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Super Mario and Little Sandra Fong at SSC09

February 11th 2009 05:02

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.

30 Orble Votes

LDA Pro Team training at the SSC 09

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: