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Toronto Dance Salsa
Amateur Salsa Competition 2010
- Mission
- 2010 Date and Location
- Who Qualifies?
- Rules & Regulations
- Judging Criteria
- 2010 Prizes and Sponsors
- 2010 Preliminary Round Results
- The 2010 Competitors - Bios and Photos
- 2010 Judges Biographies
- 2009 Preliminary Round Results
- The 2009 Competitors - Bios and Photos
- The 2008 Final Round Results and Photos!
- The 2008 Five Finalists
- How to Register
- The2007 Final Round Results and Photos!
- The 2007 Five Finalists
- SalsaTO Article About the 2007 Competition
The Fourth Annual TDS Amateur Competition
Preliminaries:
Sunday April 25th, 2010
Finals: Sunday June 20th, 2010
Mission:
The mission of the Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Salsa Competition is to inspire students to develop their performance skills to enhance their dance journey and showcase their dancing ability to an audience of friends and family as well as current and future salsa lovers.
Date and Location:
Preliminary Round: Sunday April 25th, 2010 at 7pm at 6 Degrees Nightclub (Yonge & Eglinton)
Lesson: 7:00 - 8:00pm, Competition: 9:00 - 10:00pm, Social Dancing: 8:00 - 9:00pm, 10pm onwards
Final Round: Sunday June 20th, 2010 at 7pm at 6 Degrees Nightclub (Yonge & Eglinton)
Lesson: 7:00 - 8:00pm, Competition: 9:00 - 10:00pm, Social Dancing: 8:00 - 9:00pm, 10pm onwards
- Competitors must be 19 years old or over.
- Competitors must be current Toronto Dance Salsa students in level 3 or up and/or helpers and/or assistant instructors enrolled or assisting in the spring 2010 semester.
- This is an amateur competition. Competitors cannot have been paid to be the main instructor in a class or to perform salsa at any point prior to the preliminary day (assisting with a club class or group class i permitted).
- Competitors cannot have previously placed in first place in a prior salsa competition.
- The competition will comprise of two rounds: the preliminary round and the finals round. The preliminary round will have a maximum of 15 couples with registration in advance on a first come, first serve basis. The 5 couples with the top scores, as determined by the panel of judges, will qualify to perform in the final round.
- There will be no change of partners allowed once partners have qualified for the finals.
- All competitors will conduct themselves appropriately demonstrating good sportsmanship and support to all contestants and judges.
- Choreography, costumes and music must be in good taste.
- Judges decisions are final.
- Any style of salsa dancing is permitted.
- The event will be recorded by camera and film which may be used for promotional purposes without any obligation.
- Competitors will only be allowed to start over if there has been a technical problem that is out of competitors’ control.
Preliminary Round - Freestyle:
- Competitors must arrive by 8pm and sign in with the Competition Coordinator.
- All couples will be assigned a number and a draw will determine the order of performance.
- All competitors will be asked to warm up together to a 2 minute pre-determined unidentified medium tempo salsa song.
- In order determined by the draw, each couple will perform a 2 minute freestyle routine to a pre-determined unidentified medium tempo salsa song. The song will be the same for each couple.
- The freestyle routine has to have a dance content of 90% salsa.
- Maximum 2 dips per routine.
- No lifts allowed in the preliminary round.
Final Round - Choreographed:
- Competitors must arrive by 8pm and sign in with the Competition Coordinator.
- Each couple must bring and hand in to the DJ their own CD with only the performance song on the CD. CD must be identified with both dancers’ names, couple number and song title. DJ will not speed up or slow down music - it will be played as is.
- All couples will be assigned a number and a draw will determine the order of performance.
- All competitors will be asked to warm up together to a 2 minute pre-determined unidentified medium tempo salsa song.
- In order determined by the draw, each couple will perform a choreographed routine in the length of 2.0 minutes to 2.5 minutes (points will be deducted if full choreography is under 2.0 minutes or exceeds 2.5 minutes) to their own chosen song. The choreography and song must be 90% salsa.
- Maximum 2 dips and 2 lifts allowed per routine.
- Contestants are highly encouraged to wear matching or themed costumes. Emphasis is placed not on the cost of the costume but on the creativity of the costume and how it ties in to the theme of the performance.
- Judges will determine, using the formal judging criteria, the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place winners.
Judging Criteria:
Timing and Musicality 20%
Consistency in timing throughout entire routine and an understanding and interpretation of the music emphasized in the dance
Choreography/Creativity 20%
Originality and creativity of choreography, difficulty of execution, choreography compliments the accents of the music
Partner Dynamics 10%
Leading and following techniques, unity of moves, synchronization, partner connection and chemistry
Technique 10%
Proper execution of moves and dance practices
Styling 10%
Hand, arm, leg and body styling compliments the routine
Appearance 10%
Creativity of costume or outfit that compliments both dancers, applicability to theme of choreography, confidence, facial expression, posture
Stage Presence 10%
Showmanship, audience reaction
Overall Presentation 10%
All categories in general, judges discretion
Deduction of Points – up to 15%
5% - final choreography is under 2.0 minutes or exceeds 2.5 minutes
10% - not following rules such as 90% salsa dancing, lifts/dips limitations, etc
How to Register: Please send an email confirming your participation along with partner information to Sharon at info@torontodancesalsa.ca.
Registration which is based on a first come first serve basis will be limited to 15 couples. There is absolutely no cost to register and all couples will receive prizes regardless of placement.
More prizes and sponsors coming soon!
Detriot Salsa Congress
www.troydancestudio.com
(248) 689-3393
elainemarrero@iwon.com
US Salsa Open Championships
www.ussalsaopen.com
info@ricardoandmichelle.com
Montreal Salsa Convention
www.montrealsalsaconvention.com
514-875-5476
info@montrealsalsaconvention.com
San Francisco Salsa Congress
www.sfsalsacongress.com
info@ricardoandmichelle.com
Miami Salsa Congress
www.miamisalsacongress.com
305-220-7115 or 1-866-69-SALSA
miamisalsacongress@yahoo.com
Natural Spin Dance Shoes
www.naturalspindancewear.com
7310 Woodbine Ave., Unit 7A, Toronto, ON, Canada, L3R1A4
Tel: 905-944 9696
Addicted to Dance Shoes
www.addicted2danceshoes.com
647-439-8423 or 416-508-8940
45 Brisbane Rd. Unit #7, Toronto, ON
Century Wide Shoes
www.cwdanceshoes.com
416-293-3303, cell: (416) 822-8684
8 Glen Watford Dr. Unit#29, Scarborough, ON
El Rancho
www.elrancho.ca
416-921-2752
Bathurst/College
Lula Lounge
www.lula.ca
416-588-0307
1585 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON
Canada Salsa Congress
www.canadasalsacongress.com
jennifer@stepsdancestudio.com
(416) 656-STEP
St. Louis Salsa Congress
www.stlsalsacongress.com
(314)651-2908
3515 Park Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104
cguynn@stlsalsacongress.com
Meet Market Adventures
www.meetmarketadventures.com
675 King Street West, Suite 202
Toronto, ON, M5V 1M9
info@meetmarketadventures.com
(416) 203 - 3434
Twosome Dance
www.twosomedance.com
ben@twosomedance.com
(416) 368-3006 x 2
Alice Wong and Mary Kay
Beauty Consultants
www.marykay.ca/awong1
647.295.1211
Get a complimentary pampering session today!
