taken some time off so give yourself a break.

Remember that every class begins with a review of last semester so make sure you are on time and ready to review the most important moves of the past level. Keep in mind that even if you can't remember all the moves, as long as you can execute the main moves, you will be fine and throughout the semester as you learn new moves we will bring back older moves and add to combinations so that you will continuously practice them.

Our Sunday social is more popular then ever. It is so nice to see students coming out weekly and really improving with every practice session. It is such a cozy, comfortable environment and it is very easy to make friends and meet new dance partners. Hope to see you all out practicing this semester and don't forget that our first outing of 2010 is this Saturday, January 16th at 8:45pm at Acrobat Lounge. See you all there!