TORONTO SALSA BALL – One Night.  Dance in the New Year Right!

Celebrate the Eve of the New Year 2012  with an evening of mystery, elegance, and dancing! Highlights of the evening will include:

• 4 DJs and 3 rooms to dance the best of the best of Salsa, Bachata, Zouk, Top 40s, and more!
• Complimentary hors d’oeurvres and sweets
• Complimentary champagne to toast in the new year
• Complimentary swag bags
• Complimentary coat check
• Best Dressed Competition
• Cash Bar

Doors will open at 8pm. Dress Code: Masquerade attire – Dress to impress for a  memorable night!

Toronto Salsa Ball Performances

Performances start at 9pm and will include:

• Salsa performance by instructors and students of Los Salsamanos,  EnamorArse Dance,  Latin Groove Productions,  and Toronto Salsa Nights
• Zouk performance by MaZouka and dZouk
• Contemporary performance by Silhouettes Dance
• Rock and Roll performance by Glen Cameron

Toronto Salsa Ball Venue

The Toronto Salsa Ball will take place at 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media & Education, a  not-for-profit community arts centre & events venue located in Toronto’s vibrant Annex neighbourhood.

Three fabulous rooms ready for dancing, mingling, and celebrating! The Great Hall (pictured above) with natural redwood floors and furnishings boasting a 45 foot cathedral ceiling is dedicated as the main room for dancing and performances.   The Sun Room (named so due to its three fabulous skylights) will be the dedicated Zouk and Bachata room. Last but not least the Star Room will be a great opportunity to take pictures, stop for a beverage or complimentary hors d’eourve.

Toronto Salsa Ball Address

Address: 918 Bathurst Street, Toronto (just north of Bathurst and Bloor Street)

Parking: Street parking and enforced parking lots all around.

T.T.C.: From Bathurst Subway Station, walk north on Bathurst Street, for approximately 3 minutes.
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Toronto Salsa Ball Tickets

Tickets are  $50 (Tickets go up to $60 at the door). Space is limited so don’t wait until the last minute to get your tickets!

• Order Tickets Online Here

You will get an electronic ticket. Print it out and bring it to the Ball.

• More about the Toronto Salsa Ball

Casa Loma is 100 years old and the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma is bringing back the roaring 20’s, where Latin, Ballroom and Swing took center stage, to this historically famous castle on Tuesday December 13.  Come prepared to enjoy a night of cha cha, jive, salsa, rumba, merengue, bachata, waltz and the foxtrot under the Casa Loma glitter of the 1920’s!

The night will start off with cocktail reception in the Grand Hall, followed by a sumptuous gourmet dinner and live entertainment.   Professional ballroom & latin dancers and Opera Star Ursula Ivonoffski will perform. Following dinner, the entire ground floor of the Castle will open up for dancing into the small hours of the night. There will also be a late night buffet served.

Highlights of the evening will include:

• Dinner & Dance Soiree
• Cocktail Reception
• Flapper Girls
• Gourmet Cuisine
• Professional Dance Performances
• Meet Santa Clause
• Raffle Prizes, Live Auction
• Opera Star Singer
• AND Dance…Dance…Dance

Proceeds from this charitable event will go towards the Kiwanis Music Festival and their scholarship program for underprivileged children.

Casa Loma Gala Tickets

• Dinner & Dance $69 (doors open at 6:30pm)
• Only Dance $30 (admission at 9:30)

Tickets must be purchased in advance before December 10, 2011. There are no sales at the door.

To purchase tickets: call 416-272-1704 or email Kiwanis@casaloma.org. Visa & Mastercard accepted.

About Casa Loma

Watch the video below to learn some quick facts about Toronto’s famous Castle.

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About the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma

Founded in 1921, the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma is  nationally recognized for saving Sir Henry Pellatt’s magnificent Casa Loma in the year 1937, and restoring the castle through a management agreement with the City of Toronto.

Dedicated to enriching the lives of the younger generation by creating various extracurricular programs and offering opportunities to optimize their skills,  Kiwanis runs activities promoting health and education and encourages leadership and service among youth. In pursuit of the latter goal, Kiwanis sponsors about 7,000 youth service clubs with nearly 320,000 youth members.