BAILA Society
www.BAILASociety.com
joseph@bailasociety.com
Six Degrees Nightclub
www.SixDegreesVenue.com
2335 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M4P 2C8
416.486.9666
Koffeetree Kupcakes
www.koffeetree.com/kupcake
Lisa Kauffenbaum
416-998-3473
Venice Fitness
www.venicefitness.com
393 King Street
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3G8
Tel: 416-341-0606
mohamed@venicefitness.com
Sweet Flour Bakery
www.sweetflour.ca/
2352 Bloor Street West
416-763-2253
The 2010 Preliminary Results and Photos:
Congratulations to all the competitors who "brought it" to the stage on Sunday April 25th at Six Degrees. With over 500 people in attendance, the crowd was jumping and the excitement of the event was immense. Thank you to George for his 4th year straight "Host with the Most" title as well as all our amazing judges: Teddy, Angus, Vanesa, Caryl and Oscar. Thank you to all the schools that performed including Go Dance Mambo, Latin Energy
and Latin Groove Productions as well as our very own TDS Helper Team and our sexy TDS Pro Team that debuted their new Cha Cha routine.
Here are the results of the evening!
Elise & Olivier
1st Place
Julia & Miro
2nd Place
Jamie & Steve
3rd Place
Maysa & Omid
Runner Up
Joanna & Orlando
Runner Up
The 5 Other Competing Couples:
Andreanne & Daniel
Emoke & Mahyar
Angela & Mustafa
Junko & Anthony
Alexandra & Branco
The 2010 Competitors:
Maysa Tani
Maysa has always loved the feeling that she gets when she's able to express herself through dancing, but only started with formal training in high school. It wasn't until her university years that she had the opportunity to enjoy a salsa performance, which ignited her interest in latin dances. Her journey led her to join TDS and, almost two years later, her passion for salsa and dancing is still going strong!
Omid Tavakoli
As a youth, Omid was always a fan of music and dance. In university, he studied capoeira for a year. Soon after, he took up salsa for brief time before school work took its toll on his free time. A few years later and with plenty of motivation, Omid returned to salsa and has been happily dancing regularly for six months. He owes all this to TDS and the wonderful dance community of which he is now a part.
Jamie Faulkner
Jamie has been taking dance lessons and performing in various styles of dance since she was 5 years old. She left dancing behind when shestarted University life, but always knew shecouldn't stay away for long. Salsa was one of the only dances that she never learned so when hermother started taking classes at TDS, she soon followed. Jamie has now been taking classes with TDS for almost a year, and she is going into her second semester as a helper. This is her first time ever competing.
Steve Lee
Steve never knew that salsa dancing would become one of his favourite hobbies when he took his first beginner salsa class in 2007 with few friends. His interest in salsa dancing grew as he advanced through the various levels at TDS. Steve became a helper in 2009 and joined the 4th annual TDS helper performance group, which gave him an even greater appreciation for the dance. Steve continues to improve his knowledge and skills in musicality, timing, leading and following. He looks forward to sharing his love for salsa and giving his very best in front of the warm and supportive TDS community at this year’s competition.
Angela Sucui
Angela started her dancing career at a young age. After taking ballroom dance classes on and off for several years she decided to try something new. Thanks to Jorge C. and Tanya F., two of her ballroom friends, she got exposed to salsa dancing by attending her first TDS outing. Did she have fun? Well after 3 years with TDS it is safe to say that “YES” she did! Through this competition she hopes to continue to improve her salsa skills and just enjoy herself on the dance floor.
Mustafa Al-Durra
It all started in Germany a couple of years ago when friends asked him "Hey, Do you dance Salsa?". It wouldn't have helped if he had replied with "No!". Days later, they all went out for a Salsa night...hmm!...a short time
for a big lie. Since then, Mustafa has been keen on learning the New York style, and enjoying the colorful Salsa scenes. Soon after moving to Toronto, he started taking classes again and became a helper at TDS. As a swimmer and a half marathon runner, Mustafa found that Salsa is a great complementary sport with a very unique social flavor.
Julia Brodyansky
In an old movie a village elder says to a teenage protagonist, “Learn to dance: your life’s problems will teach you everything else”. Duh! It seemed like one of the problems for Julia for a long time: especially when you describe yourself as directionally challenged and even your mom would give up on teaching you to step correctly. But she just wouldn’t quit, feeling the passion and addiction of Latin rhythms flowing all through her. Fast forward to March 2008 – becoming a member of TDS family transformed for her this Terra Incognita to Terra Santa. So, spreading the Salsa Gospel to new students later that year as a TDS helper seemed a natural progression. Julia admits she is not of a competitive type, but, she quotes, we do not compete because we are good - we become good because we compete. And it is only human to strive to be better in whatever you are doing, especially if you are passionate about it.
Miroslav Kacmar
Miroslav's passion for music and playing musical instruments from his very young age was just one step away from dancing. Inevitably he made this step from a stage, where he was playing music to the dancing floor during his high school years. Although life circumstances made him take a break from dancing, at the very beginning of 2008 he discovered TDS and his Salsa career took a rocket path. At the end of 2008 he became TDS helper and later on he discovered Salsa On2, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata and most importantly, the life of the performance. He was lucky to join several performance groups, which gave him a greater appreciation for many Latin dances and allowed him to make a step back to the stage in a different and very exciting way. He is always looking for any opportunity to improve his dancing skills and share his experience with others. Salsa definitely changed his personal life and lifestyle in a very positive way.
Alexandra Mankovskaia
Alexandra's adventure with salsa began with her cousin dragging her to a drop-in class, ecstatic from the experience she's had with it. Immediately she was hooked – the movement and the flow with which the instructors danced was hypnotizing, the music made her feet move on their own! One of her friends turned out to be an experienced dancer and took her under his wing. She was soon ready for a bigger rush than dancing in a class and, ditching lessons altogether, moved on to the club scene trying to follow whatever she was lead into. Once in university, other priorities emerged and she took a break from salsa. Two years later,she came across a Zumba class at her gym. Being there reminded her how much she enjoyed dancing, especially to Latin music. Another year and quite a few new moves later, in September 2009, she discovered TDS and it gave a new hot spark to her affair with salsa. So much to learn! From then on she just can't seem to stop dancing…
Branco B
Branco stumbled upon salsa a year ago while looking for new ways to 'keep it real'. Branco's friends suspect he chose salsa only because he was unable to build any serious muscle at the gym and had to find an alternative way to impress the ladies. Be it as it may, Branco is quite fond of salsa and plans to get really good so that he may one day star on 'Dancing With The Stars' and salsa with Brad Pitt!
Joanna Kozlowicz
Joanna was passionate about dancing since a young age and fell in love with Latin music when she was 13, after hearing the "Lambada" song. As time went by, the love for Latin music progressed and intensified, so has the passion for salsa. When she hears music she likes, this music wants to express itself through her or she wants to express herself through music. It is an interchangeable feeling; therefore, dancing provides a sense of freedom of expression. Unfortunately Joanna never had the opportunity to be professionally trained until she took up salsa lessons with TDS in 2008 and was automatically addicted. Since then, she found out about a salsa group in her University and volunteered to help out with basic salsa moves and choreography, which then got to perform with the salsa group at the University cultural show. Currently, signed up with TDS's student performance class and looks forward to learning new moves, choreography and future performances.
