Performing a salsa routine is like riding the scariest roller coaster of your life. The whole time that you’re waiting to go on you’re over-thinking all of dips, drops and safety but then when you get on, feel the rush and hear the cheers all you want to do when you’re done is get back on for another go.

I don’t know if I have ever been as nervous as I was last night, waiting for our team to go on at Dovercourt house. With a packed house featuring some of the greatest dancers in the city we took the stage and really nailed it! The funny thing is that once you take the stage, all of your nerves, worries and counts seem to melt away to just having one of the best experiences of your life.

Trust me, as of today there are 4 spots left on the student performance team… sign up, you will not regret it.

Here are a few more tracks to check out while you’re practicing for the Salsa Competition or warming up for Sunday night’s performance from the Helper Team at Dovercourt!

At the last outing, I was asked by a reader of the blog to write about why people get into salsa. Hearing the dancer’s interesting back-story (which shall stay in the vault), it inspired me to ask a ton of people for their own backstories. It wasn’t too long before I started to see some common themes so I thought I’d list a few stories as well as some of the more common themes.

Sharon’s Story:

“I got into salsa by accident.  I walked into Babaluu with some girlfriends one night and completely fell in love with the dancing and the salsa scene but I was too scared to dance  I watched 3 or 4 separate nights without dancing before I accepted a dance with someone, not even knowing my basic step.  It was awful (I was awful!).  I tried it a few more times and was going to give up, thinking I was a terrible dancer, when my friends encouraged me to dance with someone who was a good lead.  I danced with him and completely changed my mind about giving up.  I started going out every night of the week to Babaluu, El Rancho and other clubs that were popular at the time and within a year I started competing and teaching.”

“I fell in love with the freedom, excitement and fun factor.  Nothing that I have ever tried has allowed me to meet so many people so quickly, gather a whole network of new friends, let me exercise my body and spirit until 2am every morning, keep me in shape, keep me de-stressed and so much more.  It was a real high!”

Sarah’s Story:

“I got into salsa because I wanted to do something other than science (Which is what I did when I was doing my masters) while I was doing my PhD. I told myself, I need to be active and social, to complement the brain work and quiet time in the lab work during my PhD, to make the experience of graduate school more pleasant the second time around. The rest was history!”

Chris’ Story:

“I signed up originally to learn some merengue then got hooked on salsa and realized most of the moves could be transferred over to merengue…so in a way it was a bonus i guess”

My Story:
I was really considering about getting into capoeira when I had a nasty, wrist-breaking fall. Unable to do capoeira, my friend Neel had suggested that I get into salsa as it would help my balance, flexibility and most of all, meet tons of new people. Since I’ve started, I’ve lost close to 30lbs, have met so many great people and have found myself hooked beyond belief.

Here are some quick quotes that represent a lot of people who get into salsa:

“I was getting over a bad breakup and didn’t meet anyone worthwhile using i-dating”
“I really wanted to get fit without spending hours on a boring treadmill”

“I’ve always loved the music…it’s so romantic”
“My friends dragged me to a salsa club and I’ve been hooked since!”
“Thanks to salsa I have one less, left-foot”

There are so many intriguing salsa origin stories out there. If you ever get tired at a club, just ask anyone about their reasons for learning how to dance and you’ve got yourself a great conversation!

So, why did you get into salsa? I’d love to hear about it…

Till then,
Stay Shining Salseros!

Just wanted to quickly post a few songs that have been repeating on my iphone lately…

Are you level 3 or higher? Have the ‘Eye of the Tiger’? Want to shake what your Momma gave ya? Then enter the 4th Annual TDS Amateur Competition! With amazing prizes, tons of adoring salsa fans and an event that’s so popular that it fills 6 Degrees, you’ll have the time of your life!


Here’s the details:


What: 4th Annual Amateur Salsa Competition
Where: 6 Degrees (Yonge & Eglinton)
When: April 25th (preliminary round), June 20th (Final Round)
Who: Any Level 3 or higher TDS student, helper and assistant who haven’t been paid to teach or to perform


How It Works:


Preliminary Round: All couples will dance to the same song in a freestyle, non-choreographed dance, the top 5 couples will go on to the Final Round


Final Round: All couples will perform to a 2.5 min song of their choosing using their own choreography


Here’s a small sampling of prizes that you could win…