Thanks to many supporters and hard working volunteers, Kiwanis has been able to support music programs at various schools throughout the GTA.

Other Christmas Gala Events

• Click for other Christmas Events in Toronto

Toronto is set to celebrate the diverse and creative talents of Canadian and international salsa dancers this coming weekend October 6 to October 10, 2011.

To be held at the Sheraton Centre Hotel,  the ninth annual Canada Salsa Congress will feature extraordinary performances, more than 35 workshops, live music and the DanceFeet Canadian Salsa Championships.

With intensive workshops, live music, stunning performances, competitions and parties, the annual Canada Salsa Congress is the largest salsa dance festival in Canada. “Salsa dancing is taking the world by storm,” says Jennifer Aucoin, producer of the Canada Salsa Congress. “The Canada Salsa Congress is an exciting event and important venue for those already passionate about salsa, and for those who wish to learn more about the dance. Last year we hosted more than 6,000 salsa lovers and we expect an even larger turnout this year. We look forward to providing the opportunity for professional dancers, beginner students, social dancers, choreographers, instructors and musicians to nurture their talent, celebrate their creativity and develop a deeper love and appreciation of salsa dancing.”

Clifton Stennett and Andrea Hanak of Cadance Dance Academy at Canada Salsa Congress 2010

Event highlights include:

• Three days of more than 35 intensive salsa workshops (beginner to advanced levels) with top instructors from Canada, Puerto Rico, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Miami, New York, Boston and more.
• Over 60 electrifying dance performances by some of the world’s greatest salsa dance companies.
• Live salsa band performance by Ray de la Paz, from New York
• Four nights of sizzling salsa parties with dancing until 4 a.m.
• A concession area where attendees may purchase salsa-related products including shoes, clothing, music and instructional DVDs.
• For the first time ever .. a dedicated Bachata & Zouk room!

Canada Salsa Congress 2011 Location

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Unlike last year, this year the Congress returns to the Sheraton Center at 123 Queen St West.  Thursday night events will in the Dominion Ballroom, 2nd floor of hotel. Friday, Saturday & Sunday events take place in lower level of hotel in the Grand Ballroom.

Canada Salsa Congress 2011 Tickets

Tickets & pases can be bought in person at the registration booth, lower level, Sheraton Centre Hotel.  The event does NOT sell out – it runs in the largest ballroom in Canada!   Registration opens at 1pm on Friday and will remain open until 1am all weekend long. Each person must pick up their own pass in person – you cannot pick up a pass for a friend. Most passes are in the form of a wristband which must remain on at all times, all weekend long.  Wristbands can withstand showering, sweating and dancing!

You can also get tickets online here.

Late night tickets (after 11pm) can only be bought at the door.  Late night tickets allow people to attend the dancing portion of the event after the shows end (approx. 11pm).  Dancing and parties run until 4am every night.  Entrance to both the main Salsa ballroom and the Bachata & Zouk ballroom.

• Thursday Night Late Entrance: $15
• Friday Night Late Entrance: $20
• Saturday Night Late Entrance: $35  (includes concert with Ray de la Paz)
• Sunday Night Late Entrance: $20

For more information about the 2011  Canada Salsa Congress, including details about schedules, artists, competitions and passes, please visit www.canadasalsacongress.com.

These festivals are a great way for dancers of all levels to learn new material and meet other dance enthusiasts during the milder months of the year, but what are snow-bound Torontonians to do during the frigid winter months?

To the rescue is Stephanie Gurnon of Go Dance Mambo who plans to bring the steamiest dance festival of all to Toronto this February: the first Annual Toronto Bachata Fesital.

Gurnon, also known as “Salsasteph,” was one of the earlier promoters of Salsa dancing in Toronto, having travelled to New York and other cities to bring new information back to Toronto. Thanks to Gurnon and other Salsa promoters, the burgeoning Toronto salsa scene can now fill every day of the week of the enthusiast’s social agenda with a variety of dates and venues.