Orlando Marquez
Orlando had never really danced salsa up to a year ago except when forced as a little kid to dance with his aunts in family gatherings back in his native South America. Realizing that one cannot play that much soccer in the winter, he decided to prove to his aunts that he could dance after 20 years. What a life changing experience! After seeing great dancers in Toronto nightclubs using their feet and body to draw the complex salsa rhythms, that was it. Orlando had to learn how to do the same: He had to become a painter and the canvas would be the dance floor. So here he is, in his first competition aiming to take his modest salsa skills to the next level!
Junko Shimomura
Junko was introduced to salsa when she was visiting a Mexican bar in New York city. She was fascinated by its sensual, energetic quality and the power of salsa music to lift the spirit . As soon as she got back to the city where she used to live in at the time, she looked for salsa lessons. To her huge disappointment, there was no lessons offered in that city. A few years later she moved to Toronto and was very excited to find out about Toronto Dance Salsa! Now salsa is a very important a part of her life. Salsa brings happiness to her
Anthony Chau
Anthony first became interested in Salsa during his vacation to Cuba. He was watching one of the nightly performances at the resort when one of the dancers came up to ask him to dance with her. He had a great time dancing with her even thought he had no idea what hewas doing at the time. When he came back he was determine to learn to dance salsa. It was very difficult for him from the beginning because he had no musical or dance background. At one point he was ready to give up but one of his instructors encouraged him to keep going. With lots of help and many lessons he has come to a point where he is comfortable with his dancing. He loves salsa and he hopes he never stops dancing.
Andréanne Dion
Andreanne started dancing ballet when she was 5 years old. She danced for about 15 years, at which point she stopped to concentrate on her studies and professional goals. She was introduced to Latin dances a few years ago during a trip to Cuba.She immediately knew it was something she wanted to pursue.She started dancing in October 2009, and after only a few combos on the dance floor she was addicted to salsa. She recently became a helper at TDS, and she is looking forward to pursuing her salsa journey and sharing her passion with others. She decided to take her dancing to a new level by challenging herself to compete and get out of hercomfort zone. The incredible learning journey that comes along with competing and performing will make her a better dancer and take her dancing to the next level.
Daniel Wang
t was in 2007 that Daniel discovered Toronto Dance Salsa and Sharon's effective teachings. Daniel completed TDS Level 1 in Aug, 2007. Started TDS Level 2 but was not able to complete it in 2007. Fast forward 2 years later to 2009 and fresh from a championship won after 13 years of recreational and competitive ice hockey, Daniel decides to retire from the sport he loved and to fill it's place with Salsa dancing?! To the dismay of his ice hockey jock buddies, Daniel was actually serious! If you have seen Daniel play ice hockey like a wolverine on skates since he's known for his "aggressive" style of play, it would create quite a cognitive dissonance! In his fashion, he decided to make a commitment to dance salsa seriously (to practice, practice, PRACTICE) for one entire year. He finally did complete TDS Level 2 and then Level 3. Not only is he still holding to his word to give Salsa dancing a fair chance, he's now even crazy enough to compete!
Emoke Gall
Emoke's salsa journey began several years ago when she was studying art during her undergrad, where she took a beginners salsa class for fun. It turned out that she almost instantly loved the dance and the music. She joined TDS in May of 2009 on the recommendation of a friend, and again her passion for salsa was awakened. This passionate and enjoyable dance comes with a great social scene and opportunity to meet great new people who share her love for the dance. She is currently in Level 4 and this this is her first time ever entering a dance competition. Her goals for the competition are to become a better dancer, experience performing, but most of all to have fun!
Mahyar Fotoohi
It all started from volleyball! Mahyar has been playing volleyball for more than 7 years and last year he was introduced to salsa through his new Cuban volleyball coach. His volleyball mentor believes that Latin dances are a great way to increase muscle coordination. Mahyar has been salsa dancing for 8 months and since then he is a believer that dancing is excellent for your body, mind, and soul! One day he decided to participate in the competition in order to get out of his "Salsa-Comfort-Zone"! This is his first time entering a salsa competition.
Elise Sokol
Elise studied ballet and modern for four years at an arts high school. She stopped dancing after she graduated she started missing it which is what led her to TDS last year. She started lessons without really knowing the difference between salsa and any other Latin dances but she knew it would be sexy and really fun to learn. She looks forward to competing for her first time and getting better at not stepping on other people's toes while dancing.
Olivier Riboux
Olivier started dancing salsa around February 2008, with no previous dance experience whatsoever, maybe except for awkwardly hopping from one leg to the other to top 40 songs at various "dance" clubs.
Olivier was terribly depressed from the harsh Canadian winter when he felt the need to do something more with his life than just becoming a typical couch potato, watching Toronto sports teams lose on TV. Remembering how much fun salsa looked in Dirty Dancing, he googled "Toronto Salsa" and got introduced to salsa with the TDS family…. The rest is history ;)
2010 Judges Biographies:
Teddy Olaso - United Salseros/Mambo Mosaic
Teddy Olaso started Salsa in 1997, and along with Rene Delgado, established UnitedSalseros; one of Canada’s finest instructional companies. He studied and took Salsa workshops with various international instructors
and started locally with Yasmina Ramzy and Maya DaSilva of Arabesque Dance Company, and then continued with Afro-Cuban lessons with Ana Machado and its practical applications to Salsa.
He has an educational background in Office Administration, Social Work, Corporate Communications and NLP, as well as progressive training in internal martial arts. Furthermore, he worked for Toronto Casting Talent Agency for 5 years and had exposure about the arts community in general.
Teddy is credited for developing innovative, comprehensive and challenging training program for all levels of dancers, instructors and performers in order to develop their technical, choreography and artistic development with a balanced vision. He continues to be sought by students, some of whom are well-established performers and teachers, simply by referral or from his international congress workshop instructions.
Along with UnitedSalseros’ Assistant Instructor’s Training Program, he also developed his pet project, Mambo Mosaic, a professional and amateur dance company that have had more than 300 members due to Teddy’s ability to manage and transform students of all levels, various learning capability, and different types of size and height into skilled performers. Most importantly, however, be believes that beauty of social dancing in Salsa has no equal and must be present in both the dance floor and on stage no matter what medium it may take and should be stressed accordingly.
Angus Dirnbeck - iFreestyle.ca
Angus Dirnbeck is the cofounder of iFreeStyle.ca, a Toronto based salsa On2 dance school and performance company. He has been dancing with his partner and iFreeStyle.ca cofounder, Caryl Cuizon, since the spring of 2000. He has been a featured dancer and instructor on stage, tv and film and is regularly sought out as a competition judge. Along with Caryl, Angus is currently choreographing for the upcoming theatre production: "The Weeping Salsa".
Vanesa Stay - Latin Energy
Vanesa Stay started her training at the age of five at the best private Ballet Institute in Argentina where she trained intensively for 7 years in Ballet, Flamenco, Jazz, Argentine Folk and Tango. By the age of 6, she was performing in Theatres. After moving to Canada in '89, she continued dancing as a hobby.
