The stage is a piece of tear in the fabric of the world. It’s a different place than the others. People on stage gain magical powers that they wouldn’t have when walking in the mall. Dance is the instrument of this power. It is so amazing how the people’s perception change and get altered by this special power.
A great example is my mum. She is a small person and she is a physicist and a teacher. I remember one day to be talking to someone that had been her student and he said to me that he only realised she wasn’t tall months after she stopped teaching him, she was so imposing when teaching, so powerful, he thought she was much taller than reality. One day he passed her by at the Uni and realised she wasn’t big at all!
That is what happens to these big dancers we have around. Jaime Jesus, Nestor Manuelian, Johnny Vasquez, Tony Lara, Oliver Piñeda, are not very tall men but man! how huge do they look on stage!
I keep looking at them dance, with mouth open and cannot tear my eyes off of them, yet they are normal people in a normal surrounding, as am I.
Amazing Little Liz is another bright star on the dance stage and floor.
Other, not short, talents also come to my mind, some dancers that steal all the attention when on stage, Angelo Salgado and his smile, he burns brightly, this year he got the permanent Australian visa for Special Talent and such a right thing it was. He is a very special talent indeed. I looked to the people around me watching his show and we were all grinning like idiots.
And Fernando, the Suave man. I can’t precise what’s about him, a charm or something. He turns and step and smile and move, and you sigh…
Fernando Providel & Tania / Nestor Manuelian, Tania & Lidia MacMahon / Super Mario & Tania
These dancers are all so especial, they have personalities that leak out of them, that enfold the viewers making them believe the impossible.
Lastly I’ll talk about someone a bit larger, Super Mario, the one everyone in the salsa scene is in love with.
You don’t have another choice but to like him.
Last year I saw him dancing with four or five little girls from New Zealand’s team, it was in the party after the shows and he was leading them all so well, it was delightful to watch.
This year, with my broken arm I had a chance to talks with him these days before the congress, he was harbouring a hurt hand also so we exchanged a few tears, from the pain and I told him he should keep his hand in the protective gear he told me I should keep my arm imobile, funny dialogue.
Capoeira Performance at the Sydney Salsa Congress - Brazilian Room 2009
I still remember the first time I’ve seen the party at the Sydney Salsa Congress and every time I get goose bumps.
That was what made me decide: yes, I will learn this salsa thing.
One live band playing for thousands of salseros going crazy at an enormous wooden floor. Filling up the State Sport’s Centre is a feat. And all those people spinning and partying to the sounds of a live salsa band was enough to amaze any watcher.
This year the Sydney Salsa Congress had a special something for the dancers.
On Saturday and Sunday the rooms were divided.
There was the regular Salsa room that continued to play Salsa, Bachata, Chacha and Merengue.
Then there was a new Brazilian Room. A dream comes true for Marcia Percival, and a lot of other dancers like me.
It was the acknowledgement that the other styles are getting more and more from the latin dancers’ time.
In this room we had Zouk, Forro and Samba for everyone to dance, also Marcia led an Axe, Kadu and Larissa performed a Gafieira Show, the Capoeira boys stole the stage for their amazing acrobatics and everyone went crazy on the Samba Parade with all this girls going crazy behind the drums.
Jeanne is such a beauty dancing I couldn’t stop looking at her moves. She is a Brazilian Dancer in Australia, a contestant at “So You Think You Can Dance” the Reality TV Show this year. The DJs were great, Amit DJ Zoubasa, Kadu, Mafie Zouker made everyone dance until they dropped.
This dancing until you drop at this congress is not an exaggeration. If you seen a previous picture I posted of the guys resting on the floor you will get my meaning. These people start dancing on Thursday night, go until late, then wake up, attend workshops all day, then party all night, repeated for two more days. My sister was driving me and every time she got out or into the car she was saying:
’Ai, ai, ai, ai.’
Translation to English:
‘Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.’ That is how bad everyone gets.
Tais dancing the congress away in the first 2 photos / Tatiana & Gaspar – Zouk at the Brazilian Room SSC 2009
By Friday afternoon you have your doubts you will be able to keep going, but the party is oh sooo goood! So you dance until you can’t walk anymore. Then yes, another song you like plays exactly when you think you’ve had enough, you have to dance it. You go to the car or hotel room thinking you are stepping on shards of glass. Your feet cannot take it anymore.
