Should Indy have salsa nightclubs?

I have asked myself this question so many times. I honestly don’t think that Indy should have salsa nightclubs, especially not on weekends. There are so few Latin nights in Indy and salsa is not priority. Not to mention that these clubs are too crowded and full of cigarette smoke. Let’s break it down!

Salsa nightclubs need a few key things to keep the typical salsa dancer’s interest. First, salsa dancers need a good hard-wood floor. Salsa dancers are very picky about this. We don’t want to dance on a floor that is too fast or too sticky. No one wants to have to be concerned if they will fall on their head trying to shine or do a right-turn nor struggle to use all of their energy to do a right-turn. Tile and concrete floors are just very hard to dance on as well and can cause damage to your knees.

Also, we need space! In order to get our total groove on, we need some room to dance. I hate bumping into other people on the dance floor. And when those people walk by along the side of the dance floor to get across the room for whatever reason, get an elbow to the head and then have the nerve to get mad like we did it on purpose. They have to know their chances of getting hit walking along the edge of the dance floor. Bumping into other people should rarely happen.

Finally, we need good salsa music. Most Latin nightclubs don’t provide this because they cater to the whole Latin crowd, which means that you might have to wait 6-8 songs until the next salsa song comes on and that song itself could be a terrible salsa song. I have nothing against Bachata, Merenge, Reggaeton, and ChaCha. I love them all but, as a salsa dancer I mainly want to hear salsa music. I think the Red Room is the only nightclub that provides this. Also, into regards to good salsa music, Indy needs to get with the times and get some better salsa. There are great salsa/mambo songs being played in major salsa cities which I would love to hear here in Indy.

My suggestion to resolve all of this is to limit salsa nights to dance studios only! Most dance studios already have the floor and the space; and if salsa dancers are in charge of the music, good music will be played as well as more salsa music. Dancers don’t have to worry about smoking or ridiculously drunk people dancing all over the floor; beginners and all ages would feel welcome; and for those students/dancers that don’t want to be in the nightclub environment or have to go to work the next day, can enjoy the studio’s environment. I guess I’ll just say this also, salsa dancers don’t want to spend a lot of money either, especially when they don’t get want they want out of their experience at the nightclub. Salsa dancers aren’t heavy drinkers so, in this case, the salsa community would not have to worry about the club closing down in 6 months because they weren’t making enough money at the bar.

Well, these are just my thoughts. Let me know what you think.

~Chimere~

Chicago workshops, dancing, and slight amounts of chaos.

The last salsa road trip of 2007 commenced Sunday, December 9th 2007. We (Marques and I, Ketura and Job) left early Sunday morning. It happened to be pretty bad weather and the road conditions were not in our favor. It was raining ice the entire way, and it was to our benefit that Marques had just gotten new tires.

Despite the bad weather, we reached Chicago early, and after locating Latin Street Dance (the studio that was hosting the workshops), we found some close parking and hung out in what has to be the most interesting Mc Donalds that I have ever been to. It was two stories, and mostly windows, with escalator and upstairs "café" (or Mc Donalds version of a cafe, none of us had the desire to test their products at that time).



The workshops started around 1:30 and lasted until about 8pm. They were taught by By Marina & Ibi, from Sweden,
who placed 2nd at The World Salsa Championships 2006 in Las Vegas. There were four workshops: ChaChaCha (All levels), Intermediate Salsa, Advanced Salsa, and Competition Salsa. Ketura, Job, and I took all four workshops, and Marques took all but the Intermediate Salsa. They were really great instructors, and were able to teach a workshop that actively engaged the entire class. They added styling and "sabor" to all of the patterns they taught, and I really felt that the workshops were of great quality. The Competition Salsa was a tricks class... they showed us 3 similar tricks, all of which looked simple and ended up being much more difficult.

By the end, we were all completely exhausted (but in a good way)! We walked to a nearby restaurant, which didn't seem so nearby after the long cold walk. The restaurant is Roy's, which had expensive but very good food. It doesn't seem or feel like a chain restaurant, but there are Roy's in other major cities as well. We would like to thank Marques' friend DeAnna for giving us a gift certificate.

Anyway, our last stop of the day was the Buzz. The boys decided to be nice and try to find closer parking, even though we could have walked, because it was very cold. They let Ketura and I off at the door. I had a great time, and danced with a few really great dancers. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the advanced dancers were at another party, but we still had an amazing time.

