Mambo Surprises

There was a lot of fun and a few surprises Sunday night at Six Lounge withMambo Tribe's Christmas Party.

People dressed up and came out to party. And party they did!

Partiers Sunday night enjoyed live music to dance to. Massicote not only performs and instructs salsa, he plays keyboards and has recorded several CDs. He teamed up with Toronto's Latin Jazz force of nature Nick "The Brownman" Ali & Cruzao.

Mark Anthony caught everybody off guard when he announced he was bringing salsa competitions back to Toronto with his 1st Toronto Salsa Competition tentatively set for June 2007. Four categories; Professional, Semi-Professional, Amateur and Student Groups will compete. More details will be coming.

The second surprise, not entirely unexpected was the 17-19 March 2007 Winter Salsa Carnival dates being confirmed. The venue this year is the Berkely Church at Queen & Parliament. Instructors, shows and pricing details to come.

More surprises came during the performances. One of Stephanie's groups did a role reversal, where the men followed and the women led. Try it some time. Leading is hard, so is following.

A tuxedo clad Stephanie did a solo James Bond routine and another of her student groups performed.

Mambo Dream Team's Pawel & Dora gave everybody a preview of their routine for the 2nd Las Vegas World Salsa Championships - Cabaret Division which allows lifts, dips and tricks. Dora was lifted, dipped, tricked spun and rung similar to Dave Paris and Zoe.

Gordon Neil got people thinking with his profound and compelling Introspect. An African-American, Gordon came out in the old vaudville Blackface and performed a solo, turning the old conventions upside down.

The performances closed to a performance by Ana done to Masacote and Cruzao live.

DJ Nilson and DJ Julio spun great dancing salsa to start the evening and before the live band.