Vanesa discovered salsa dancing in January of '99 and fell in love with the dance. She began her training with local & international professional dance instructors such as (Tito & Tamara from Puerto Rico, Super Mario from UK, Al & Eddie from L.A. to name a few). After months of intense training with various local instructors including Oscar Naranjo, Vanesa became a Professional Salsa dancer in Dec. of '99. She has also trained in Argentine Tango with various instructors including Tango World Champion "Fabian Peralta" during her yearly trip to Argentina.
Vanesa has traveled to many countries teaching, competing and performing. With each opportunity, she continued to improve her skills by taking lessons with world renowned instructors.
Vanesa's life and passion is dancing but she also has a diploma in computer science and a full time job as a web designer / programmer analyst.
Oscar Naranjo - Latin Groove Productions
Oscar Naranjo started Latin Groove Productions with a vision of a sharing his passion and love for latin dance. Latin Groove is new, fresh, innovative dance company using a fusion of different rhythms and movements. We thrive on high energy and quality performances! Our dancers come from various dance backgrounds and come together to deliver the spirit, the groove and the rhythm of dance. Our performance team would be happy to provide high quality entertainment for all your private or corporate events.Oscar discovered his passion for Latin dances when he was only 16. With each opportunity, he continued to improve his skills by training with world renowned dance instructors.
Oscar has been performing, teaching, and competing since 1989. He has an extensive dance background consisting of salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata, tango and cha cha cha. He has also trained with Tango World Champion "Fabian Peralta" during his trip to Argentina in Feb. 2007. His hard work and dedication have always paid off. He was awarded first place in 25 salsa competitions and proudly represented Canada in various Congresses around the world among other important events.Oscar's dream is to travel the world teaching, dancing, competing and sharing his Latin roots. With each journey he hopes to acquire new experiences and techniques to help him grow as a dancer, choreographer and instructor.
Tania Wong - Enamorarse
Tania Wong is the Founder and Director of Enamorarse Dance. She started studying dancing at the early age of 6. While focusing on ballet, she has exposed herself to other dance forms such as Jazz, Lyrical, Swing, Hip Hop, Tango, Flamenco, Chinese dance, and of course Salsa, which has become her passion. The extensive study of the various dances enables her to apply techniques learnt from different dances into perfecting her salsa dancing.
Tania is now performing with Oscar Naranjo, Vice World Salsa Champion, in Latin Groove Productions (LGP), and act also as a Choreographer for the teams of kids, teens, and adults. She is a frequent guest on WowTV and has numerous appearance on other television stations like Rogers TV and Telelatino, as well as national newspapers.
With another dance partner Steven Lopez, Tania was a recent Champion at the Toronto Salsa Festival Competitions, Professional Division (March 2010).They were also Vice Champion at the 6 Degrees Salsa Professional Competition (March 2010), which attracted World Salsa Championships calibre competitors. Tania continues to strive for improvement everyday by competing, dancing, and learning from the best in the World.
Salsa Steph - Go Dance Mambo
Considered one of the most influential instructors promoting New York-style mambo and Afro-Cuban roots on the Toronto salsa scene, Stephanie has created a wave of technical and stylistic development in the Latin dance community. Her specialties include teaching body awareness, music appreciation and musicality, leading and following skills, turn patterns, spins and turns, as well as creative movement. Always keeping up to date, SalsaSteph travels to New York City to take Eddie Torres classes, dance at the socials, as well as attend world salsa and bachata congresses.
Since 1989, Stephanie has studied salsa dance in several countries, training extensively with prominent dance instructors in a variety of styles,also including ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop and Latin. Having placed first in many high-profile Toronto salsa competitions in the professional category, she is now sought out as a judge. Stephanie has performed and taught salsa workshops around the world, including Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, Western Europe and Japan. In addition, she has produced instructional videos and DVDs for worldwide distribution.
In 2003, she co-created the Mambo Tribe Salsa Dance Co. and the popular Sunday Salsa Social, modelled after the 17 year Jimmy Anton social in NYC, the annual Winter Salsa Carnival, and now has her own Annual Chocolate Salsa Pleasure Party, Vavoom Valentine's Ball and the Toronto Bachata Festival.
In 2006 Go Dance Mambo was born and continues to thrive. We are now focused on building community and fundraising for Windfallbasics throughout the year.
SalsaSteph believes that movement and music are highly healing and it is the driving force behind everything she does. Salsa is her joie de vivre!
Rene Delgado - United Salseros
Bio coming soon!
The 2009 Finals Results:
Thank you to the 600 plus attendees that came out to support our 5 finalist on Sunday May 31st at Six Degrees Nightclub. The evening was an amazing one with a memorable display of turnpatterns, dips, tricks and shines from the competitors. A big thanks to George(ous), our host with the most that kept the evening fun and entertaining as well as the wonderful judges and instructors and assistants who provided a great beginner and intermediate lesson.
Here are the results of the evening!
Mridu & Elton
1st Place
Winnie & Manuel
2nd Place
Karen & John
3rd Place
Maysa & Dan
Runner Up
Marta & Alex
Runner Up
The 2009 Competitors:
Maysa Tani
I‘ve always loved taking dance classes since high school, but it wasn’t until I watched a salsa performance at the CNE that I felt the urge to try out salsa. I signed up for a beginner’s class and caught the salsa bug, but could not find any intermediate level classes that summer. Over a year later, in June 2008, I found TDS, made some great friends and was officially addicted! I love the feeling I get when I dance! And i’m always challenging myself to do the best that I can. Through this competition, I hope to gain performance experience (and get over any stage fright!). There’s just so much to learn about salsa – on2, leading, shines, etc – I plan to be around for a long while. :)
Dan Tahirkheli
I first became interested in Salsa in Feb. 2008 during my vacation in Trinidad, Cuba. I was sitting at Casa de la Musica watching everyone dance and was captivated by their movements. At that moment I really wished I could
dance like that too and participate with the rest of the group. Shortly after, I started taking Casino classes with Vladimir Aranda (I still do) and spending hours upon hours watching youtube videos and teaching myself. I took a break from Salsa during last 4 months of 2008 and finally decided in January 2009 to signup with TDS and take formal classes. I'm a perfectionist so becoming a great salsa dancer is one of my goals. I've also made some great friends along the way and I enjoy teaching others who are interested in learning Salsa.
Eva Wen
Eva’s dance history began during her university years. She started taking lessons to learn ballroom dancing in her home country, China. Years later, Eva moved to Toronto where she discovered Toronto Dance Salsa. Captivated by the expressive and social oriented nature of Salsa, Eva took her first class in 2008 and decided to commit to improving her style and technique.
Derek Wisniewski
Looking for something new to challenge himself Derek found himself at TDS. Having danced for just under a year, he's known for his determination in refining his technique & timing while consistently improving his shines & styling on the dance floor. The energy of the salsa music is his driving force and the challenges of becoming a more versatile leader is what feeds his will-power to grow as a salsero.
Mridu Das
Mridu began to explore and adopt completely opposing forms of dance such as hip-hop over the course of time until her university life roused up her dance life. Her zeal for dancing drove her to explore salsa. With years of Indian classical and hip-hop experience blending with her 6 months of raw salsa energy on the floor, you might wonder what inspires her?! It's the very fact that she enjoys expressing herself with such hunger for rhythm. If you've ever searched for an individual who can shake up their core, drip sweat drops of passion and style as if there was an electric fire then you've found her!