There was an unexpected competition, which Marques and I decided to enter on some kind of spur of the moment whim. Turned out there was only one other couple, and it was one of many qualifying rounds for a huge upcoming final. Even though the other couple had matching nice clothes on, and had a routine, and we were just in street clothes and improving, the audience still decided they liked us better, and we received a bottle of champaign for the night. That was nice :-) Both of us qualified for the finals, though.

The slight bit of chaos started after our great night at the Buzz... Marques' car got towed, and we were very tired. We also hit a deer on the way home, luckily it was pretty minor. We ended up reaching home probably about 7 in the morning, and we learned our lesson!!! From now on, we will always book a hotel room and stay over night!

Salsa Dancers vs. Ballroom Salsa/Mambo

From time to time, ballroom dancers show up at salsa clubs ready to dance - we know, because they always stick out in the crowd (and not in a good way). There are many differences between salsa dancers and ballroom dancers who learn salsa, including (but certainly not limited to) styling, footwork, movement patterns, and musicality. Please watch the video below for an idea of technical perfection of Mambo/Salsa from one of the leading authorities of Latin ballroom dance. Corky Ballas may be a god of the ballroom dance world, but he goes completely unknown in the world of salsa... for good reason!!

Salsa dancers tend to love the music they dance to, and are familiar with artists, bands, and song titles and lyrics. Experienced salsa dancers are so familiar with the songs that they are able to use what they know to interpret the music or emphasize a certain point in the song. Ballroom dancers, even highly trained ones, are much less concerned with the music, and emphasis is placed more heavily on technical perfection. They practice syllabus steps and competition routines to songs that many of which are knockoffs of real songs by cheap bands for purposes of "strict tempo". Click here to go to danceshopper.com and listen to some examples.

This type of Mambo or Salsa can be nice for performances, such as the Mambo part of the American Rhythm Ballroom Competitions or shows, but is not practical for everyday dancing. Unfortunately, ballroom instructors market this style of Mambo (and usually they teach Salsa similarly, just on 1) as the real deal - but you won’t learn how to dance at a Salsa club from a Ballroom studio. It is certainly not respected as an authentic form of salsa by any type of salsa dancer (whether it be LA style, New York Style, Cuban Style, Street Style, etc.). I feel like I can fairly evaluate this not only from video clips online such as this one, but from my collected experience watching ballroom dancers in Salsa clubs, teaching ballroom and ballroom “salsa” / Mambo, as well as my teaching with SalsaIndy…

If you dance like this in a club not only will you get a lot of strange looks from salsa dancers in the crowd, but you will probably make a lot of people angry because you will be taking too much space and stepping on everyone. Salsa dancers know that space in the club is very limited, and we all do our best to be respectful of those around us (even though we do inevitably run in to each other from time to time)…

Am I coming down too hard on ballroom dancing? I would say no, because I still love ballroom dancing. I can appreciate the differences in style between ballroom and salsa. I just think ballroom studios need to at least advertise that what they teach is not social dancing for the clubs so that students are aware that there is a difference.

Columbus SalsaFest

On November 10th Marques, Chimere, Josiah, and I traveled to Columbus Ohio, for Columbus SalsaFest. Okay really we just went for the social dance that evening. Due to everyone’s busy schedules, and timing, we were not able to participate in the full event, but we still had fun! Marques and I performed, along with another salsa couple, an argentine tango couple, and a small salsa team. There were more performances on other days of the event as well.

The dance was held at The Vault, which was a converted bank vault (and surrounding area). There was a bar inside the Vault, and a large open space for dancing. The floor wasn’t great, it was concrete I think, and a little uneven, but it wasn’t too bad. There was an upstairs overlook as well, probably would have been nice as a lounge, but there weren’t any places to sit. I guess they wanted all the dancers to stay downstairs were the action was. :-D

There were enough interesting and new male leads to keep me entertained, and everyone I met seemed really nice. One thing I noticed was that they played a lot more ChaChaCha than we do (which is fine with me since I love ChaCha), and the majority of the dancers present were On2 dancers. That made the night interesting as well since most dancers in Indianapolis do not dance On2 yet.

All in all, Columbus seems like a relatively dead city when it comes to nightlife downtown… while driving to and from the social dance, I don’t think we saw any clubs open… there were no cabs, few cars, and only a handful of people scattered around the city. This was around 10pm and 1am, so it was still relatively early for a Saturday night… It made all of us appreciate Indianapolis, that is for sure!