When you wake up you keep thinking if someone got the plate of the truck that hit you. Then you close your eyes and see the workshop schedule you have memorised. You know you cannot miss that class! Only god knows how you get up and get changed.
By Saturday you think you will not survive but you keep going, it’s all just too good not to. By Sunday half of you are enjoying all moments the most as the congress is almost finished and the other half cannot see the end of it.
Monday is an official sick day. You cannot get out of bed still you have a smile stuck onto your face.
The parties this year also had a nice appeal to it.
The organizers had this idea of “selling dances” where all the money went to World Vision, the charity. So a few people got some dances with the international and national artists, without having to make up the nerve to ask them for a dance.
Instead they paid for a dance, and contributed for a charity.
That is what I call winwin.
Dancers are all the same, ever.
Talking about international artists I was watching Tatiana dance a zouk, her first zouk ever, with Gaspar. She was beautiful and soft. Of course she missed a few leads and looked a bit panicked but still she followed and did really well. It is funny how even being a dancer like her, so good, she would still feel insecure and ask after the dance: ‘did I look too bad?’
‘No Tatiana, you didn’t look any bad, not at all.’ And I got beautiful pictures to prove it.
Dancers are like that, able to improvise, move no matter to what music, follow or lead partners, dance with one hand, and create in all matters.
See this picture of a dancer who created a different way to hold a bottle of water:
Different way to hold your bottle of drink at SSC09
Kim and Alex, Dave and Zoe joined forces and performed a show together. It was striking! A show with moves, tricks, dips and magic that kept the public in love with the routine from beginning to end.
On the other hand, technique and pure dance beauty, will enthral everyone in the same way,
I’m still sighting when I think of Jordan and Tatiana.
Some people don’t need theme, costumes, don’t need props, some don’t even need music, only their dance enthralls the viewer.
Especially for couple dancing two things will show clearly on stage:
How much training they had;
How many times they performed the choreo.
Remember that the longer partners have been dancing together, usually, the better the connection is. It’s better to avoid partnering people up last minute, or making changes in partners just before a big performance.
The best show moves are the ones you don’t see either coming or going. The transitions have to be smooth as… It is great to perform something new for the first time at a big event but the following performances on stage are usually much better than the first one. It’s sometimes worth performing at a small event before going to a large event. It’s about the confidence you get.
The amount of training taken before the big day will show in how clean the choreo is. The smaller the group on stage, the cleaner the choreo and movements have to be.
Cleanliness is more important that speed of movements. Some dancers think that if it fast, it is good, and everyone will only think about how fast the routine is. Wrong, the faster it is the cleaner it has to be, every movement has to be perfect, every arm has to stretch it fully, if they are to be stretched. Half movements ruin a routine.
The clean, fast, routine usually appears slower than it is, because good dancers make it look fast but easy.
I was once in a doctor near my ballet school straight after training and I was all flushed, sweaty, tired.
An old lady looked at me and asked what I was doing.
‘I just finished my Ballet class’ I answered.
‘How come? It looks so easy and light and soft?’ She asked me back.
That is the trick. Make it look easy, and light, even if it is fast.
One detail that has to be taken in consideration in a routine is a scenic technique: where do you want the public to focus,
Do you want the attention of the viewer to be divided or not?
For example, in Jaime & Liz’s choreo all I could see was Jaime’s spotted boxer. If they were not sooo good I would be able to focus on something else. I still laugh every time I think of those boxers.
If you want complete attention to a particular part of of the performance, remember to make everything else completely still. If you want people to be overwhelmed in their senses move all elements in different directions.
Novelty is the last thing I can think of as important in a choreo, but it’s one of the first the public will notice.
IUAC from Melbourne gave me the shivers with a start in slow motion they used. Not that it is something never used before but it was different from all else and gave such a great effect to the choreo.
That is how much they have trained: until they dropped!
Last year we performed a “zoukaton” routine at the congress, a fast zouk to reggaeton music.