Elton Martins
Inspired through his Brazilian roots of samba and other regional rhythms, Elton has a knack of bringing to life the very moving sounds that salsa is known for. With over a year of experience at TDS under his belt, he constantly strives to be a better dancer by exploring the many realms that salsa encompasses. A multitude of dances later into his salsa life, he tries to create an aura of simplicity that can inspire every beginner dancer that he helps at TDS to realize that even a small interest in salsa can be turned into a passion.
Michelle Sui
Dance has always been one of Michelle's passions. She was trained in ballet and Chinese folk dancing when she was a child. In 2006, a close friend introduced her to Salsa. Although she was captivated by the music and the movements, she didn't start taking salsa lessons until March, 2008 from TDS. Since then, she has caught the salsa bug and became a helper in November, 2008. Through this competition she hopes to improve her dancing and have lots of fun!
Bobby Cabral
Bobby always enjoyed dancing from a young age, but was embarrassed because of his two left feet. So in late in 2006, two friends and he decided to take a class at TDS. He has made many friends of over the past 2 years and joined the helper team in 2008.
Winnie Fung
Winnie never knew that salsa dancing would become one of her favourite hobbies when she took her first beginner salsa class with TDS in 2007. Her interest in salsa dancing grew as she advanced through the different levels at TDS. Winnie became a helper in 2008 and joined the 3rd annual TDS performance class, which gave her an even greater appreciation for salsa dancing. It also left her with a desire to improve her salsa dancing skills through more performances. Winnie continues to find her dancer-self as she prepares for this year's competition, and she is looking forward to give her best effort on stage in front of the warm and supportive TDS community.
Manuel Alvarez
I started dancing salsa as a kid but didn't take any formal lessons until looking for some distraction during grad school. Upon arriving in Toronto I knew I wanted to continue doing it so one of the first things I did was look for a salsa school and that's how I found TDS. I've enjoyed the the lessons and the people and and am always excited to help new students.
Julia Brodyansky
Once upon a time, in a Galaxy far-far away, there were earthlings who could dance...Only a year ago it couldn't look farther away for Julia: her battered starship has been navigating the outskirts of the Universe on a seemingly unapproachable trajectory, for what seemed like light years. Through time/space curves and cosmic challenges, deserving a story of their own, only a third attempt to charter a correct course brought her to a successful landing at TDS in March 2008. (Don't they say, women can't read maps? Well, at least asking for directions worked!). There, in salsa dancing she found and firmly staked her own fantasyland, morphing swiftly and unobtrusively into a proven salsa-addict. Intergalactic thanks to Sharon and everyone at TDS! Jumping into becoming a TDS helper definitely added to feeding the habit. Julia admits that salsa dancing, her formerly closeted, true calling, while being an all-season source of newfound happiness, easily combines in itself the adrenaline rush of a black diamond run, weightless excitement of skydiving, enough mental exercise to keep even directionally challenged brains sharp, a mood drug of choice, and intense workouts with effects similar to those of martial arts training: all this - in a relaxed and friendly social setting. Oh, and did I mention fun? This was the main reason for signing up for a competition; as obviously, wise would not be the right word to describe expecting mastery after only a year of classes. But hey, as now salsa is deeply entrenched within, like a symbiotic life form, it's high time to step out of the comfort zone and take it up a notch - "to boldly go where one has never gone before"!
Vincent Cheng
Vincent's salsa journey started in fall of 2006 at Seneca College as a way to meet other people and have fun. Although he enjoyed the class out there, it wasn't until he joined Toronto Dance Salsa in the beginning of 2007, after a friend's recommendation that he grew a strong passion for the dance. Toronto Dance Salsa fostered an atmosphere where people were friendly and the instructors made the class really fun and enjoyable. Today, he still fondly looks back on those days, and thanks each and every one who has helped him in his salsa journey. It brings him no greater joy when dancing than to see a smile on the partner's face knowing that she is enjoying as much as he is – dancing to the same music to a move well executed.
Marta Slowik
My passion for Salsa evolved from my interest for Latin Language and Culture. My fascination with dancing led me to discover TDS in 2006. Since joining I quickly learned and realized that Salsa is my true passion and identity. With Salsa dancing came active helping ending up with the desire of perfecting and moving up to perform at the TDS Competition. The intense flavor of Latin music and magic of rhythmical dancing makes me complete! At last the satisfaction of helping others fulfills one of my inner dreams.
Alex Florescu
Before joining Toronto Dance Salsa Alex couldn't stand any kind of latin music. He started taking lessons with TDS last January only because a friend asked him to and because he needed something to fill up his spare time. Slowly but surely, the salsa beat took him over, and after a few months he was going out salsa dancing constantly. Alex became a helper for TDS in September and is now enjoying a solid diet of 15-20 hours of salsa dancing every week. Alex loves dancing with newcomers to salsa. For him, the look ladies get when he leads them into an unexpected move is priceless.
Stephanie Cansino
I am 21 years old and started salsa dancing about two months ago and immediately fell addicted to the scene. At the time i started salsa dancing i was working and busy with life and realized i needed to do something that i love to do and that's when i took up salsa dancing. I find dancing a great way for me to express my love and passion for life.
Nick Sagias
In 2001, during a corporate outing, a co-worker pulled Nick on the dance floor and showed him some basic salsa steps. Nick had so much fun he wanted to take salsa lessons – being shy he put off the dance classes for the next seven years. In the winter of 2008, he was re-inspired when a close friend started taking lessons and was describing how much fun it was. Nick joined Toronto Dance Salsa in June 2008 and became a helper in February 2009. Realizing it's not as easy as it looks, he is continually practicing and taking lessons to improve.
Karen Di Monte
Karen has been salsa dancing since 2008. While studying law overseas in Leicester, England, she enrolled in Cuban salsa classes and was instantly hooked! Upon returning to Toronto in June 2008, Karen was introduced to Toronto Dance Salsa where she began taking salsa and tango lessons concurrently. Before long, Karen was addicted to the salsa beat, and going out salsa dancing several times a week. Since then, she has developed passion for salsa and loves having fun on the dance floor. Karen continues to seek new and creative ways to improve her dancing skills and technique while attending various workshops, congresses, socials, clubs and most recently, competing in the TDS competition.
John Radtke
John Radtke has been with TDS for almost 4 years, and this is his 3rd year competing in the amateur competition. Aside from helping out in classes, John has performed with a few amateur performance choreography groups including Toronto Dance Helper performance class, and most recently Ifreestyle's 7th Performance class. He continues to better himself as a dancer through lessons, workshops and congresses, and spends much of his free time dancing the night away on the dancefloors of Toronto's amazing Latin club scene.
2009 Judges Biographies:
Teddy Olaso - United Salseros/Mambo Mosaic
Teddy Olaso started Salsa in 1997, and along with Rene Delgado, established UnitedSalseros; one of Canada’s finest instructional companies. He studied and took Salsa workshops with various international instructors
and started locally with Yasmina Ramzy and Maya DaSilva of Arabesque Dance Company, and then continued with Afro-Cuban lessons with Ana Machado and its practical applications to Salsa.
