It is with great pleasure that announce to all bachateros that don’t know yet: we will have a Bachata room at the Parties of the Sydney Latin Festival 2012!
I’m already dreaming of getting into a room and not waiting for the next Bachata, of knowing everyone there has only one thing in their minds.
For the non‐dancers it will be as if I’ve gone mad and I’m talking exaggerations and non‐sense. To the ones who, like me, are frequently in the Salsa rooms, with their eyes closed, hands together, and murmuring a prayer every time a music is ending: we are saved!
Our prayers of “bachata, bachata, bachata” will be answered without fail on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights!
The Brazilian room (Zouk and Samba) and Salsa rooms will be faithfully there, but the novelty is making me go wild! To complete our happiness Tony Lara is back!
To all Latin Dancers, The Sydney Latin Festival is an experience that should not be missed.
From 2 to 5 Feb 2012, at the State Sports Centre, Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia
Thirty‐three, thirty‐four, thirty‐five, thirty‐six… and she fell to the floor.
After thirty‐six fouettes, pain reached a new level, way beyond unbearable. Unbearable she could take any day of the week. To be a ballet dancer was never knowing absence of pain. This time it was different.
She would do whatever it took. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. Finally she went to the doctor.
‘Couldn’t I just cut it out?’
The doctor looks at her with startled eyes. He seems to need some recovering before coming back to her.
‘You could. I wouldn’t do it though; I don’t think you would like the consequences.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘In fact, you would have to change your whole life to be without your big toe.
It is essential for your balance. Possibly you would no longer be able to continue to be a ballet dancer. Possibly another type of dancer, maybe. I dare to think you cannot do these ballet point shoes without it.
You could be the first in the world to do it, still a huge challenge.
Even walking won’t be the same.
Your identity will be changed, there will be a discovery will have to be made on “who am I without my toe?”’
She thinks furiously.
‘But why!? Why is it doing this to me? I just want to get on with my life!’ She exclaims.
‘I understand your frustration’ The doctor replies.
‘What I’ll ask you instead is what have you been doing to it, to make it so angry at you?’
‘Just dancing!’
‘Just dancing… Really?’
‘Well, the nail fell a few times. But it grew back every time.’
‘How many times, specifically?’
‘Four .’
‘Four. You lost your toe’s nail four times and didn’t think your toe needed some attention, some better care?’
‘No, it’s how toes are.’
‘No, they are not!’
‘I mean, ballet dancers’ toes are.’
‘Are they? All your ballet friends are at the doctor, right now, considering chopping their toes off?’
‘No. Just some of them… some stop dancing too because of the pain and the points.’
‘Ok. So what do the others do differently?’
‘They have such ridiculous patience! They bind their toes in bandages before each class, toe by toe. Then they clean them after each class and re‐do the process. It takes a long time.’
‘Hummm’ is his only comment. She continues:
‘And they’ve bought gel protectors to put inside the shoes, my teacher said it is for the weak, not for real dancers.’
‘Do you think that protecting yourself and your health is a weakness? That your teacher is thinking straight here?’
‘I’m strong! And I don’t have time for this ridiculous caring of small toes!’
‘Or patience?’
‘Or patience. I have more to do.’
‘When you don’t have time for your body, your body obligates you to create it. Your toe has been showing you something is not right. That it needs better care, that something has to change. Right now, it doesn’t feel safe. It feels like you will chop it off at the first chance you’ve got. So it is giving you pain. It is on defensive mode fighting for its own existence.’
‘What do I do?’
‘When you got here you told me you are willing to do whatever it took.’
‘Yes.’
‘Would you, even, be willing to let it go, the idea of cutting the toe off?’
‘Maybe, yes.’
‘Then, I won’t cut it off. I won’t do it because it would be irresponsible of me.
It would be the quickest and apparent easiest solution.
But the consequences could be life shattering. So I ask again: whatever it takes?’
‘Yes.’ She agrees, But she pouts.
‘You will have to be good to yourself. Not only to your toe. Stop the punishment. No dancing for a month, at the very list.’
‘A MONTH???! NO WAY! I have a performance and…’
He cuts her off. ‘A month. Yes. That is what it takes. Forfeit the performance. Then do everything differently. Eat carbs. Do yoga – with no shoes. Meditate. Build patience in every way you can. Challenge yourself in the areas you don’t do it as a dancer: being calm, being happy. Eat something for goodness sake! And then, take care of your toe, every day,
Four times a day. Change the bandages and clean it thoroughly as I’ll show you in a minute.