It was different, sexy and oh! so much fun, we then took it to Brisbane’s Brazilian Congress. Jaime’s creation may have influenced others a bit as we have seen a few other zouk routines to reggaeton this year.
I had a few people coming to me to say a lot of nice things about the choreo and how different it was.
This congress he came up with a routine that was exceptional again. This time it was for LDA Pro Team. Half zouk, half salsa shines. I simply loved it. The costume was beautiful, and things were happening everywhere, all the time, making the most of the divided attention thing. The zouk was heartfelt, using the music fully, with tricks and dips and changing partners, the shines was so clean and good I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I’m bias but who cares, I loved it!
That was in my opinion a great example of a work of art!
Summarizing, the elements to consider on a choreography are:
Show moves
Technique
Training
How many times the show was performed on stage
Transitions between moves
Cleanliness of movements
Cleanliness is more important that speed of movements
Jaime Jesus was responsible for choosing the teams, couples, international and national artists for the congress since the start and every year he does better.
On top of that, this congress was so special that it attracted the incredible to happen.
I remember last year when Jaime received a call from Johnny Vasquez saying he was going to be in Australia during the time of the congress was happening, and how excited we all got when he agreed to come.
Till this day “Baila Rumbero” is my favourite salsa song because I first heard it sang live at the SSC stage by him.
One of the things that make this event so special is the Australian Crowd. Every international artists comment on that. They love the public, the cheering, the energy, they love the students at the workshops, the national artists, the booth holders and the technical people.
Johnny was thanking the security guards and bartenders on Sunday night. Another thing is the organization. Everyone says it is great, the people that have gone to congresses around the world are particular about this.
The stage is beautiful, the lights and sound of excellent quality. All this make the artists free to enjoy themselves and have ideas.
Kim, Tania & Alex in Blue / Zoe, Tania & Dave in Green / Jordan & Tania / Ghost picture of Jordan & Tatiana all at the SSC 2009
‘Tania, you have to see this!’
Jaime told me one day at LDA, a few months before the Congress when he showed me a youtube of Jordan & Tatiana – West Coast Swing dancers that I immediately classified as my favourite video of dance ever! From all types of dance, from all over the world!
The thing that was so amazing about them was the passion for dancing, the fluidity and technique, the smoothness, the perfect transitions from one step to the other. She is so beautiful dancing you want to stop breathing so it doesn’t interfere with you watching them.
When Jaime told me that they were coming to the congress I wanted to throw myself on the floor and hug his feet.
Watching Jordan and Tatiana dance, live, so close to me, was one of the highlights in my life.
On Friday they did a free style show and my eyes got all wet, it was simply divine.
How can you describe these emotions that flow into you to see the perfect leads, the way they look like they are not touching the floor. Floating. Maybe they are from another planet and they are hoovering a millimetre from the stage and we just can’t see it… To that effect I tried to take a photo of them teaching their workshop and got a “ghost picture”. The show on Saturday, to close the night, was one they have been using and got them world championships for 12 times in a row.
When they finished I couldn’t clap, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t scream. I was in a state of grace.
It is proven that dance is something divine, you see how it is part of so many cultures and has close relationship to several religious rituals. Dance can truly make you elated.
Actually, this congress got me thinking that the human race is amazing…
The other show that was remarkable in that sense was the one Jaime whispered in my year on Saturday:
“Watch this, it’s incredible although it’s not salsa…” So I watched and made sure I was paying attention.
David and Zoe from the USA are into tricks, when they enter on scene you think: he is so big! She is so small!
We got to call her the “fishie”. She is so fluid she moves like a fish in water, she swims, and melt and flies… What they do is acrobatics with poetry, something “Cirque du Soleil” style. If they were, there they would be, without a doubt, one of the main acts on stage.
He lifted her like she was a leaf, like a Genie and his muse. She walked all over him, was upside down and up in so many ways, going from the floor to the top of his head as if it was effortless.
More extraordinary than that was that she, twice, lifted him off the floor! That was a demonstration of tremendous technique; so no guy ever can say to a girl she is too heavy to be lifted. It’s not about strength.
This show was absolutely astonishing… the music was beautiful and they moved in a completely coordinated way.
