This only adds to the repertoire of sounds bombarding your senses with such ecstasy that only salsa music can provide. Indeed, it was great to the ears and our senses to have such a mixture of music and sound accompanying each other in such flavorful way.

The crowd was mild early on, starting at 8.45pm. It picked up around 10pm onwards as that was the usual time people started salsaing in the clubs. It was after all, a Friday night. Major studios as well as independent salseros were seen everywhere and the heat was on. Many of the faces there were faces I have not seen before. There were even instructors there that I’ve only heard of but haven’t seen. As Timothy, our host of the night mentioned, Som; a lady instructor from Thailand but based in Sunway certainly opened my eyes to the other salseros and salseras in Malaysia as she certainly danced very well with such sensual moves that I can only say is the spice of salsa!

Everyone danced energetically with the big clock on the projector showing the countdown. Certainly, it was going to be a long night.

The crowd died out during the graveyard shift as many had gone off to their hotel rooms or back home to get some rest. Only a handful stayed back, those hardcore, diehard salsa fanatics such as me as well as those from Dance Spirit, Ritmo Latino, Salsajay, and a few other salseros and salseras from Outcast on 2 and Havana Estudio. I guess I could say, without prejudice, that Dance Spirit and Salsajay students rules the graveyard shift. In fact, they stayed from the start until the end of the event!!!

Hooray to these unsung heroes!

Thankfully the music was slow to medium speed. Light food and drinks were served all night and never was once the dance floor empty. Of course, at such wee hours, everyone was hoping to get a break so everyone kept exchanging shift on the dance floor. The criteria for the Malaysia Book of Records was that the dance floor cannot stop thus we ensured that there were at least 1 couple dancing at all times. On average, 3 couples danced at every song and when the song was over, someone else took their place so the dancers could rest.

It wasn’t easy dancing 14 hours.

I had so many cramps in my leg I lost count. I developed a new shine steps called the ‘cramp.’ It’s when you shine and your leg cramps up, then you bend down and grab your legs but you’re still dancing… that’s just one of the variation. The other is when you stomp your feet on the ground as the cramp kicks in. Cool, huh? Did I mention the stomach cramp too? Pain lasted until the following Thursday.

Within an hour before the end of the 14 hours, the crowd started coming back in. The energy built up again. I remembered I was like a zombie dancing during the graveyard shift but came the last hour all the energy just came back! Spent the last 10 minutes burning the dance floor with Mabel to a finale drop marking the end of the salsa marathon!

What a sense of achievement. To think that one could last 14 hours! Of course, I was only there around 13 hours. Words cannot explain the feeling of having completed that marathon.

Only thing I can say is that I’m crazy to have gone through that but that’s salsa addiction. I had planned to leave at 3am but somehow I finished the whole event. I wanted to go home at 3am but then I realized … I was home...

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Malaysian Salsa Festival
Damai Laut Swiss Garden Resort, Lumut
Thursday 9 Sug 2007 until Sunday 12 Aug 2007
By Jaxen

After last year's MSF at Cherating, everyone was so looking forward to this event. Things could only get better. And it did.

The sun, sea, sand, salsa… what else could you ask for?

The resort was great! Beautiful and nice. But the journey there was a bit bumpy. It’s located 4km from the main road and the nearest mamak stall was 10 km away. Our buses had to be escorted by at least 1 police car and I believe around 2 police bike. Talk about VIP treatment!

Now, before I go onto the wonderful events that took place, the only thing I have to comment negatively about is the food. I felt the food was kind of bland, with each meal looking the same as if nothing changed in the menu. But, no one is there for the food and it’s the least of anyone’s worries. Besides, the best food I had on this trip was my Mamee cup noodle! Imagine eating a hot soup at 3am after countless night of salsa.. hunger has set in, its cold, no warm food, going to the swimming pool somemore… I enjoyed the Mamee cup noodle as if it was my first meal after nights of starvation! (I’mnot promoting Mamee, mind you!)

Now I must say that this event really boasted a strong cast of international instructors. Santo Rico Dance Company is back! This time with a full group of 6 dancers! Pioneer of the L.A. style salsa, Francisco Vasquez of Los Rumberos came partnered with Ruby Karen, famous for her performances with the ever suave Alex Da Silva, the ever lovable Suzana Montero and Leon Rose who gave 3 electrifying performances, Magna Gopal, Nestor and Modus Vivendi, the Korean look alike who is actually Indian salsa guru Kaytee, Gupson, Reyno and some more whom I can’t remember now.