Soak it every time in hot water, “feed it” the right medicine I’m prescribing.
Also you will have to wake up every night, put an alarm for midnight, and repeat the process.’
‘Waking up? You are kidding me aren’t you?’
‘No, I’m not kidding. This is what it takes, and by the way, this is real sacrifice, pain for the greater good, not inflicting yourself unbearable pain over and over again purposelessly.’
She rests silently. The doctor continues…
‘The nail will fall again and, if you do it right, will regenerate once more. There will be pain, but the pain will diminish every day. By the end of the month you can go slowly back to dancing.’
‘Yey!’ She exclaims in a very small voice with false excitement.
‘I feel I have to tell you one more thing.’
‘What?’
‘You may find out you don’t want to continue being what you were until now.’
I haven’t been dancing much, but I still go out at least once a week, attend some classes, dance at empty beaches or in a candle lighted living room.
What I have been doing more is writing. I have just created my own writer’s website: www.taniacreations.com
Although I have been really busy there are things I cannot miss: Every forró party in Sydney.
I always feel like a child in a candy shop when I see what is happening there. The Sydney Bachata Festival should have some great surprises. I was dancing last weekend and I had a great time dancing zouk.
From some of the dances I had, the only pointer I would give all dancers in any kind of couple dancing is : “it is a couple dance!” That means you have to interact somehow with your partner.
The idea is not to be freakish, staring at each other’s eyes all the time, but you must interract, make eye contact sometimes, be there in spirit, not just in body.
Some tips to enjoy couple dances are:
Be present to the dance, to the moment, enjoy every step.
Respect your partner, dance with them, no-one else on the dance floor.
Don’t dance thinking of whom you will ask to dance next.
Stop analysing the other couples on the dance floor.
Allow some eye contact, every now and then.
If the movement is sexy, flirt lightly, with humour.
Interact with her shines or notice that she is interacting with yours. It will make you both have a lot more fun and will increase your sensuality as a dancer ten times!
If something goes wrong laugh or smile.
Never blame your partner, and take responsibility for your mistakes, always be gracious.
Make sure you never do something over your ability so you don’t hurt yourself or your partner.
Be aware of other people so you don’t bump or step on other couples on the dance floor.
Then, you follow your dreams. I am engaged with mine!
On top of Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro / Dancing with the Statue in Copacabana Beach in Rio
I have been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I went dancing two nights in a row and it was a blast!
I was a bit anxious as Rio is the land of Zouk, the land of Jaime Aroxa, Carlinhos de Jesus, Alex da Silva, among so many other great dancers.
I have to thank LDA and say that my technical level was quite good compared to the other dancers on the floor, I was at least on the same general level.
In fact, I was asked to dance non‐stop during the whole night and thankfully almost every partner said good things about my dancing and danced with me more than one song.
The first night was a mix with Salsa, Forró, Soltinho, Gafieira, Zouk and Samba‐Rock. The salsa level was not as high as in Australia, so my intermediate was enough to have fun.
Soltinho is a sort of Cha‐Cha danced with rock music, very entertaining. I watched and said: ‘I can do this.’ So when asked for a dance, I just did.
At the end of the night, I decided to go home as I was about to puke on my fellow dancers. I did so many spins, hair flicks, dips, and moves that my balance was gone. When I looked at my partner and started seeing two of them with about three hands up, it was time to go.
The second night was amazing, zouk only. I almost killed myself dancing, or was killed… I’m not sure. Both nights I saw people watching me dancing, but I only danced with great dancers, so they were watching the couple, not me specifically.
The great news is that I didn’t have to ask anyone to dance with me! It is such a great feeling to actually be asked to dance… over and over again!
The technical level of the followers were about equivalent to our Australian zouk ladies (including students) but the Brazilians do have a natural “ginga” (specially people with African ascendence). Ginga is what we call the natural ability to dance and swing the hips.
The leaders were above the level I experience generally in Australia, not exactly in terms of steps they know, but more on the capability of leading.
That is because the dancing crowd is probably larger. Leaders are used to leading people they do not do classes with, and therefore do not know what they are trying to do.
The result is the creation of excellent leaders. They do not lead too many dips and tricks, just the perfect balance, and they use the music excellently.
Seriously I felt like I was in heaven! The other great thing is that no‐one dance with you only one song. Usually they dance at least two, often 3, 4 or 5!!! So you have time to get used to the person’s style and leading and it is extremely enjoyable.