I met them after their second show… they are short! The stage has such an effect over people, I knew she was thin but I didn’t realise how petite, until I went to take a picture with them.
The salsa counterpart of that show is the one by Alex and Kim. Beautiful Salsa dancers, and the four of them performed together. More about it on a next post.
Claudio & Monica social dancing Zouk at The SSC 2009
The search for what makes a choreo great goes on.
During the congress I wasn’t dancing I went to all the parties, shows and a few workshops, so I got a bit tired. This thing of having a fractured bone with a constant pain also added to my feeling exhausted. So although I had planed to write on Saturday and Sunday mornings I ended up sleeping instead. The dancers among my readers will understand me well, the people that go clubbing too.
Therefore, I now have three nights of shows in my head, I will have to use them as I go, forget about the linearity of the tale and just enjoy the links in the thinking.
I realised that, as I said before, the music is essential but there are catches to it. For example, if you get a great music but doesn’t use it well it is as bad as if you didn’t get a great song at all. Look for music with ups and downs, breaks and strong beats, something dramatic always adds flair to the performance. And a good choreographer uses it.
One of the guys in the dance world in Sydney that is a master of this and one of my favourite partners in the dance floor is Claudio Gomes from Step Up. When I was just getting there with my Zouk dancing I went to a 101°C Party and danced with him. It was one of “the good ones”, a perfect dance with no lost leads and the perfect following of his movements.
When we finished one of my fellow dancers, J. Gray, came to me to say:
‘I never got Zouk until tonight. I saw you dancing with the Brazilian Teacher and finally got it. It was amazing.’
And he commented on the following of the beats of the music.
So that is what Claudio and Monica with their Formation Team performed on Sunday and brought a wonderful example of following the song. They chose a great music, added a charming costume and did a beautiful piece using every single beat of the song.
Once again I will proclaim not to be neutral. Zouk is my favourite dance and this year, the shows I liked the best were the ones of this style. I know it is the Sydney Salsa Congress, so Salsa is in the spotlight but, no one who saw Kadu and Larissa, and Mafie Zouker, will tell me they were not incredible!
Kadu & Larissa Gafieira’s performance at The SSC 2009
I couldn’t even describe how amazing those shows were, but of course you are talking some of the best in the world here.
I’m trying to muster words to describe. It was like an earthquake or a volcano explosion you “witness”.
By the end of each of the choreos, I felt like saying only one thing: “Please do it again! Please, please, please, let me see it once more? Can I get the video right now? Can I take it home?”
I felt like Scooby Doo when he got one of those dog’s cookies in the cartoon, I felt like I jut had a treat, felt like floating in the air, eyes closed, hugging myself.
Larissa must be a demigoddess with divine powers, like the ones from mythology made from the intervention of one of the pagan gods.
She is so smooth, so liquid on stage and yet so perfect in her movements that it is indescribable. With partners that do what they do, Kadu and Mafie Zouker, there was nothing more amazing.
Larissa & Tania / Mafie Zouker / Mafie Zouker & Marcia Pinheiro dancing at the SSC 2009
Kadu and Larissa performed on Saturday and I went home not with the image of them in my mind but with the blur of incredible sensations they caused in me.
Then on Sunday Mafie Zouker took her, in a choreography created and rehearsed in only one week together, I’m not even sure they had met ever before then, I don’t think so.
He may be a bit of a snob, but Mafie Zouker is still one of the best zoukers in the world. His body movement is so sexy girls feel like melting, guys feel like imitating him. Putting him to dance with Larissa was not fair to the rest of the world. Then you add Kadu from the middle of the routine onwards and you get the shivers. [Choreo here]
I cannot wait to see it again, and that will be only on video. That is why this congress we cannot miss, even with a faulty wing. Things that happen here will not be replicated ever in any other place. The chances of getting these three together again on stage are very small indeed and even if they did, this choreo is unique made for this place alone. Completely unique.
I love Jaime’s choreographies, for me he is one of these geniuses of Latin Dance.
Jaime Jesus is one of the owners of Latin Dance Australia and one of the three that put the Congress together.
I worked for him and Marcia Percival (the other owner of LDA and parter at the SSC) for four years and had the time of my life doing so.