Nestor opened the first workshop with a bachata by the poolside. He and Lydia rocked! Nestor looked so much like his twin brother Jaime Jesus, who is one of the most sought after instructors in the world! Of course they look alike; they’re twins! Not only do they look alike, the talk, dance and move alike! And he’s a smooth dancer! His team Modus Vivendi of Lation Motion Dance Australia was the finalist team in the World Salsa Championship. His partner Lydia was definitely one of the most beautiful ladies around, as well as a very good dancer. Now, this is one sporting lady. She will actually go up to a guy and ask him for a dance! Most ladies just wait for guys to ask them. But Lydia, she takes the lead! My kind of girl!

My only regret is that I did not attend any of their partnerwork class at all, except for the bachata. There were just too many good workshops clashing with each other and I had to chose the ones I felt I needed more. Sorry Nestor and Lydia!

And Francisco Vasquez… this man is da bomb! He can do quadruple outside spins on his left leg… consecutively… and still hit the right note on 1! On carpeted floor! I believe his workshops were the most packed of all the workshops, especially his lift, dips and trick workshop. I loved his quebradita! I have never seen it before in my entire life! When he did it at the MSF opening party in Impiana Hotel on 8 Aug, Thursday, I was spellbound! So too were all those around that night. Everyone stopped dancing when he did the quebradita with our very own Sally Oh to a bachata dance. It was… beautiful! I must say that I am glad I took private classes from him. It was invaluable.

Ruby Karen arrived late. She had to travel from New York and it’s a long journey for her. Still she gave a wonderful performance with Francisco. 2 performances throughout the event filled with good moves and stunts and great workshops! And she is also very sporting… she will ask the guys for a dance. Don’t you just love a lady like that?

Santo Rico was their usual. Fast paced, high energy and dazzling with their performances. Their classes were in high demand of course. On Friday night party, they made 2 impromptu performance sometime during 2am in the dance hall. Everyone stopped dancing just to see their performance. It was fantastic and a feast for the eyes! I personally felt it was better than the stage performance they gave. But they were good.

Suzana Montero… what can I say. Everyone loves her. Her body isolation workshops are back. And this time she taught Italian bachata. Too bad I didn’t go in for it. Had to go for Kaytee’s sexy moves. Leon Rose was sick and had to spend most of his time in bed. But he gave an inspiring workshop and all of Suzana and Leon’s 3 performances were the greatest performance of the entire event! It was so stunning and electrifying that by seeing them dance you are somehow compelled to dance and move and it makes you feel you want to follow them! If only I can dance like that! They were the best of the best in the MSF!

Kaytee and his sexy moves. It was indeed sexy. Everyone loved it. The way he moves his body and his interpretation of the music is so good you can’t help but want to dance like him. It was sexy. I know many ladies swoon over him. How can they resist? With such a lean body and a face that looks like a Korean super star?

Magna Gopal was so good in her interpretation of the music that Reyno told me he thinks she crushes salsa music cd into powder form every night and drinks them down in a glass of water. It was as if she knew every song being played. She could hit a break all the time, catch a high tone and gyrate to a saxophone tune just when it comes! And she is so physically fit. During her spin workshop, you should see her leg muscles. They were lean and toned and born to spin!

Reyno from Indonesia, the man with the million dollar smile! Having been trained by LDA and from several other places, he is undoubtedly one of the best dancers to come out of Indonesia. The way he catches the music, his interpretation and understanding of it is simply superb. He did a performance with Malaysia’s salsera KD in an unrehearsed performance during the MSF opening party and after seeing it you wouldn’t believe it was unrehearsed!

Gupson, father of Singapore salsa. I must say his performance in the opening party, partnering with Tze Yi of all people! Imagine 2 guys dancing salsa together! And Tze Yi danced the part of the lady perfectly, with all the styling, the body gyrating, the sexiness and the humour to perfection. No wonder people call him Singapore’s prince of salsa!

From Malaysia, we had our own share of good performances. Gavin and Sally rocked the night! They were good! Their performance really went into the music itself and played with the moves and tune and every beat. It was fantastic.

Bailanismo went on stage with only 3 couples this time with a very nice intro. The song was medium paced and well executed. Not bad.

La Chicas had only 3 members this time around. Their performance was a cute number, reminiscence of the Sound of Music, as was their theme.

Ritmo Latino had a good number complete with flips and an underleg slide. It was good considering the fact that the performers were quite new to the salsa scene. A good effort and a good performance.

There were of course, other good performance that I did not mention here. Then there were not so good ones that I will not mention also. Of course, with so many good performances, who can remember the not so good ones?