This is an idea that at least in salsa, we should adopt in Australian dance floors, it is a simple idea and it makes the world of difference in the feeling of the dancing.
It was funny to see a few faces I knew from Australia and meet a few other teachers and instructors that visited our Aussie congresses.
The night was unforgettable and I only stopped once I could not put my feet down on the floor anymore.
Here I turn to the “masters” and to me they are the writers of this genre, this style of writing about day to day, making fun of day to day incongruous occurences, back in Brazil: Mario Prata (my personal master), Luiz Fernando Veríssimo, Arnaldo Jabor, among so many others.
From them I take the strength and the courage to say what I think: in capital letters and a large font.
After all, we would all be doomed without courage. Mario Prata would never have released a book about a pimp and his prostitutes, would he? Anjos de Badaró is a great book!
And the daily columns in many newspapers and media would be doomed to monotony, to what is agreeable to all and absolutely no fun!
I say all this because I was criticised for my last article {link}, because there are parts of Australia I find amusing. I will confess all I wanted to do was to hide and cry.
Instead, here I am again, smiling and all.
To prove my love for my Aussie Land here I will write a few new incomprehensible details.
Good details, but still incomprehensible!
The ridiculously organised crowds: New Years Eve in Sydney is a good example. There is no shoving, no screaming, no mess. The people bring the sleeping kids in arms and prams, and they manage to be 1 millimetre away from you without touching anything. When the inevitable happens everyone always say sorry.
The signs in car parks in shopping centres that advise you to “lock your car” were one of the first things to get my attention when I first arrived here.
It crossed my mind simply: how come you have to remind people to lock their cars in the car park? We would never consider otherwise back home.
The buses’ timetables: I would be dumb stricken to see written that the bus arrives at exactly 10:17. All I could think was: impressive!
I know it is not totally perfect but just by having a time table that states time like 9:23; 10:17; 11:54 is a serious indication of what we can expect: precision. In my homeland I would go to the bus stop and someone would simply say it all in a few words: the bus comes around once per hour. The acceptable margin of error would be one: one hour more or less.
No doubt one of the best nonsenses I have ever experienced was to be given money back from taxes by the Australian government. Only if you come from a land where a lot of corruption happens you would truly appreciate what this means. I would never believe it possible if I hadn’t seen it in my account myself.
I can now criticise Brazil with confidence, because saying you don’t like a part doesn’t mean you do not love the whole. I love the Brazil I carry with me, I’m proud of being Brazilian and having been born there. I love Australia, the new home. I have worked hard to be its proud citizen, even if I do not like Vegemite!
Junaid at his competition, with four layers of spray tan and all / Junaid and his Coach in his normal state performing at LDA Ball
When asked why he did it he told us: ‘I was fat and ugly’. These were his words, not mine. I’m pretty sure his mom would strongly disagree.
The fact is that my dance partner and friend Junaid decided to go for a Body Building contest… with all that comes with the package.
It is like when you look a pair of jeans with diamond buttons. It is so unachievable you simply don’t consider it seriously. When people like me, reasonably fit, with a few love handles, my honest share of cellulites and a normal body see a body builder we think “oh cool” and move the conversation to the next topic.
We see what is there but we have no idea of the lunacy behind.
I’m talking here about the competitions with no drugs. Just powders. At least that was what I saw my partner eating in all rehearsals: some powder with water, broccoli and chicken. The kind of actions they take are totally insane, If you want to know details and timetables or the processes get a trainer, here I’m just going to highlight a few of the crazy stuff I witnessed and that he told me about.
Most of it, he told a bunch of friends and me around a table, eating cake, after the competition.
First, I think the whole process takes around 7 months.
That means seven months of very hard work and some kind of crazy diet.
At the beginning there was weight to gain so every time I looked at him, he was eating. We didn’t see each other frequently, only at rehearsals, but even then, if we had 5 min of break, he had to get one of his powdery shakes, eat something from a container before and after the rehearsal.
He had to train everyday, Train is lifting heavy weights for more than an hour if I’m not mistaken. It got worse as the time went by.
Near the competition he was training twice a day on weekends. Hours and hours mornings and nights. Why? I have no idea!
After he gained weight and muscles for a few months, he then had to loose weight again. It was time to start a new diet. No sugar, and no oil at all, no fruits, what I would certainly classify as “no life”.