Marcia Pinheiro Percival at The Sydney Salsa Congress 2009
So please forgive me if I like his creations, I will not proclaim I’m neutral, but you will see I am fair in my writing.
On Thursday LDA’s advanced Salsa Student team performed at the congress.
It was a choreo I had seen before and already loved but it was even cleaner and perfect this time. The only little thing that was half a beat off, was Jaime’s lift of his partner at the end. I have a very good eye for details because of my years as a ballet dancer and could not understand how Jaime, the choreographer himself, could be the only one making the move a bit behind. When I talked to him after the shows I discovered why: a Dancing Bug!
The lift was to get the girl on top of the guy’s shoulder then bring them down, I’m not exactly sure how, as even if you are doing lifts yourself it feels like a magic trick.
Well, when he had his partner over his shoulder, with her legs in the direction of his head, Jaime’s earring got caught in her fishnet stockings! He solved it so smoothly no-one even realised what happened.
These bugs are funny and there are so many of them that the public does not realise!
It’s been years and years that I have been in the search and still I cannot tell you exactly what makes a great choreography.
I have probably been on stage more than a hundred times.
The most difficult piece I’ve ever performed was also probably the shortest and my dream come true: the two minutes and thirty-six seconds of the Swan Lake’s, the White Swan, Odette Variation [example here].
It was the toughest training I have ever endured.
My teacher used to weight us every class, and show off to the other students our blisters, two in each toe. t
To prove they could still rehearse with the points with only one or two small blisters on their feet.
Anyway, since then, I’ve been looking for this “what” that makes a great choreography…
I have a few ideas, nothing conclusive, maybe, by the end of the congress, I will know a bit more.
Some examples of genius come to my mind…
I’ve seen this video with a salsa choreography that was a Masquerade at the UK Salsa Congress two or three years ago.
Oliver Piñeda performed a solo with it which was unforgettable.
This masquerade was the most beautiful salsa routine for a group that I had ever seen until then.
Obviously this is too personal, I loved the music and the style.
Here are some things that showed they really put effort into:
The costumes were so appropriate, they really looked like they were dancing at the grand ball dance floor of the Chenonceau, a castle in France that has this ballroom right on top of the Loire river.
The formations, the harmony, the expressions and the movements… the final result was sublime.
Oliver Piñeda and Tania at the SSC
Last night I saw great things and choreographies and in each I could tell, in my opinion, where they have done better. I will say a few things that were remarkable.
Latin Dance Melbourne brought a really nice Reggaeton, good energy, good moves a sexy group and what called my attention was how clean the choreo was.
On that note the group from Rio Rhythmics, the zouk with two ladies for one man was also clean and nice to watch. The public loved it and the guys looked like they were having the time of their lives.
Bachatango is something I brought close to my heart so I had to love Latin Energy’s routine. I wrote about it at the bachateros website (www.bachateros.com.au), they used such a sexy French song!
In my search I found out that music is number one to start a great choreo.
Costumers are as important to make it look good. I will have to confess here that I think the latin scene still has quite a bit to improve on this.
Not because the costumes are not good but because most of us forget about adequacy. By that I mean that although some things are beautiful on the plan, they do not look good on the people using it. As simple as that: if you have ladies with a bit of muffins (or love handles) you shouldn’t put them almost naked on stage, even if you have one girl that will look good on it. Actually this shouldn’t be chosen by how the majority will look, it’s something the minority should resolve. If one guy or one lady doesn’t look his or her best, the costume should be changed. The group has to look good. Latin dancers tend to love sexy, tight and cleavage, but all those have to be used with expertise when applied to each person its going to cover, or not!
My favourite costume from last night was the Pirates Team’s although others also come to my mind.
Becky’s girls, the Charleston costume from Salsa Connection in Adelaide, the ladies in Red from Sydney.
I’m not sure what was better, the body paining of that afrocuban team or the routine… hard choice.
