Social

"Wow!! What a great song this is!!” Many people came to me at the last social asking about the song “Mr. Latin Mambo” by Rene Bloch, which I have added on the list. This is an awesome song for Jazz lovers. There is a couple named Taiti & Cristel who have a smooth and elegant On 2 style, they performed with this song and this is a great example of a performance how the things should be done!! The routine is pretty simple but it still looks so energetic with their body movement. Click here to check it out.

Another great performance you may remember was one by Marc Anthony and Akila from the October 2007 social. They used this song "Siete Potencias" by Chivirico Davila con Saoco. Click here to view it. Both are great dancers and look at how they play with the breaks and the different timings in the songs, but notice how they still keep their own style. I hope you are able to pick up something from these performances to add any styling into your own dance. Enjoy!!

Koki

Kokis play list May, 2009

What an outstanding salsa weekend! We could have not asked for a better turnout or a better time. It was one of our best yet!

The weekend started off with workshops by the legendary Al “Liquid Silver” Espinoza with Denisse Cambria from LA and Miami respectively. The turnout to the workshops were fantastic, in large part thanks to you all telling your friends and family about it. It is always an inspiration to see people enjoying the events that we work so hard to put together; it fuels us to do more. Al & Denisse lived up to their reputations and did a stellar job. We received awesome feedback about the classes and hopefully we can get them back here for more. A frequently asked question I heard leading up to this event was, “How did you guys manage to get Liquid Silver here??” The answer was simple, we just asked! It is amazing what you can accomplish if you just get out there and try it and of course Detroit is starting to get noticed by the performance circuit as a "salsa city."

OK, the September Social was anything but quiet. The music was loud and great, the crowd was big, and the place was just plain jumping. But I've already moved on to October and this now seems quiet in comparison.

 

The first thing to note is the people who were not there. Very noticably, Shekyla and Jamin - the base of this operation - were busy over the weekend formalizing their committment to each other in Jamaica. Contratulations to them! 

 

For photos from the Social, click here

Mother Nature. With us or against us? Just when it seemed like our biggest worry would be the heat, the Michigan weather changed it up and sent the high winds, torrential rain, fallen trees and power outages. On the upside, the storm cooled things down like nothing else and didn't deter more than a handful of the dancers who have been anticipating this Super salsa weekend.

We call them super salsa weekends because they are truly big weekends for YA. Months of planning and effort from many volunteers goes into delivering top notch instructors and performers with unique and interesting styles and talents to our collective doorstep here in Detroit. Offsetting the cost of these super socials is where the majority of proceeds from the regular socials end up. The more support and enthusiasm at the other events, the more encouraged and capable we are of delivering the super events.

The super social weekend started off with a fun impromptu performance with Johnny, Andres and Laura Geldys at The Harem. Johnny and Andres demonstrated their 2:1 partnering style where they simultaneously dance with the same partner -- pretty slick and of course kudos to Laura for being so exceptionally adaptable. After a fun night there, things started early Saturday with a full day of workshops at the new Jewish Community Center location. After that, it was on to the Canton-Plymouth High School Salsa club's social and then if that were not enough dancing a final stop at the Dance Revolution Serious About Salsa social. Then came Sunday...

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