Salseras Converge @ Acrobat

Hundreds of Salseras & Salseros converged on Acrobat Lounge Thursday night for the Canadian Salsa Congress Pre-party & Show.

Salsa Dancing is definitely on the radar screen as a page 3 article in the commuter daily 24 Hours proved. With planned Tele Latino Network and Omni TV coverage, salsa in Toronto is getting a boost.

Arriving a few minutes before nine, some of the younger boys and girls from Rhythmic Fire were running through pieces of their choreography. Moving with such ease, were their first steps salsa? We knew that we were in for a treat.

The air was electric with anticipation. DJ Julio, a telecommunications manager by day, super DJ by night said that people were talking to him about the Congress for weeks at the various clubs he spins tunes for.

By 10:30pm Acrobat was packed. It felt like the 1100 people who attended the 2003 Congress had all come out to play. People crowded around the dance floor, watching and waiting for something to happen. They did not have to wait for long.

Surprisingly, not too many people were dancing. Rather they were hanging back to watch some of the pros and the braver couples dance. They were waiting for the 11:00pm show that featured Mambo Tribe, Latin Dance Theatre & Rhythmic Fire.

There was barely enough room on the floor for Mambo Tribe's approximately 30 dancers to move. Everybody took a deep breath, squeezed another foot closer to each other and the show began.

Sometimes less is more, as the Party was treated to 20 minutes of the best show routines outside of a Congress show night. Just enough to engage and captivate and tempt without going too long and losing the crowd momentum.

Working since June, Mambo Tribe's troupe took the place by storm with their passion, Marc-Anthony's choreography and Magda's styling.

Latin Dance Theatre kept the crowd's attention with some of the strongest African dancing seen in quite some time. Accompanied only with a drummer, they moved with absolute abandon.

Rhythmic Fire finished the show with a routine that climaxed with a showdown shine off reminiscent of West Side Story. The young girls squared off with the women as feet flew, arms rose and bodies turned as the crowd gasped and yelled and clapped and cheered.

All too soon, the show was over. People stood still for a second, unsure of what was coming next. Then, like a tidal wave crashing ashore, the dance floor instantly filled as people danced to about 2:00am. All that pent up energy spilled out!

The whole place knew when Super Mario came in the house. A smiling teddy bear of a man with a larger than life presence, the UK's Super Mario danced with all comers. The women lined up to get a dance with one of the salsa world's greats. He danced throughout the entire evening, even changing shirts as they got soaked with sweat from all the dancing

People spotted in the crowd included Rose, DJs MAS, Victor Explosivo, Nilson, Julio, NYC's Henry Knowles.

Others included Teddy, Oscar, Vanessa, Pavlo, Giovanni, Bong, Rene, Stephanie, Davon, Roland, and of course, Toronto's salseras amp; Salseros who actually make it all possible.