Winter Salsa Carnival Competition 2008

1st Annual Salsa Competition

The 1st annual Winter Salsa Competition will be starting on January 13th, 2008 at 805 Dovercourt Rd and will give dancers from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and the surrounding cities an opportunity to showcase their talents. There will be great prizes being awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of each division.

The final round will be held at the Winter Salsa Carnival on Friday March 21st, 2008 at the Berkeley Church 315 Queen St. East.

Schedule

Preliminary Rounds: January 13th & 27th @ The Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd, 1st Floor
Semi-Finals Rounds: February 3rd (New Date) & 24th @ The Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd, 1st Floor
Final Round: March 21st (New Date) @ The Berkeley Church, 315 Queen Street East

Categories

Professional On1 or On2

This category applies to any individual who earns a living solely from Dance.
An individual who is getting paid for teaching and performing which includes assistant instructors.
Is a member of a professional dance company.

Amateur On1 or On2

This category applies to any individual who doesn't earn a living or gets paid for teaching or performing.
Any individuals that enjoys salsa dancing as a hobby.
You are still eligible to perform as an amateur if you have performed in a student performance group

Prizes

1st place Professional: Wins a trip for 2 to Bermuda to perform at the Mambo Nights Spectacular August 14th-18th, 2008 which includes airfare and accommodations.
1st place Amateur: Wins a 1 week trip for 2 to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic which includes airfare and accommodations.

**** 2nd & 3rd place winners of each category will receive great prizes****

Registration

You must register in advance and the deadline for registration is December 31st, 2007.
There will be a maximum of 10 couples accepted for each preliminary round.
Click here to register by email or call Mark-Anthony at 416-895-7874.
Your spot will only be guaranteed once your registration payment has been received
The registration fee is $25 per couple and can be paid by cheque or cash, cheque payable "MAS Mambo SOD"
There will be no refund for couples who pull out of this event after January 6th 2008.

Competition Rules
Professionals & Amateurs

Timing & Rhythm: “On 1” or “On 2”, Musicality & Consistency with the beat – Strict Tempo. Points 40%
Partnering & Technique: Leading & following, staying connected with your partner when necessary without fumbling with your arms and fingers, unity and synchronization between partners, demonstrating good partner compatibility, keeping your lines and spacing,
body movements and Latin motions and how it's used with the choreography. Points 15%
Dance ability & Musical Interpretation: Styling, control and execution of the moves and tricks, how you interpret the music to fit the choreography. Points 15%
Difficulty: How intricate was the choreography, level and number of spins, turn patterns, shines (footwork),
lifts which can be done below and above the shoulders, tricks and dips. Points 15%
Appearance & Stage presence: Do the costumes suit the choreography, do the costume match each other, confidence and presentation, the ability to dance to your choreography as you execute it to the highest level. Points 15%

Preliminary Rounds

There will be 2 preliminary rounds and 4 couples from each round will be picked for the semi-finals.
The competitors will be asked to do a warm up dance to a track chosen by DJ which would last no longer than 1 minute.
The competitors will compete by doing a freestyle dance to a song chosen by the DJ and must execute all the competition rules.
The song chosen by the DJ will not exceed 2:15mins.
Every couple will be given a different song in the preliminary round.
The competitors can take part in more than 1 preliminary round if they did qualify the first time.
The number of couples selected by judges at each of the preliminary rounds will depend on the numbers of competitors (i.e. if the number of couples for one round is 10 then 4 couples will be selected, if the number is 4 then 2 couples will be selected etc.)

PLEASE NOTE: Prelims will only be conducted if level of applicants is high.

Semifinals Rounds

There will be 2 semifinal rounds and 3 couples from each round will be picked for the finals.
The competitors will be asked to do a warm up dance to a track chosen by DJ which would last no longer than 1 minute.
The competitors will compete to a choreographed routine with a song of there choose that must be 90% salsa and does not exceed 2:15mins.
All competitors in the semifinal rounds must wear there full costumes to receive full points.

Finals Round

The final round will have a maximum of 6 couples and a minimum of 3 couples.
The competitors will be asked to do a warm up dance to a track chosen by DJ which would last no longer than 1 minute.
The competitors will compete to a choreographed routine with a song of there choose that must be 90% salsa and does not exceed 2:15mins.
The competitors can use a new choreography for the final round to a song of there choose that must be 90% salsa and does not exceed 2:15mins.
Only 3 couples will be chosen for the 1st 2nd & 3rd place.

RULES

Each couple must consist of one male and one female.
After the preliminary rounds are over, contestants eligible for the Final round must not change partners.
The judges will appreciate the diversity of salsa dancing, therefore any style of salsa will be permitted i.e. Cuban, Columbian, LA On1,
New York & Puerto Rican On2.
Competitors must show proper etiquette during all stages of the contest by refraining from distracting behavior
as other competitors are dancing.
Dips, tricks and lifts of any kind will be permitted with no limitation in the preliminary, semifinal and the final round.
The Winter Salsa Carnival will not accept responsibility injuries to a competitor in relation to this event.
There will be no refund for couples who pull out of this event after January 6th 2008.
Judges decisions are FINAL.