He has an educational background in Office Administration, Social Work, Corporate Communications and NLP, as well as progressive training in internal martial arts. Furthermore, he worked for Toronto Casting Talent Agency for 5 years and had exposure about the arts community in general.
Teddy is credited for developing innovative, comprehensive and challenging training program for all levels of dancers, instructors and performers in order to develop their technical, choreography and artistic development with a balanced vision. He continues to be sought by students, some of whom are well-established performers and teachers, simply by referral or from his international congress workshop instructions.
Along with UnitedSalseros’ Assistant Instructor’s Training Program, he also developed his pet project, Mambo Mosaic, a professional and amateur dance company that have had more than 300 members due to Teddy’s ability to manage and transform students of all levels, various learning capability, and different types of size and height into skilled performers. Most importantly, however, be believes that beauty of social dancing in Salsa has no equal and must be present in both the dance floor and on stage no matter what medium it may take and should be stressed accordingly.
Angus Dirnbeck - iFreestyle.ca
Angus Dirnbeck is the cofounder of iFreeStyle.ca, a Toronto based salsa On2 dance school and performance company. He has been dancing with his partner and iFreeStyle.ca cofounder, Caryl Cuizon, since the spring of 2000. He has been a featured dancer and instructor on stage, tv and film and is regularly sought out as a competition judge. Along with Caryl, Angus is currently choreographing for the upcoming theatre production: "The Weeping Salsa".
Vanesa Stay - Latin Energy
Vanesa Stay started her training at the age of five at the best private Ballet Institute in Argentina where she trained intensively for 7 years in Ballet, Flamenco, Jazz, Argentine Folk and Tango. By the age of 6, she was performing in Theatres. After moving to Canada in '89, she continued dancing as a hobby.
Vanesa discovered salsa dancing in January of '99 and fell in love with the dance. She began her training with local & international professional dance instructors such as (Tito & Tamara from Puerto Rico, Super Mario from UK, Al & Eddie from L.A. to name a few). After months of intense training with various local instructors including Oscar Naranjo, Vanesa became a Professional Salsa dancer in Dec. of '99. She has also trained in Argentine Tango with various instructors including Tango World Champion "Fabian Peralta" during her yearly trip to Argentina.
Vanesa has traveled to many countries teaching, competing and performing. With each opportunity, she continued to improve her skills by taking lessons with world renowned instructors.
Vanesa's life and passion is dancing but she also has a diploma in computer science and a full time job as a web designer / programmer analyst.
Oscar Naranjo - Latin Groove Productions
Oscar Naranjo started Latin Groove Productions with a vision of a sharing his passion and love for latin dance. Latin Groove is new, fresh, innovative dance company using a fusion of different rhythms and movements. We thrive on high energy and quality performances! Our dancers come from various dance backgrounds and come together to deliver the spirit, the groove and the rhythm of dance. Our performance team would be happy to provide high quality entertainment for all your private or corporate events.Oscar discovered his passion for Latin dances when he was only 16. With each opportunity, he continued to improve his skills by training with world renowned dance instructors.
Oscar has been performing, teaching, and competing since 1989. He has an extensive dance background consisting of salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata, tango and cha cha cha. He has also trained with Tango World Champion "Fabian Peralta" during his trip to Argentina in Feb. 2007. His hard work and dedication have always paid off. He was awarded first place in 25 salsa competitions and proudly represented Canada in various Congresses around the world among other important events.Oscar's dream is to travel the world teaching, dancing, competing and sharing his Latin roots. With each journey he hopes to acquire new experiences and techniques to help him grow as a dancer, choreographer and instructor.
Rene Delgado - United Salseros
Bio coming soon!
The 2008 Final Round Results and Photos:
What an amazing evening the finals turned out to be! We had almost 700 people in attendance to cheer on our 5 finalist couples competing for the title of 2008 TDS Amateur Competition Winners. Congratulations to Kelly Elliott and Barry Ip who won first place, Camela Adams and Manuel Alvarez who placed second, Therese Maceda and James Kalfin who placed third and Marsha Soefrieddie, John Radtke, Jennifer Botelho and Tyrone Sterling for placing as runners up.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the evening unforgettable - George(ous) our host, our genrous sponsors, the amazing judges (Teddy Olaso, Rene Delgado, Angus Dirnbeck, Ana Machado and Salsa Steph) and the creative performers (iFreestyle, Mambo Mosaic and GoDanceMambo).
Here are the winners' photos and the prizes that they won!
Kelly Elliott & Barry Ip
1st Place Winners
Prizes include:
A full Canada Salsa Congress Pass for each of them, a full Miami Salsa Congress Pass for each of them with 1 night hotel stay, a full World Salsa Competition Pass for each, 3 pairs each of dance shoes from both Century Wide shoes, Gabellini Shoes and Addicted to Dance Shoes, dinner & show from Plaza Flamingo, Peridot Rest Lounge Gift Certificates, 1 year membership to Lula Lounge's salsa Fridays, t-shirts from Shokkwear, Meet Market Adventures Gift Certificate and Trophies
Camela Adams & Manuel Alvarez
2nd Place Winners
Prizes include:
2 full passes to the Calgary Salsa Congress, 2 full passes to the Miami Salsa Congress w DVD, 2 pairs of shoes each from Century Wide Shoes and Gabellini Shoes, Salsa T-shirts from Shokkwear, Gift vouchers from Addicted to Dance Shoes, Meet Market Adventures, Peridot Resto Lounge and Trophies
Therese Maceda & James Kalfin
3rd Place Winners
Prizes include:
Evening passes to the Miami Salsa Congress, 2 pairs of shoes each from Century Wide Shoes and Gabellini Shoes, Salsa T-shirts from Shokkwear, Gift vouchers from Addicted to Dance Shoes, Meet Market Adventures, Peridot Resto Lounge and Trophies
Jennifer Botelho & Tyrone Sterling
Runners Up
Marsha Soefreddie & John Radtke
Runners Up
The 2008 Five Finalists:
Congratulations to the following five finalists who will be battling it out Friday July 4, 2008 at the Finals Round of the competition at Six Degrees Nightclub. Thank you to everyone who participated - it was an amazing evening with lots of excitement, friendships and fun! Thanks to George(ous) for being the host with the most and the judges and performance teams from iFreestyle and Latin Energy for the spectacular performances!
To view photos from the preliminaries please visit:
Jennifer Botelho & Tyrone Sterling
John Radtke & Marsha Soefreddie
James Kalfin & Therese Maceda
Manuel Alvarez & Camela Adams
Barry Ip & Kelly Elliott
The 2008 Competitors:
Camela Adams
Camela was born into a family that has a passion for dancing. Having a grandfather who use to teach dancing in the basement of his home back in South America, to family functions and local Caribbean Carnivals, dancing has always embraced Camela's life and family. After hitting the salsa clubs with friends a few years back, Camela feel in love with the smooth, sultry beats of salsa and was determine to learn how to dance to salsa music. Camela decided to visit a TDS class in order to see the basic steps of salsa dancing. She immediately knew that she wanted to start taking lessons. She joined TDS in June of 2007 and has been taking classes and volunteering as a helper. Camela continues to frequent the local latin clubs and TDS outings simply for the love of the music and dance.