Salsa in Chicago

Recently I traveled to Chicago, on October 20th (2007), to watch a performance by Luna Negra Dance Theatre - a modern dance company. Their show incorporated Salsa, Mambo, and Tango with modern dance, or at least that is how they were advertising it. I was very glad to see a modern company bring awareness of other dance styles to their audience, especially styles I love so much! I am assuming it is due to the fact that it is a company that mostly consisted of Latinos/Latinas…

For an honest review, I felt that the dancers didn’t truly understand the dances they were trying to represent. Too often people see a few movies and think they understand a dance, without having taken lessons or been in the actual atmosphere (for example, actually going to a salsa club)… this is the feeling that I got from this company. Yes, most of the company is consisted of Latino/Latina dancers, but they are still primarily Modern/Ballet trained. I think they just used the music (not the actual dances) as their inspiration, which is fine… the performance was good, and the dancers were pleasing to watch, but I think my expectations were just a little too high going into the theatre.

Anyway, after the show I picked up a friend who lives in the area, and we went to Rumba for their Salsa night (this was a Saturday). There were plenty of good male leads, and the floor was more packed than the Jazz Kitchen (if that seems possible). Surprisingly, most of the great male leads that I danced with that night did not do LA Style or New York style salsa, they were more Cumbia type dancers. They were great at interpreting the music, and had a lot of feeling in their dancing… The music selection was excellent, not a bad song was played all night. Basically we danced until they closed the club.

I definitely plan on returning to Chicago to salsa in the near future…

Reminder 2007 World Salsa Championships

I would like to remind everyone that the 2007 ESPN World Salsa Champions will be Dec.12-16, 2007 in Orlando, Florida. I am not planning on flying out there, but I will be waiting for the videos to appear on the internet.

For those who do not have any knowledge of this event please checkout my collection of videos from last years championships and my blog post talking about last years competition.

It is great to see the mainstream media (ESPN) sponsoring and promoting salsa!

New Blog Introduction!

Hi! I am sure most of you already know me already, as I am now a regular in the salsa scene here in Indianapolis. However, I am still relatively new to the Salsa community, and new to SalsaIndy, so I decided to write an introduction of myself for my first blog. My name is Jennifer, and I just moved to Indianapolis in May (from Bloomington, IN). I was coming up to Indianapolis 2-3 times per week to dance (sometimes more), so the move was very beneficial for me.

I have been a dancer pretty much my whole life. I have tried almost every type of dance that I have had the opportunity to learn, and until now have been so diversified that I was unable to truly focus on one style. The good side of this is that I know a lot about many different dance styles, and this helps me understand, appreciate, and relate to many different types of dancers.

Just before my move, Marques and I decided to try out as dance partners, and though we have had a somewhat rocky start (with me having mono, etc), we decided to continue. Now, just a little over 6 months later, we have begun teaching salsa classes together downtown at Riolo Dance Studio and I am helping run SalsaIndy.

Aside from teaching salsa, and performing with Marques, I still try to keep up with other styles of dance. I also am very interested in the history of the various dances, and interested in academic analysis of dance as well. I think practicing is very important for any teacher, performer, or social dancer (yes even social dancer – because practicing will help make your dancing more comfortable for your partner, and if it doesn't feel good, then what's the point?)… but I find that really understanding the dance through history also helps me in my dance education, and helps me in teaching others as well.

Anyway, I'm happy to be here!! Many more exciting things await in the near future, but I have to leave something to blog about next ;)

Salsa@6 still holding strong

It's high-energy, It's culture, It's food, It's fun, It’s … Salsa@6. That is the slogan used for one of Indy's newly established salsa venue. We all have seen salsa venues come and go and when you hear about a new venue you ask yourself is this one is going to last?

Salsa@6 created by Roz Wells officially kicked off on November 2, 2006 making it a year old! Most new salsa venues are lucky to last a couple of months and closed down because the bar does not make enough cash.

So what's their secret? One is the owner Dave, he has been running a Latin night (which happens to occur later that night) for the last 9 years and he knows that it takes time to build up a Latin/salsa night. This event runs from 6pm to 9pm and does not compete with the prime nightclub hours. Last and most importantly is the people. Every Thursday you will find Roz's crew. This insures that you will always have someone to socialize and dance with.

Note to the Latin and salsa promoters out there. Take Salsa@6's model and apply it to your own. Salsa is about the dancing and community and one cannot survive without the other.

Till next time see you on the dance floor

Warning, do not learn salsa from this guy

When I first saw this video I was thinking, ok this must be one of those salsa satire videos like Learn to Dance with Hernando!, but after a few minutes of watching his DVD 'trailer' I realize that this guy was serious!

