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!

Ring in 2010 in salsa style at our first annual New Year's Eve Black & White Ball at Acrobat Lounge on Thursday, December 31st, 2009.

Tickets:
Tickets can be purchased in advance for $45 each or at the door for $50. Helpers receive a special $35 rate. Tickets are available by calling Acrobat Lounge at 416-489-1105 or by visiting Acrobat Lounge on Friday evenings or during our outing on Sat Dec 19th. Feel free to bring as many people as you like. Must be 19+ years old. There are only 230 tickets being sold so get yours early!

Dress Code:
Dress to impress in semi-formal black and/or white. A good example of semi-formal would be suits for men and dress for women.

What is included?
The evening will begin with a beginner and intermediate lesson from 9-10pm. Social dancing will commence after the lesson. Hors D'oeuvres will be served as well as a champagne toast at midnight. There will be special performances throughout the evening and a fun checkerboard game to get you dancing and winning prizes.

Directions: Parking lots can be found north and south of the club and there is free metered parking on Yonge Street after 9pm. By subway, it is only a 5 minute walk north from the Eglinton subway station on the Yonge line.

We can't wait to celebrate New Year's Eve with you all!

What a fun afternoon it was when the gang from eTalk, Canada's most popular entertainment show on CTV, visited TDS at Empress Walk to shoot a segment with Leah Miller. For those of you who don't know Leah Miller is the host of So You Think You Can Dance Canada and she had some new year's resolutions to stick to including getting fit with Zumba.

Tracie, our Zumba Guru, showed Leah some fun Reggaeton steps alongside some students and helpers. Leah caught on extremely fast and very quickly the group was shaking it to some exciting Zumba beats.

More photos are available on our website under "events". The segment airs January 6th on CTV.

Last Saturday the TDS Helper Group got together for our quarterly helper recognition outing. I always try to find new and interesting activities for us to try and this time was no exception.

We started the day early at 10am at Leaside Curling Club. We had the entire arena to ourselves and curling instructors to show us the ropes. It was fun to see the helpers try something so new and unusual and after everyone got used to the slippery ice it was smooth sailing. We definitely have some natural born curlers in the group!

After the lesson and tournament everyone headed to Empress Studio for a special salsa workshop with Gen & Young of Korikoa. They learned a fun combination with styling and, in teams, created a short routine and performed it to the group.

After all this exercise the group was hungry so we headed down to Ichiban Sushi House for a great Japanese lunch.

Thanks to everyone who came out and participated. I am running out of unique activities so send me an email if you have an idea for our next outing!!