Gurnon herself runs a very popular salsa social every Sunday at the Dovercourt House where she, like most other salsa hosts, plays the occasional Bachata rhythm to give her dancers an enjoyable break from the more frenetic salsa. Often danced in the same venues as salsa, Bachata is stepping up as a mainstream social dance, and with Bachata festivals becoming popular all over the US and Europe, Gurnon is excited to be the first to bring this kind of event to Canada.

The first Annual Toronto Bachata Festival will take place February 19-21, 2010 . Most events are taking place at Dovercourt House, with the Gala Party being at the Lithuanian house.  The festival will include daily workshops, nightly dance parties, sexy performances, and a Jack and Jill competition where competitors are randomly selected a partner to dance with.

Perhaps the sultry and sensuous Bachata is the next wave of dancing fever to hit our city … and if our winter is anything like it was last year, it’s about time!

Above: Leslie and Jorge of Bachata Caliente (LA) – Confirmed Toronto Bachata Festival Instructors

Get your tickets before December 15, 2009 to get your full weekend pass for $125 (price at the door will be $160). Fifty percent of the proceeds from the Festival will go to the Boys and Girls Club of Canada, a leading provider of quality programs to 200,000 young people and their families each year.

Click here for more information about 2010 the Toronto Bachata Festival.

Want to brush up on your Bachata steps before the festival? Look for Bachata classes to take here.

Need to work off some Holiday dinner? In preparation for the upcoming Toronto Bachata
Festival, GoDanceMambo has arranged for Leslie Ferreira from LA, Calilfornia and Lucky Sipin of Toronto to teach Bachata workshops starting at 7pm at Dovercourt House on December 26, 2009.

Lucky has been dancing professionally since 2004. His extensive  martial arts and hip hop background has helped him quickly understand body movements and isolations.  Lucky has performed in the Philippines, Hawaii, Bermuda, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.

Leslie is very well known for her Dominican Style of Bachata and  is a  World Bachata Competition Finalist. She has taught and performed  in the United States, Hawaii, Canada, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Europe and Australia.

Watch some of Leslie’s Dominican Style Batchata footwork below!

Click here for more information about the Boxing Day Bachata Workshop and Dance Social

Swing at Dovercourt House

Also on Boxing Day, Swing Toronto will be hosting dance featuring the Drew Jurecka Quartet.

The Swing & Tap Academy of Toronto will teach beginner classes 7pm to 9pm, Charleston 7pm, and Lindy Hop 8pm. Afterwads you can dance all night!

Drew Jurecka is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied with Lorand Fenyves, Drew has played with the Oshawa-Durham Symphony Orchestra, the Canton Symphony, and has played the Hollywood Bowl with Diana Krall, Shirley Horn and Dianne Reeves. He has also appeared with the Roberto Rosenman Quartet, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, is a featured soloist with Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards, and has even starred in a film Liszt’s Rhapsody playing a gypsy violinist.

Get details about Swing Toronto’s Boxing Day Dance here.

Salsa at the Estonian House

Also on Boxing Day Toronto Salsa Nights presents: The 2nd Annual Boxing Day Party at the ESTONIAN HOUSE (958 Broadview Ave, Toronto) starting at 9pm. There will be no lessons; just Salsa, Cha-Cha and Bachata All Night Long. There will also be a performance by the United Salseros Men. There will be a cash bar and tickets are selling for $15 at the door. For more information contact Gary or Maya Geronimo at 4165226077.

Waltz Around the New Club Viva Dance

A couple times around the new Club Viva Dance  studio should be enough to burn several hundred calories!  Ballroom dancers can enjoy a practice at North America’s largest dance studio from 8pm to 11:00 pm on Boxing Day, Dec 26/09 for only $5.  Music will cycle through all the Ballroom (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Quickstep) and Latin (Cha-Cha, Samba, Rumba, Jive) dances. A partner is recommended.

If you still haven’t had enough feasting for the Holidays, you are also invited to participate in Pot-Luck dinner during the practice. Doors open at 7:30 pm.  More info and directions at: http://www.clubvivadance.ca/.