Dance instructor Marlon Silva attempts to teach a bastardized version of On1 salsa and cumbia. My best guess would be that this guy made up most of the moves taught in his DVD. While I am a big fan of original content, their are expectations.

Before you run out and buy his DVD, here is my review based on the video trailer.

#1 Pattern - Turning your partner by the ankles.
This pattern looks like crap and could cause the follower to fall or the leader to get kicked in the head. Dance patterns should look and feel good, not awkward and dangerous.

#2 Pattern - Around the world leading from the follower's waist?
I would guess that this could be a leadable pattern, but you will look like a complete idiot and I will laugh at you repeatedly.

#3 Leading techniques - Recklessly jerking your partner around like a rag doll.
This is not shown too much in the video, but you if search for others videos by this guy you will see. Quick tip, dancing should be enjoyable not a fight for your life.

#4 Teaching salsa threesome - see above comments.
While I am big fan of salsa threesome, this guy fails miserably, surprised???

#5 Rebranding On1 style as European style.
On1/On2/whatever was started in the United States (New York and LA). Marlon do your homework, you already look like an idiot and now you sound like one.

#6 More Patterns! - The Conga
If I see you doing this move in public I will bitch slap you.

#7 'Useful' advise - "Go around your partner all the time it makes your dancing easier"
More crappy advice from this guy, how about taking lessons from a reputable Latin studio and stop insulting the salsa community with this garbage.

This guy is so bad that other reputable salsa sites have posted warnings not to buy this DVD, but after watching the trailer I would assume that would be a sufficient warning.

I fell really sad for his dance partner, she will never become a good social dancer if she follows his teaching methods.

Update for clarification:
In the first paragraph I listed two video links, this post is talking about the first link which is titled "video". If you are still confused on which link I am referring to then click here.

Sex sells even for salsa!

As most of my readers know, a couple of months ago I started my own 'salsa practice'. Teaching group salsa lessons is a fun and rewarding activity, but if you do not have students willing to drop $10 to take a lesson from you then you are out of luck.

To build up your clientele you need to be a good instructor and you need to practice good marketing! Marketing salsa can be hard task due to it being a niche and utilizing mainstream advertising tactics can be a waste of time and money. During our research of marketing methods used by other salsa groups I came across this very attractive salsera who's image is pasted all over the a site called learnsalsa. As you can see in the image she is showing off her 'assets' giving visitors (primarily men) the impressions that if you learn salsa you will meet and dance with hot and sexy women. While their is some truth in this message this tactic reminds me of beer commercials where young 18 year old girls running on the beach in their two piece bathing suits.

So Marques are you against using sex to sell salsa? Course not! I just find it amusing. For the average joe looking to meet women this is a great tactic. As for the serious dancer looking to improve their skills, some will roll their eyes and continue searching for a salsa group that advertises themselves as serious professionals.

Bella Independent Movie (2007)

Check out and support this independent film that will take the world like a storm. Winner of the 2007 Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award, it will be released on major US cities on 27-Oct-2007. If you're tired of the same old Hollywood movies like me, you will love Bella.

The movie centers around Nina, a young, unmarried waitress at a Mexican restaurant who finds herself pregnant and without work after coming in late several days because of morning sickness. Jose, the restaurant's chef, is taken by Nina's plight and becomes her sole confidant. Jose helps her walk through her decision on what to do with her pregnancy. In the process, he bears secrets from his own mysterious...

Bella

"MANO" (short film) Salsa Movie

By: Chimere Cross, Coming out in August will be a short film called “Mano.” This film will be another great honor to the salsa/mambo community. The mambo queen, Magna Gopal, is also featured in this film. Also, we are honored to have the choreographer (Gordon Neil) of this film here in Indianapolis to teach workshops at Riolo Dance Studio (July 27th - 29th 2007). Check out the cast and the movie trailer below as well as the overview of the film and tell us what you think.

New York, NY – May 24, 2007 “When you buried your father, you buried us with him” never rang more true as in this passionate, cinematic short about brotherhood, honor and salsa dance. Shot over a three-day period in Los Angeles, CA, MANO features Giancarlo Esposito, Lee Thompson Young, Laz Alonso, Yesenia Adame and Teddy Garces in supporting roles. Directed by: Tony Nardolillo, MANO is the featured short film prefacing the FULL FEATURE LENGTH FILM script written by Tony Nardolillo, who plays the lead role of Victor.