Manuel Alvarez
Manuel has grown up with salsa music and is always captivated by the sound. He has been a member of TDS since March 2006 and enjoys the interaction with other students. Through this competition he hopes to continue his salsa growth and just have fun.
Jennifer Botelho
Before joining Toronto Dance Salsa, Jennifer enjoyed the sounds of Latin music immensely and hitting the salsa clubs but at some point that wasn't enough. She was so eager to learn more so that she can express her passion for dancing without limitation. It was time for Jennifer to step it up and make dancing a bigger part of her life, which lead her to TDS in July of 2007. Since then Jennifer has been able to improve her dancing techniques and meet some amazing people. Regardless of the outcome of the Toronto Dance Salsa Amateur Competition, she will hold this great experience close to her heart and continue to challenge herself. This is the first of many milestones to come!
Tyrone Sterling
Tyrone began dancing in April 2002. After a break Tyrone began classes at Toronto Dance Salsa in the summer of 2006 and became a helper in March 2007. It has been a great experience for him and he continues to learn and challenge himself by learning to dance on 2, joining the Toronto Dance Salsa performance group and now competing.
Therese Maceda
Therese grew up dancing; Hawaiian and Filipino folk dancing led the way to 12 years of training and competing in tap and jazz. After an extended break from formal dance instruction, she is happy to be back in her dancing shoes once again. Therese began salsa lessons on a lark with a friend and has since re-discovered her passion for all things dance, in particular taking classes and dancing herself. While dancing, her number one goal is always to have fun, but she also enjoys the opportunity to express herself, as well as the mental and physical challenge of learning something new. One of the things about salsa that keeps her interested is that she must rely on a connection with her partner to become a better dancer and that is very different from any style of dancing she has previously learned. Therese hopes to study as many styles of dance as she can possibly squeeze into her free time and vows never to stop dancing again!
James Kalfin
In 2000 James moved to Toronto from Montreal. He was exposed to Salsa in Montreal, but never actually built up the nerve to try it. Being a newcomer in Toronto James thought taking on salsa would be a great way to meet people and so in early 2002 he started with Toronto Dance Salsa. Since then he has met many great friends and has been loving dancing ever since.
Mildred Quinto
Mildred's friend invited her to go out to a salsa club for the first time and she was so amazed that the people there danced so well. She became interested and searched for a dance school on the internet. She found a ballroom school and called right away, but had a terrible experience on the phone. So she tried Toronto Dance Salsaand spoke to the instructor who was so warm, nice and very accomodating. She promised to call me as soon as the new class began, and she did, and that was Sharon Galor. From there everything is history. Now Mildred says to herself, 'I am Mildred Quinto and I am a salsa addict." No regrets -because of TDS she is blessed with very nice friends and acquaintances.
David Charing
David's salsa journey began in the spring of 2006 when he joined TDS. He progressed from Level 1 up to the Toronto Dance Salsa 2nd performance group. Today, he continues to be an active TDS helper and strives to improve his dancing by attending Salsa conventions and workshops. He has never looked back ever since Salsa saved his life last year after his plane went down in northern Muskoka where he was able to make a signal fire by Salsa moves alone.
Natasha Gibson
A friend of Natash took her to a small salsa club in Little Italy and pulled her on stage to dance. Embarassed as she felt, she did what she could, fell in love with the music and found her natural groove. That sparked her interest in salsa and she attended her first salsa cruise summer of 2006. When Natasha saw the dancers and all their snazy combinations, tricks and dips, she had to learn the steps so she could actually dance. She did some research online and found Toronto Dance Salsa and signed up!! From then on, she's been out to various salsa clubs and is having a ball learning new combos!
Joseph Sackey
Joseph Sackey is a stepping choreographer, entertainer,and personal life coach. He recently completed his last semester at the University of Toronto, studying Psychology. He has been a part of Toronto Dance Salsa for over two years, as a student to begin with and later as a helper. Joseph was inspired to learn salsa when he was rejected by a girl at a salsa club. From that moment on, he was determined to learn salsa. Joseph is excited about dancing with Natasha in the competition and hopes his years of dance and performance experience will contribute to their success.
Kelly Elliott
Bio coming soon!
Barry Ip
Barry's salsa journey began in April 2006. He was talking to a friend about salsa and from there he was introduced to TDS. Since then, he has taken most of the classes offered by TDS including the Toronto Dance Salsa 2nd Performane Class. He is also currently an active helper at TDS, and enjoys helping others learn. He continues to strive to improve himself by learning from watching other salsa dancers.
Marsha Soefredie
Marsha has always found latin music to be so infectious - she can't help but want to dance whenever she hears it. While on vacation a few years ago, someone pulled her on the dance floor and patiently showed her the basic steps, a couple turns and a dip. She was hooked. Marsha was thrilled to finally be able to marry the salsa footwork with the latin rhythms that she so enjoyed. To build on this foundation, she started taking lessons with TDS in spring 2007 and has enjoyed every minute of it. She looks forward to continually improving her dancing as well as meeting people from all walks of life that share one common passion - salsa!
John Radtke
John Radtke joined Toronto Dance Salsa about 2 and a half years ago, and has been a helper for about a year and a half. He was born into a musical family, and the rhythm of latin music is what has kept him dancing until now, and will for years to come. The best part is that it all started with him losing a bet to his sister who dragged him to his first class, and he's been loving it ever since. Although he has many years of experience on stage performing as a singer, last year was the first time he performed as a dancer. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and ended up placing second. He had so much fun with it last year that he's decided to give it another shot. He is very excited to be dancing with Marsha this year, and is confident that they will both enjoy their experience. He was also part of the Toronto Dance Salsa Performance group, which gave him a new perspective on choreographed dancing. He continues to push his salsa limits while attending congresses, workshops, and most recently he has begun studying ON2 Salsa, which he is becoming very passionate about.
Andrea Ferguson
Andrea was first intoroduced to salsa when she was given a free introductory lesson and loved it! She has been taking lessons with Toronto Dance Salsa for 7 months and enjoyes showing her new moves off at the clubs. This is her first time entering a salsa competition.
Jonathan Williams
Jonathan is a screenwriter who caught the salsa bug while traveling in Cali, Colombia. After many nights of embarrassing himself and his country on the dance floor, he came back to Canada and started lessons with Toronto Dance Salsa. Now, one year later, this gringo has learned a few things, and he looks forward to the day when he can return to the Salsateques of Cali and hold his own.
The 2007 Competition Results - Here are the Winners!
