Last night in Tango bar was nice! That must be one of the nicest places to dance salsa now – it has nice floor, not to crowded, only the music is subject to personal opinion. Some people like it, some don’t, … sometimes we miss those fast songs to burn all our extra energy We were all wondering how the parties will go there, since the place has an entrance fee, but that just helps the place not to get too crowded. Very likable
We are, however, gonna miss on next Saturday in Tango bar, because we plan on attending salsa party in Zagreb (Croatia). Local dance school Los mamberos prepares a two-day event Salsa especial 3 with U-tribe (looooove them!), Dado&Conny (always enjoyable) and Andrea Stewart (kinda miss her here in Slo). It should be fun, but we’ll see if we really make it to there.
I think it was just a question of time, when I will start writing about my all time favorite TV show – So you think you can dance reality dance show – an absolute winner if you ask me. The US version is starting its 4th season now and there are some pretty good followers around the world (Australia among best and just in progress at the moment ). You can imagine I know all previous seasons by heart, because that is just one of those things I can watch over and over and over again. There are some totally awesome and unforgettable shows which gives me the best inspiration and motivation for dance ever.
An award winning, one of best ever shows. Wade Robson’s Ramalama Bang Bang group routine.
One of the effects of an absolutely fabulous past weekend are unfortunately sore muscles. But not all of them! Just my left quadriceps. Thanks to Jazzy (although I loved the class) I look like Herr Flick, dragging my left leg behind for the whole week. Ok, he did warn us the leg might hurt … but C’mon! This much?! And the worst thing is, I couldn’t let my leg rest, because I had aerobic classes, where I had to do a lot of squads. So I had to warm up heavily before the start of the class. I managed through classes somehow, but today I noticed my right leg started to sore. Why? Well I guess I must have put more pressure on right leg to avoid pain in the left. And this is no easy pain, my leg just drops once in a while. So here’s a tiny little, but crucial advice for all instructors (dance or aerobic) WARM UP your students!! Cause we did absolutely no warm up. Just bang on that left leg,.. 20, 30 or 40 times. No wonder it’s torn apart.
17 salseros, people! That is an Absolutely fabulous experience. The cherry on the cream would be if the 18th salsero made it as well (cause that would mean 9 couples than ). I’m talking about Bu-Ba travel team, the group of Slovenian dancers, who attended Bulgarian salsa festival last weekend (BG Salsa Weekend 2008). We had so much fun and I think we never fought, did we? We just enjoyed the whole weekend, full of dance and some sights.
We left on Thursday morning,… ok almost afternoon… drove to Vienna, took a plane from there to Bulgaria and arrived in Sofia late night. We had to make a few stops on our way of course and if you travel with a group of salseros, making a stop means dancing at least two songs of Rueda de Casino!! Not only on every petrol stop, but on airport just before boarding, before picking up the luggage and all other unusual places, which are often pretty crowded. So people get a free show,… some of them clap, some smile, one security guy even taped us!
Well, what can I say? Once again Nike has fulfilled all my desires. Ok, I’m not gonna overreact. But I don’t think any other event can top the excitement and classes that appear there. I’m totally amazed by myself, that I manage to do almost all classes and than still give class the next day. I think there’s a name for our kind of people… something ending on ***cholic?
If you imagine a typical salsa event, multiply the intensity of classes by 250 and take away the parties (because most people really don’t have the energy to drink and dance than all night.. with exceptions of course). But there are still top world teachers, great energy, fun, excitement, meeting people, … I must say it was really great seeing old friends again (love ya Charlie and Nikkie ) and it was even more spectacular to attend Tony Stone’s classes. That’s simply just phenomenal! I don’t know which words could describe him better. But I’m not taking anything away from aerobic classes. No, Steve Boedt and Rebecca Small – all my respect to them!! I could not believe the amount of energy Steve left during his classes (and all the things he did along with teaching.. just crazy). And Rebecca,… she’s a pro. That can be seen up from the sky or 2.000 miles away. But even she did not expect Slovenian people are so crazy. At the very last class of the two-day convention, we wanted more!! She was about to finish the class, but we wouldn’t let her. The girl just laid on the floor and said “give me 2 minutes!” We did the routine once more and I must say that was one of my favorite classes this weekend.
But not the only one – my top classes:
- Nikkie Riozzi’s hiphop with her great methodology, creative moves and fun fun fun
- Tony Stone (hm, which one?) – well I did the Sunday’s first class best so I’ll pick that one (others were more difficult)
- Steve Boedt hi-lo: WOW man, cool choreography but what an energy?!!
- Rebecca Small Aero groove .. like I said – we did not want to stop, despite all the blisters on our feet!
That’s the short version of a long weekend. Of course there was a whole bunch of other instructors as well. I have to complement Geršak as well, others I unfortunately didn’t see.
There a few negative critiques though – the first day started with a 45 minute delay – that’s really not acceptable and I don’t think the mics were set properly (this could be my prefessional deformation speaking, but it has to be mentioned). About those intro shows or warmups.. hmm.. I decided to forget about them asap.
Here are some photos, gathered by me, Charlie and Nikkie.
Aerobic convention is similar to a salsa festival, with miner differences. The classes are definitely more intense and we usually get so tired, we can’t imagine dancing and partying than all night. However, we still manage to visit the evening gala event and than wake up in the morning and take another round of classes. It’s exhausting alright, but it’s worth it! The people you meet there are awesome, the classes they give are spectacular and the best thing is, that this conventions lean more and more towards dancing, which means there are not just aerobic classes but a bunch of dance classes as well (mostly hip hop, plus some latin). So my weekend is fully booked! I’ll be sweating like in the middle of summer, on the Greek beach at 1pm with no breeze at all. 12th Nike convention will take place this Saturday and Sunday, in another location than we’re used to: Konex center in Ljubljana, and the evening party in Hotel Ljubljana – Austria trend. The convention will present 20 instructors, which is really impressive. We know our Slovene instructors and we have Tony Stone and Nikkie Riozzi coming back (yeeeey) – they are just crazy guys, plus there are some new faces, which I shall report on Monday
So have a great weekend everybody, and if you don’t know what to do – come sweating with us!
Do you know anybody with birthday on that day? I don’t, but I wish a happy one to all who celebrated yesterday.
Otherwise, some people went to salsa party in Bolero yesterday. The organizers promise this party will take place each last Friday of the month from now on. Unfortunatelly, I still didn’t find a time to go there (shame on me I know), but I know there are a few qualities, that should bring people on the party. First, there are always some shows and animations on the party, and second, for some even more important, there’s NO ENTRANCE FEE! Salseros get to dance on a big dance-floor and drink fresh cocktails from the cocktail bar. Yesterday, on the day that comes only once in 4 years, there were two performances - a hiphop and a swing routine.
We were all wondering how the parties will go there, since the place has an entrance fee, but that just helps the place not to get too crowded. Very likable 
So I had to warm up heavily before the start of the class. I managed through classes somehow, but today I noticed my right leg started to sore. Why? Well I guess I must have put more pressure on right leg to avoid pain in the left. And this is no easy pain, my leg just drops once in a while. So here’s a tiny little, but crucial advice for all instructors (dance or aerobic) WARM UP your students!! Cause we did absolutely no warm up. Just bang on that left leg,.. 20, 30 or 40 times. No wonder it’s torn apart.