Victor and Machito were best friends growing up on the streets of Washington Heights heavily involved in the underground salsa scene. Separated as teenagers after the death of Victor's father, Victor leaves New York all together, however the passion for dance and music never leaves him. After returning to the block he grew up on years later, he seeks out his childhood buddy Machito, whom he discovers has followed his father’s fatal footsteps.

Summary Written by Aurora Flores – Aurora Communications

With Magna Gopal and choreographed by Gordon Neil

Mano on Myspace

Where are the dancers?

The topic of this post is not directed to dancers in general, but to the students who are taking classes at local studios in town. You would call me one of the regulars, a dancer who goes out at least once a week to get my salsa fix and who has been doing this for the last 3 years.

I was visiting local salsa sites which provide salsa lessons and it appears that they have a lot going on. IntoSalsa and IndySalsa provides at least 8 hours of class instruction a week. There are also a handful of freelance dancers who teach private and small group lessons. Lately when I attend studio parties, the number of students is less than the number of regular salsa addicts. I have never sat down and counted, but there are times that it feels like only a handful of students show up to their own studio party. Is this because of intimidation, lack of desired dancers of similar level, age or attractiveness? I know that turnover rate is high in the world of dance and trying to infect Indy with the salsa bug is a difficult task.

The numbers are just not adding up. The number of hours of salsa instruction provided is high in comparison to other social dances in this city. This would indicate that the class attendance is doing well and that retention is at least at a safe level. Or maybe my calculations are off. I was told from a Chicago dancer that a salsa studio can easily go though 300 students and expect less than 5 to take the dance somewhat seriously. I personally did not know this source, so I took what he said at face value.

As some of you know, I am now providing group salsa lessons and some may take this post as a jab at the studios here in town, but it is not. I would like to mention that this is just an observation that I will like to point out and see if anyone else feels the same. I have danced with dancers from both studios and it has always been a joy to dance with them (I hope they feel the same).

I have talked to a handful of regular dancers and they have expressed frustration when going out and only having a handful of dancers that they enjoy dancing with. Hopefully we can draw some conclusions on these issues and find a solution.

OpenSourceSalsa now offers Rueda lessons!

OpenSourceSalsa is now offering salsa Casino Rueda classes in downtown Indianapolis! They will be holding classes at Riolo Dance Studio. More information has been posting on their blog!

It puts a smile on my face to see this group back in action. As stated in a previous post I thought this group was slowly fading away. Sometimes it is good to be wrong (wink wink). Casino Rueda is a particular type of round dancing of Salsa (Wiki Definition) where a group of dancers follows the calls of the leader.

If you are interested in learning Rueda I would highly recommend this group. They are a fun and talented group of dancers. OSS if you have any video clips that you would like to show off, please contact me and I will post them in SalsaIndy's video gallery.

Spread the word!

OpenSourceSalsa Close for Business?

Today I noticed that OpenSourceSalsa (OSS) took down its homepage. For those who did not know them, OSS was a Rueda performance team based in Indianapolis. They were building a good portfolio of public performances and their site was active with information on their upcoming performances and also promoting the activities of their members (dance instruction, salsa parties).

In the last few months I noticed a change with their site - the frequency that they posted new content was almost non-existant. I was told that the group was in need of men, which could have accounted for the stagnation of the group. I have seen this with women who want to perform, but cannot find a man who is willing to practice. I addressed this issue over a year ago in Looking for a few good Salseros.

Last week, I noticed an updated post on OSS’s site advertising their upcoming performance in Anderson, Indiana. I was happy to see the group ramping back up for the summer. I was confused as to why the post did not give any details (exact location and time). I thought it was just an oversight by the webmaster or a private event.

I hope that this is only temporary and that the group is just re-organizing. I know how hard it can be to run a group. It can be very difficult to maintain the motivation level for both the leaders and the members. For now I will keep OSS’s link on SalsaIndy’s homepage in hopes that the site comes back up.

Update: As you can see with the comment below that OSS is still up and running!

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!!

2 weeks ago, IntoSalsa posted information for their second annual salsa competition. Chimere and I competed last year, which was a fun experience. There is a video clip of us that I posted on YouTube and mySpace. There were a few discrepancies that occurred in last year's dance competition (during qualifications and the finals) that did not rub me the right way. I addressed these issues to the promoters and hopefully this year’s competition will be more consistent.

I really like that they have created both a professional and amateur division. One issue that we had last year was the that non-pro dancers did not want to compete against the more advanced level dancers. I really think the pro and amateur division is going to increase participation. Also, the promoter has given the dancers early notice of the competition (about 3 months!). Last year we were given about 2 or 3 weeks, which was very stressful when attempting to put a routine together.