Our rehearsals suffered a bit, he was all the time hungry and tired. But I had to excuse him, if I was doing what he was I would have either died or killed someone by then.
I imagine a dialogue:
‘Who did she kill?’
‘Some guy on the street’
‘Why?’
‘For a bar of chocolate.’
‘WHAT?!’
‘The guy refused to give her the chocolate and was doomed!’
And if I was doing what they called dead‐lifting 190kg, I would certainly have had the power to kill someone for the chocolate!
At a certain part of the journey, they give up eating any sodium. It means salt. For a Brazilian like me that would be it. After months of training that would have made me give up for sure. If not that, it would be the water business.
There is a phase they have to drink 10 litters of water per day. Junaid told me that one of his friends was found by his girlfriend sleeping seated at the toilet so he wouldn’t have to wake every twenty minutes bursting to go.
‘How did you deal with the cravings?’ I asked my dance partner.
‘I made a list. An enormous list! Every time I had a craving I put it down on the list to eat after the competition. I got a few things crossed from the list today: cake, cheese, more cake, chocolate, more cake, cheese, ham and of course, more cake.’ He told me the at the brunch we organised for him after the competition.
One of his fellows competitors said the only thing he never craves is ice cream, because he was a recurrent body builder and after one of the competitions he devoured a bucket of four litters of ice cream and could never see the stuff again.
To do something this extreme you have to really embrace it. I’m not very good of hiding what I think so during the talk I ended up confessing that I think that underwear they use are simply atrocious.
He said he knew and since he was embracing the thing he ended up buying 3! The 3 colours they had and spent the next half hour showing us his pictures of him with the blue, the red and the black. He also had to tell us which one he was on the pictures.
You see, they go through four layers of spray tan plus something that is called slap tan and spray on cooking oil. This means you cannot recognise anyone unless you are a dentist and recognise the teeth. They are all so coloured they are completely different from their regular state.
He told me also that during the spray tan, being his first time, he used the thong back to front or something like that. The girl at the tanning saloon found it very funny. I didn’t get the picture and certainly didn’t ask for more details!
‘What is this slap tan?’ I asked, curious with the strange name. ‘That is how I call it. It is something that only is absorbed by the skin if it is applied with slaps. That means my friend had a hell of a time slapping me with no retribution from my part.’
‘Oh!’
From all this, my loony dance partner said he believes he can do anything he wants, anything at all. I bet he can. If all this is not a case of temporary insanity, I don’t know what it is!
Ana, Johnny, Tania at Sydney Bachata Festival 2009
One of the highlights of my Sydney International Bachata Festival 2009 was actually a pair of Zouk dances. You would think that I was dancing with Kadu or one of the best zoukers in the house, with a brilliant song and full space to turn, twist and dip, hum?
Well no. With no disrespect, he was one of the worst zoukers in the house. I don’t mean to offend him; it was simply that he wasn’t a zouker at all. He doesn’t dance zouk yet and his intention was to learn there, right in the middle of the Bachata Festival.
The best way to describe Johnny is to say he is the “I‐don’t‐care‐Johnny”. It means he dances like the world is going to end, not tomorrow, but right at the very next minute. He is a great dancer of salsa and bachata, an honest bachata lover, and has been nagging me since last year’s Brisbane festival to teach him zouk.
I was watching people dance when Johnny got me to teach him the basics. I cannot do the leading part for the sake of my life… Imagine teaching it! As a teacher I am an excellent pastry chef, which means: I have no clue.
But we kept trying; enlisting the help of a few leaders on the queue to get drinks. We were dancing on the carpet in front of the bar and we managed to get the basic-step and the eight-step. That was it, and such a victory! We had fun, laughing and trying.
He is a good learner and got the gist of it quickly, with a good body movement and no shame at all, we kept dancing a few zouks in the corridors.
Zouk is one of those styles where well done basics are more than enough… On top of dancing in the middle of people’s way (whole songs of basics) we started doing something else… I call it in my mind “the wizard dancing”.
We broke apart and started dancing one in front of the other and he started guiding me with hands and body movements, no touching. I just started following and it was a new and thrilling experience. It felt like sorcery, an enchanting time…
My Friday night started pretty well when the 4Ever boys asked me (!!!) to take a picture with them, not the other way around!
I asked if I could take a picture of the group for my blog but they insisted on having me with them, I got all fuzzy and happy… maybe it is something they do with lots of girls, I don’t care, it worked, I bought the CD straight away even not knowing which of the bachata songs I have in my head are theirs.