The Malaysian Salsa Festival 2007 was definitely worth every single cents paid.

Though I danced with all the lady instructors as well as a few salsera from out of Malaysia, my only regret was that I did not manage to get to know more people from out of Malaysia as well as I had hoped to. After all, this event is also about getting to know more people and making more contacts.

Can’t wait for MSF 2008.

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World-Latin Salsa Congress 2007
Selesa Beach Resort, Port Dickson
Friday 29 June 2007 until Sunday 1 July 2007
By Jaxen

I was skeptical to go for this event as I knew there was not much support from the local salsa community. But Martin, the organizer invited so I went. Sometimes, you have to support friends and also support the salsa scene if you want it to grow.

It was a small event and there are too much I have to comment on but I realized that if I did, the negative comments would far outweigh the positive ones.

The resort was just within normal acceptable level and the only good food was during the Saturday night beach party where the barbeque was indeed good!

Jaime Jesus and Little Liz was the star of the event. He brought along Sujit Dev and Mary Grace Brown, also of LDA. Bobby Dickerson was also there. The expected group of Imagen Latina who rocked the stage of the L.A. Salsa Congress did not make it and were replaced by Imagen Matize. Asere from Cuba, Justin and Yanqing from Singapore and also Reyno and Salsa Fresca from Indonesia.

The event was a more pro-Venezuelan congress, thus not having enough appeal with the rest of the salsa community in Malaysia.

The biggest highlight of the event was the 15 piece band, Banda Sigilosa! They really rocked! Some people paid just the night party ticket to hear the band play. And boy, were they good. Imagine more than 10 types of instruments playing the salsa beat and how that melody is transferred into your very own heart and soul. It makes you just want to get up and dance all night long. It was simply intoxicating. Nothing beats dancing to a live band. And nothing beats dancing to a 15 piece live band!

Jaime Jesus and Little Liz practically kept the whole event alive. They were funny and energetic and a really good sport. Their ice breaker dance was a clear favourite with everyone. From the Zombie Dance to the Brazillian dance about the red Indian caught in the middle of a Brazillian dance parade was indeed fun! Their performance was great! Superb! You’d expect nothing less from Jaime and Liz. And their workshops were handled well. Clear and easy to understand. Its so easy to know why they are in such high demand worldwide.

Sujit and Mary are great. They are so contrast to each other. Sujit is so tall and Mary is so short. But they compliment each other well in their workshops and performance. They two of them can really spin… and I mean spin. Their workshops are a little long winded… they explain and break everything down just a little too much. But their performance really brought the cheers from everyone.

Bobby was also important in keeping the event alive with his mc skills. His performance with his student, Sayaka was not too bad. Some commented that he performed better when he performed with Mitsue, as he was based in Japan. But it was still a good show. His impromptu performance during the beach party was a shout out! He came on stage with Fasilito of Malaysia and Arvin from the Phillipines and did a shine performance; bare top! All the girls were screaming in joy!

Justin and Yanqing were their usual, with fast paced spins and great stunts and their famous afro-cuban moves. They practically saved the whole beach party when he brought in the Actfa gang all the way from Singapore to perform. Kudos to such a wonderful dedication to the salsa spirit! I must commend them on their sporting spirit to come all the way just to perform and then go back the next day. Manfred, Bianca, Rozana and the rest of the gang, well done!

Reyno and Salsa Fresca gave a wonderful performance. What can I say? The man with the million dollar smile and his team of wonderful performers really set the house on fire. Their performance was spotless and clean and an enjoyment to watch.

Imagen Matiza was quite a let down. Imagen Latina was good, seeing their performance on video in the L.A. Salsa Congress. But as they did not make it due to some unknown reasons, Imagen Matiza stood in. I have nothing good to say here, so I’ll just leave things as it is.

Gavin and Sally as well as the Outcast on 2 team gave solid performances. Gavin and Sally’s performance was great, brought wow and yeah to the crowd. The Outcast team was also great, all 6 of them.

Bailanismo came in with 4 couples and they had a very nice opening act to their performance. The opening choreography was quite nice. Patricia of Ritmo Latino did a brave performance as she was still recovering from her appendix operation. Despite the pain, she still went ahead with a lifting stunt which I believe is not easy for someone still recovering from an operation wound. Kudos, Pat!

Salsa Penang, led by Chen also did a performance during the opening night. As can be seen, the Penang salsa scene is growing, with the next World-Latin Salsa Congress to be held in the island itself.