I have decided that I will compete this year. I have learned a great deal from last year’s competition and would like to raise the level of my performance. My dance partner will be Jennifer; a music major from Indiana University. She is an excellent dancer who has a passion for dance. We should make a good team and give Indy a good show.

There is one minor issue, which I will have to overcome. I am recovering from a rotator cuff injury. The pain was gone for awhile, but has returned. I think the reason is because I have stopped all my physical therapy exercise (due to the stress of a new project I have been working on). So if I want to survive the training for the competition, I better get back into the gym.

I would encourage all dancers to go out and find a partner and give the dance competition a try. It is not about winning, but giving it your best and showing off the video clip of your performance to your friends and posting it on your mySpace homepage!

For those who want to compete, but do not know where to start, myself and few other freelance dancers are willing to coach (for a fee) those who plan to compete in the amateur division. Contact information can be found on my salsa lessons page at SalsaIndy.com

See you in the preliminaries!

Guess who is the Star!

During my last night teaching at Salsa@6 a IndyStar photograph stopped by and took some pictures. I was surprise that I got in last Sunday's issue of the Star because the photograph never asked me for my name. I would guess that the other dancers gave him my name. The lovely lady that I am dancing with is Sylvia White. There are also pictures of Roz Wells and Lana Hayes. Anyways, looks like I have another picture to post on my myspace page (please add me as your friend!).

You can find all the pictures in the Star's Multimedia page, just click on the Seen Scene link.

Sorry Chad and Karina!

In a pervious blog post I blogged about the ESPN World Salsa Championships and mention Chad and Karina in this article because of their involvement in the competition and made a few comments and opinions on their involvement. A couple of days ago I got to talk to Chad and Karina and I found out that my opinion was interpreted as a personal attack on them.

The post was never intended as a person attack on Chad and Karina, but after talking to them, I can see how it can be interpreted as such (The wonders of written communications). I feel that stating my personal opinions in my blog is what blogging is all about, but when you have a blog that can touch people personally there are times when messages can be misinterpreted and feelings hurt.

As with any mistake that I make, I will try my best to patch things up. Chad and Karina, I apologize for the opinions that I made, you guys have come a long way and have proven yourselves to be great dancers with potential. You have showed Indianapolis that our small salsa community can accomplish great things.

Salsa and Super Bowl XLI?

First I would like to congratulate the Colts for bringing us a Super Bowl victory! Their victory shows that Indianapolis has great potential of becoming a city that people admire. When I moved to Indianapolis, I viewed it as a startup city looking for its identity. Will this Super Bowl victory help give Indy an identity? Only time will tell. Ok, enough with the introductions, back to the good stuff salsa!

The Nations in Rhythm concert was the kick-off event for Super Bowl XLI. This was a fundraising event for the Young at Art Children's Museum. The concert showcased a variety of world beats. There were also Latin acts that included salsa dancers and musicians! While it was only a small section of showcase, I think it is a major step in the right direction in introducing salsa to the masses. Just having salsa associated with the Super Bowl is priceless!

I found this video clip that highlighted the salsa performances. I did not see the kick-off show and only have this video clip as a reference. I see that there were both salsa and rueda dancers performing. This should put smiles on the faces of OpenSourceSalsa (Indy’s own rueda dance team).

A victory for the Colts, Indianapolis and Salsa!

2006 World Salsa Championship Winners!

Here are the video clips of the 1st place winners for the 2006 ESPN World Salsa Championships. If you are ever interested in performing or competing, why not steal some moves from the best (if you can handle their level).

Chad and Karina (Indianapolis' own cabaret dancers) flew out to San Francisco to compete in the prelims. While they did not qualify for the finals I would like to give them credit for all the time and hard work they put in. In my opinion they were not ready for such a competition, but hopefully they take what they have learned and continue building experience and confidence competing here in the midwest.

People have asked if I was ever going to compete at such a level. This idea has bounced around in my mind for sometime and it would be a fun and exciting to pursue such a level of dancing. Then reality hits and I realize that I currently have a lot going on in my life (my day job, SalsaIndy, freelance IT, teaching/dancing salsa, social life, etc). I would have to put my other activities on hold to focus on performing which I am currently not interested in doing.

Maybe one day, I would change my mind and reprioritize, only time will tell.

Sorry for the rant (I have not blog in a while and had some stuff on my mind) here are the video clips.

1rst place on1 division


1rst place on2 division


1rst place cabaret division


1rst place team division