Still from the Pirate’s routine another thing made it an awesome choreography: the rehearsed facial expressions. That was amazing, the guys were standing out, they all made these funny open mouthed expressions at the same time, each with his own flavour but I loved it. I usually prefer natural expressions. I don’t like the faces the ballroom dancers use on their routines with all his forced expressions that ruin the photos and distract your attention from the dancing itself, but in this case it was part of the characterization of the piece. It was beautiful, nice pirates!
Another school that was stuck in my mind was the one where the guys were dancing a very nice Michael Jackson and the girls did a nice thing at a break of the music.
Four of them looking to the back, with the shorts so short guys would fall instantly in love with their legs. So I bet everyone was looking to their bums, specially when the first girls started moving it side to side on the beat of the music, followed by the second girl half a bar later, then the third, and the fourth.
Simple, simple, simple choreographing but an effect that drove the public to shouting and whistling!!!
The three groups that always stand out for the beauty, their technical abilities and the amazing salsa are for me the ones from this city I love, my Sydney (sorry rest of Australia, I have to be a bit bias here):
They are the ones I’ve seen the most, I dance with them a lot, so it is impossible for me to separate what is real technical quality and what is pure love, so I will just say I loved their performances.
Last another completely biased opinion, my Angels were beautiful. I’m happy to say I didn’t cry.
I was supposed to be dancing an Angel choreography that I didn’t make due to my broken wing.
This performance was created for Lee Wright a fellow dancer who is gone to the other side of the dancing stage… we dance for him, hoping he is dancing in heaven.
I felt happy and proud to have been with them in the making of this homage to Lee Wright.
To have wore the angel’s wings, to have teased Tony Lara saying: how are we going to be angels dancing Bachata? Bachata is too naughty to be heavenly. Well I was wrong. They looked like heavenly to me, even my partner’s unholy smile!
31 Orble Votes
Latin Dance Melbourne – Reggaeton team in Jeans
Strictly Salsa – Ladies in red
My Dance Partner, Junaid Jaffar, and his smile backstage
Watching last night’s shows without dancing myself was a different experience,
I could see things I haven’t realised before. The one that stands out is that anyone can dance. More than just that, no mater your physical type, your age or any physical characteristics, everyone looks good, the differences are only genetic make up. Being the night for the student shows, the variety was bigger.
I have to confess that as a ballet dancer (by default always tending to the anorexic type) I do think professional dancers, have to take good care of what is their “bread and butter”: their own body, their spirit’s house, to the best of their hability.
I spent my entire teenage phase counting calories of everything I ate. I cannot deny that great bodies on stage do appeal to the plasticity of the art. Nonetheless, I also know that when not professional, dancers should think of only one thing: have fun! From training to performance.
I could see all types on stage, the outgoing and the shy, the gorgeous and the… not that pretty; some so thin I wanted to feed them at the end of the choreo, others could eat a bit more broccolis, maybe.
There were the bold and the introverts, like they had it shining in their foreheads: “my life is indoors” and the outgoing ones that seemed to transmit: “come to papa!”.
There was a huge variety but all united by one thing: dancing.
The stage adds to everyone’s power. There is always something nice to say: great smiles shine like super novas up there.
This girl with a white Charleston costume had a great body roll, that one from Groove Brazil, dancing with Angelo, could dip so gracefully!
That guy was having such a good time it was contagious, the one dressed as a pirate, made me feel like laughing out loud of sheer happiness as I was watching him dance.
The public knows about energy, how it feels when you are up there and the public likes it.
Every person helps, screaming, clapping, wowing at the right moments. There are cheering crowds for specific teams or cities.
One of the brilliant ideas of this congress is not to be a competition, Jaime Jesus, Marcia Pinheiro and Angela Lau are the heads behind it all.
From the start they decided it is to be about sharing and growing and helping and it is. You meet people, make friends, have chats, the atmosphere is great.
Backstage at the Sydney Salsa Congress 09
I felt so loved last night… A lot of people came to talk to me, ask me what happened to my arm (also referred to wing, paw, sling, etc) showed me sympathy. I could see it in their eyes… they understood in a way only another dancer will.
I also could feel they took it to their hearts when I said: enjoy it, every second, if anything happens like with me and you can’t dance, even for one day, you have to be able to think as I’m doing now: that’s ok, because I took it all from every dance I had until then: no regrets.