Then I found out about the Brazilian food. That made my weekend, from then on, I almost didn’t eat at home to eat there. It was a booth serving traditional savoury Brazilian pastry, delicious chicken and meat kebabs on fresh buns and a few sweets. One of my friends said during the weekend: you are always eating! I was divided between bachata and “coxinha”(a type of chicken croquete).
“Delicious Brazil” Catering for Bachateros / Bachata Festival Dance floor
From the festival, a few more flashbacks come to my mind:
“Delicious Brazil” Catering for Bachateros / Bachata Festival Dance floor
One of the great dances I had was a funny gospel song, it was the last of the night in the smaller room and I had Clement for a dance partner. I have to tell you that these DJs are always busy so it is hard to dance with them but when you do, they enjoy it so much that you fell like you are gliding. This dance was great, the song was beautiful although strange.
Another unique moment was the one I danced with Graeme, the floor was packed and we had to contain every move, we had to move in a very small way and got to be close to the point of laughing at it. It was funny doing mini‐cross body leads, mini spins (no space for turns) and extra small basics. All that repeated with DJ Amit… It seems I was in the mood for DJ‐dances!!!
I had only two dances with the instructors: one was a sensual bachata with Rodney Aquino and to finish the event in style a dance with Juan Bachatero.
Tania dancing with Mahendra, Juan Bachatero and Junaid Jafar (dance partner).
From the festival, a few more flashbacks come to my mind:
I won’t forget the beautiful Leslie, I enjoyed her performances and energy, her skilled, aggressive and quick bachata.
Also the live shows were great.
Dancing a live bachata song with a good dancer is a priceless experience…
I have to thank Mahendra for being my partner while HR King sang for us…
Then I had the privilege to be at the front row to see the 4Ever performance.
Gosh! They can sing… only people really good can sing a capela and these guys did it to make any romantic heart stop. When the instruments kicked in the result was awesome.
All bachateros had these big smiles on their faces, the girls with shinny eyes and a few jumping on stage with them.
Good live music always makes a dancer’s heart sing… we had a ball!
As we all seem to be saying after our extraordinary time at the festival:
This is just about people who dance, perform, on stage and make love to the public, and, in a sense, their dance partners as they perform.
I love cheeky dancers, and I’ve been told I am one of them. With pride! I make an effort to be.
Great performers are those that create a special energy with the public, they are so confident with their dancing (and singing) that they interact and put their hearts out to the public.
Not always there is a love affair, usually dance partners are not romantically involved, but for the sake of Latin dancing, specially bachata, and while on stage, and shining for the few minutes their choreo is on, they have to be lovers.
They have to have the energy of lovers, completely in lust for one another, for those seconds. I draw on the energy and love I have for dancing, so the ones that show this peculiarity probably do too.
At the bachata festival I had fun spotting people like that: looking in the eyes of the public, making faces and enjoying the experience, pretending it was the love affair of the century and showing their confidence to the watchers.
I found quite a few and every single time I found myself smiling as if they were dancing for me alone…
I am performing tomorrow at the Sydney Bachata Festival. All I can think is what I need to pack for the show. I’m creating this checklist…
I’ll be an Angel at Last. That is because the choreo is homage to Lee, the dancer from the UK we lost to an accident recently. And we are angels. To the ones that don’t know, I was supposed to perform at the Sydney Salsa Congress but fractured my arm and couldn’t do it. So now, at last, I’ll be an angel on the stage tomorrow night.
I’m very exited with the weekend because it will be the first time where I’m in an event dedicated entirely to Bachata, last year I was in Brazil at the time when the first festival happened.
Team of performers at Sydney Bachata Festival’s backstage / Tania ready to perform the Angel choreography
So now that I’m packing my performance bag, I thought it would be interesting to share the checklist.
First I go through the performance in my mind, the costume, what I’m wearing.
Then I go through what I have in the bag following my body from top to bottom:
Things in my box and dancing bag:
Hair and Head props, hats, halos, horns, tiaras, etc.
I have a little carry bag always ready with:
Hair gel, or mousse, etc
Hair pins (bobby pins) different sizes – according to hair colour
Thin hair net for danders
Hair brush
Hair elastics, different sizes and colours
Thin comb with the metal pointy handle
Shower Cap
Jewellery if it is the case:
Earrings
Necklace
Rings
Bracelets
Face & Make‐up: My Make‐up box is a beauty. All organised with all that I could need.