Nina Huang & Alfred Kee
1st Place Winners
Prizes include:
A full Canada Salsa Congress Pass for each of them, a full Miami Salsa Congress Pass for each of them with 1 night hotel stay, a full World Salsa Competition Pass for each, 2 pairs each of dance shoes from both Century Wide shoes and Addicted to Dance Shoes, $100 at Amaretto's Restaurant, dinner & show from Plaza Flamingo, Eggplant Restaurant Gift Certificates, an Ipod docking station and 1 year membership to Lula Lounge's salsa Fridays, t-shirts from Salstar and Trophies
Monica Della-Quercia & John Radtke
2nd Place Winners
Prizes include:
Gift vouchers from Addicted to Dance Shoes and 1 pair of shoes each from Century Wide Shoes, 1 year membership to Lula Lounge Salsa Fridays, Eggplant Restaurant Gift Certificates, Dinner and show at Plaza Flamingo, Canada Salsa Congress Friday Night Passes, Miami Salsa Congress Passes and Trophies
Tania Fertuck & Rajeev Samuel
3rd Place Winners
Prizes include:
Gift vouchers from Addicted to Dance Shoes and Century Wide Shoes, 1 year membership to Lula Lounge Salsa Fridays, Eggplant Restaurant Gift Certificates, Gift Certificate for dinner at Green Bamboo, Canada Salsa Congress Thursday Night Passes, and Trophies
Kimberly Robinson & Mark Curtis
Runners Up
Stella Chan & Steve Smith
Runners Up
2007 Performance Groups
Latin Energy Kids
Ifreestyle
Mambo Mosaic
Contestants
****Photography provided by Quan Zhang ****
The 2007 Five Finalists
A big congratulations to the 5 Finalists of the Preliminary Round. The following 5 Finalists will be performing their choreographed routine in the Finals Round on May 25, 2007 at 6 Degrees.
Tania Fertuck & Rajeev Samuel
Kimberly Robinson & Mark Curtis
Kelly Elliott & Barry Ip
Monica Della-Quercia & John Radtke
Nina Huang & Alfred Kee
SalsaTO Article about the 2007 Competition"1st Competition in 4 Years!
The heat outside was nothing compared to the heat inside at 6 Degrees Friday as over 550 people packed the place for the first salsa competition in four years - Toronto Dance Salsa (TDS)'s 1st Amateur Salsa Competion.
Five fearless and intrepid couples - Monica & John, Tania & Rajeev, Steve & Stella, Kimberly & Barry, Nina & Alfred - took the stage to show it off to the judges and to the hundreds in the audience.
Anticipation was in the air. "She was in my Level 5 class. ..." " ... Where did they learn the dips?" Who was going to win?
Some Serious Loot
The stakes were high with the winning couple getting: 2 full Canada Salsa Congress passes, 2 full Miami Salsa Congress passes with a 1 night hotel stay, 2 full World Salsa Federation passes, 2 pairs each of dance shoes from Century Wide Dance Shoes and Addicted 2 Dance Shoes, $100 at Amaretto's Restaurant, a Plaza Flamingo Dinner & Show, Eggplant Restaurant Gift Certificates, an Ipod docking station and two 1 year Lula Lounge's Salsa Fridays membership, Tees from Salstar and Trophies. That's some serious loot!
A full evening was planned, with lessons, the competition, dancing, more dancing, three shows and the winners and a surprise.
A little something for everybody got the night going - a multi-level beginner, intermediate, advanced - lesson taught by TDS instructors with about an hour of DJ Efren's music to practice with before the main event!
MC George, whose 6' 5"+ towered over the stage and Katie's 4' 10 & 1/2" got down to business around 11:00pm. with a quickie salsa step and and Sharon's announcment on her recent engagement.
The Judges
The five judges, all experienced performers and choreographers were introduced and took their places in front of the stage. iFreestyle's Angus, United Salseros's Teddy, Latin Energy's Oscar & Vanesa and Ana Machado settled in for a challenging night.
The couples came on stage together for a two minute warm-up to get a feel for the floor, shake out any last minute jitters, get used to the lights and the buzz from the crowd. The buzz got louder as glimpses of what was to come flashed by.
Numbers from the hat set the competition order.
MC George introduced each couple with a very brief bio. The crowd could see the faces behind the names or the "couple x."
The Competitors
Kimberly & Mark drew the toughest spot, first up. Warming up the crowd - and the judges - that's really tough. MC George noted that Kimberly caught the salsa bug on a trip to Cuba and started lessons with TDS in the fall of 2005, took all six levels, and started helping Sharon with classes. The feeling of flying during spins is her biggest kick! Summer 2005 was Mark's foray into salsa. A few visits to Ba Ba Luu got him hooked. The bar was set.
Monica & John were second up. MC George mentioned that a Spanish father and an Uruguayan mother infused Monica with rhythm and soul that only salsa could bring out. A busy mom, her 8 and 11 year old girls are very proud of her. John began taking lessons with Toronto Dance Salsa in late 2005 and ran - danced through? through levels one to five.
Stella & Steve were third up. MC George told the crowd that Stella's first salsa experience was at a company salsa party. she got dipped and that was it. She wanted more! Steve caught the salsa bug from the silver screen. Patrick Swayze & Kelly Lynch's Roadhouse was the culprit and the influence on his dance. One sexy routine coming up!
Tania & Rajeev drew the fourth spot. MC George noted that Tania wanted back into dance, and ballroom was one way. She loved her ballroom. But the instructor took the summer off. So Tania took a Level 2 salsa class in May 2006 to kill time waiting for ballroom instructor to come back. Not! It's been Salsa ever since. Rajeev started dancing as it was on his "to do list" before the big three - oh. Salsa's fun factor, the music and its self-expression hooked him!
Alfred & Nina drew lucky 5 and had a warmed up crowd. Nina picked up Salsa during a year teaching down in Medellin, Columbia with her friends. Her Toronto friends started taking her to some of downtown clubs - Ba Ba Luu perhaps? That's how she met Alfred. No formal classes yet, so Nina signed up with TDS in January 2006. No looking back. Alfred's only vice coming away from a job in the notorious Amsterdam was an uncurable salsa bug.
In a blink, it was over - Five 2' to 2' 30" performances gone in a swirl of arms, legs, faces and music.
Now the judges had to retire and thrash out amongst themselves the winners.
Three Shows
How to keep the crowd distracted? Shows! Why Not?
Oscar & Vanessa's Latin Energy Kids filled the stage with their own magic that was seen at the 4th Salsa Congress and the 2nd Winter Salsa Carnival. Little Bria is not so little now, having been performing for several years.
iFreestyle.ca's performance group showed 'em what the ON2 crowd can do - to a Western theme.
United Salseros' Mambo Mosiac mixed a little tango with their salsa to give the crowd a spicy treat.
The Winners
MC George got everyone's attention again and it was time... The moment everyone in the place was waiting for. Everyone had put in months of practice; finding a partner, choosing music, practicing, practicing, practicing. ... Who won?
Here is the list - in order. Nina & Alfred - 1st; Monica & John 2nd; Tania & Rajeev - 3rd; Runners up Steve & Stella; Kimberly & Mark.
Everyone came away a winner. It takes guts to compete, to put one's dance before the world to see and be judged.
The evening ended with a huge birthday circle for Evan - even George gave him a spin!
The Toronto Dance Salsa gang can look forward to a second salsa competition. If the first one was any indication, a second one will be beyond belief. Start getting in some of those performance classes in now and hunt down some music. If you think the salsa bug is bad, the competition and performance bug is worse...
Sponsors included: Canada Salsa Congress, Miami Salsa Congress, World Salsa Federation, § Century Wide Dance Shoes, Addicted to Dance Shoes, Super Latin Music, Lula Lounge, Plaza Flamingo, Eggplant Restaurant, Amaretto's Restaurant, Plaza flamingo, Super Latin Music, Salstar T-shirts.
People who made the night a succes include: Katie, Nicole, Kimberly, Nina, Anthony, Christianne, Evan, George and more.
Article and Photos Provide by SalsaTO