Other than Salsa, the other styles are getting more and more space in the Latin scene: Zouk, Bachata, Bachatango, Reggaeton, Afro-Cuban and Samba made their way to the stage with nice appearances. Dance makes dancers beautiful, more powerful, taller and shinier than they could ever be, just on the street…
I send my Love to all the performers last night. You were all great, it was my privilege to watch and shout. I’m sorry that I couldn’t clap with one hand, although my legs are showing the results of me clapping hard onto them.
I went to the Sydney Salsa Congress shows last night and found there the perfect example for my line of thinking.
The Thursday night at the congress is dedicated to performances of the student teams, from all over the country, so I found a bit strange to have a couple performing instead of a team. Don & Rae from Perth were beautiful but during the show I kept thinking… “Why do they have a couple performing tonight?”
I have intricate knowledge of the Congress goings having been involved with the organization of it in the past. So the thing was for me more noticeable.
I couldn’t find any apparent motive, so I just enjoyed the show.
The routine was nice, they did some lifts and tricks as all Salsa dancers love. Nice costumes as well.
The Sydney Salsa Congress 2009 Stage MCs: Angela Lau and Marcia Pinheiro (left to right)
At the end of it Angela and Marcia, last night’s hosts, came and said that the show was there first because it was very good but second because Don has a prosthetic leg and the Congress is a supporter of all kinds of amazing dancers.
I would say that lots of salsa dancers are not half as good as him even using both flesh legs.
And she was amazing, because the trust needed is not a small feat, to be lifted, you are putting your life in your partners hands.
I was thrilled to see them at the train station and take a picture.
They were dropping Don’s parents off, as I was going home in the same train I enjoyed their company.
They were telling me that before dancing, he was had a passion for karate.
I remember my parents had to endure endless shows of ballet, jazz, contemporary and modern in my young life, and they even went to a practice for my performance a couple of weeks ago. (Dad wasn’t very happy with my dancing with an injured arm, we should listen more to our parents… the said arm was fractured and I didn’t know…).
Talking to Don’s parents last night reminded me of mine.
The same shinning eyes, same pride, same sharing of a son’s or daughter’s passion.
They said something that marked me: had the congress been in Brazil they would have still gone to see him! So would I !!!
Photo: LDA Zouk Team at Sydney Salsa Congress 2008
LDA Zouk team at The Brazilian Dance Congress 2008
It is starting tonight, one of the best Latin Dance Congresses in the world!
I’m writing all about it. Even with one good arm, one not too good, I’ll be there.
I was going to perform tonight in Tony Lara’s team, I was going to be an Angel… now I’m an Angel with a broken wing. I’ll talk to all the famous national and international dancers.
I confess: I will cry like a baby, if I cry when I’m dancing imagine when I’m not. One of my fondest memories is the excruciating pain in my feet after the last party last year. Ah, the sheer sense of mission accomplished! This year I promise a pain in my hand from writing!
2008 was my first full-time congress and I never had so much fun squeezed in such a short time. I can’t forget one guy social dancing. Pablo was his name, from Pablo & Diana, there were a lot of amazing dancers on the floor, the best salseros in the world, but Pablo, on the Saturday party was incredibly hot!
Something was leaking out straight from his soul and spreading all around him. He was dancing with Becky from Salsa Suave, and it was one of the most beautiful dances I had ever seen.
I’m not sure he is a striking man walking on the street, but on the social I looked around to see about 10 girls beside me watching and drooling.
You could see the little balloons on top of their heads saying:
‘Me, me, me, dance with me!’
From these ladies there was this woman, she was teaching the Afro-Cuban workshops and she had the most beautiful body I have ever seen. She is a black beauty with a sexy French accent and a body movement and elegance that says “dancer” in every fibre. Their dancing was sublime.
Last year, it gave goose bumps to join the workshops, all those dancers moving as one, doing the same things, one purpose, one mind, hundreds of bodies.
I’m excited to watch all these details this year, to report these little and big magics, to share here my dancer’s soul.
Do not miss the congress and do not miss my telling about it… It will be fun.
Super Mario’s Workshop at The Sydney Salsa Congress 2008
taniacreations.com 