Foundation
Corrective
Eye shadows
Eye liner black, white & brown
Mascara
Shinny:
Glitters of different kind
Shinny spray
Diamonds for make up
Lipsticks & Gloss
Fake eye lashes.
Sponges, cotton balls, cotton pads, cotton sticks, brushers, sponges, special appliers and sticks for make up
Make up remover and moisturiser to fix make‐up messes
Transparent nail polish (to fix running stockings)
Nail polish you are using (to fix your nails if you have a breakage or an accident with your manicure)
Mini sewing kit – thread with the colour of the costume you are using and the clothes you are wearing for the after party.
Security Pins of different sizes
Scissors, box‐cutter, Swiss‐army knife – little addictions to your box that can make it all easier.
Panty liner and tampons
Fashion tape – that double sided tape to keep your straps and straps on the right place.
Wipes
Facial tissues
Razor & shaving gel
Nail files and cuticle’s
Good sized Mirror protected in case it breaks during the travel
Remember to pack any special make‐up and props for specific choreographies, like fake vampire teeth, lycra masks, hat pins, tiaras, scar tissue glue, or blue paint, for example
Up close and Personal – VIL (very important list):
DEODORANT!!! For dancers there is no religion, allergy, personal beliefs that can be put above this simple thing:
You do need deodorant or antiperspirant of some kind. Especially for couple dancers this could mean the success or total debacle of your dancing night. If you are not getting too many dances or more refusals than you should think normal, change your deodorant or perfume. Or check your breath.
Perfume only if you are used to them.
Breath strips!!! Another essential, carry toothbrush, toothpaste, but for any time and place that you need to be safe in a hurry carry breath strips, mints, chewing gum any kind of breath freshener.
Carry the emergency extras with you: nail polish for a retouch, a brand new razor, shaving gel, etc. ▪ Girls – remember to arrange to be waxed, shaved, manicured and pedicured as necessity beforehand.
Shower kit if there is a place for you to refresh in between rehearsals, performances, etc. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, towel.
A sweat towel is good for everyone.
Extra dancing shirt or rehearsal’s clothes
Extra underwear
Intimate products (For Females) nothing worse than be caught unprepared
A few plastic bags
First aid bag:
Band‐aids – get the good ones, water resistant, for sportists, the ones that will save your life or your feet.
Special pads for blisters – you can get some awesome skin colours healing gel pads for blisters nowadays that would have made my ballet dancer life a lot easier 15 years ago… with these the pain is very bearable if you get any blister and you can dance your night away with very little pain! Woohoo!
Bandages
Medicine & painkillers – carry medicine that you usually take, always carry something if you have headaches. Never give anyone any medicine they are not used to and never use something you have never used before on a performance night.
Clothes and costumes:
Dresses
Shirts
Pants
Belts
Jackets
Pieces that go over the normal clothes (vests, scarfs, etc.)
Count how many pieces your costume has, take note of the number and double check that you have all the items before finishing your packing.
Clothes for after-party
I just imagine myself dressing the whole ensemble on and see if I remembered all the items.
Leg’s pieces:
Socks – the right colour please and to have both feet with the same colour is essential!
Stockings – sheer to waist, it is horrible, to have those stockings with a mark in your thighs showing through your fishnets. Yes, holes marks are visible even on stage. And yes, you can see them on pictures too.
Panties, for under the stockings (usually G‐string or something that doesn’t mark the body) and for over, if necessary, like the undies or shorts from the costume.
Piece of stocking to tie your undies if you are doing the Brazilian bikini tie.
Underwear (panties & bras) adequate to the costume.
Fishnets
Shoes:
Official choreo shoes.
Extra pair of shoes, doesn’t matter if it is old or the wrong colour, choose the closer one to the official shoes and bring it with you for an emergency.
Pads – nowadays no‐one has to suffer with shoes anymore, in the supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies you can find those pads and stuff that are designed to make any pair of shoes at the very least bearable for its purpose. Discovering the heel gel pads and ball of the feet protection was a big deal for me. Carry your favourites extra pairs in your bag.
Shoe brush – for Latin dancers it is essential to have suede soles brushed so you don’t have yourself falling on stage.
TIP: Don’t put shabby stuff in your bag, only carry new things, new razors, new nail files, new box cutters, if you need to use anything you will have no stress.
taniacreations.com 