HAVANA ESTUDIO 13th ANNIVERSARY PARTY! (2/2)

Memoirs of a Salsero Part Dos

One of my strongest regrets on that fabulous night of the 25^th was the inevitable clash between my love for photography and my passion for dancing and performing. Obviously I could not do both. Hence many of my photographs that night which I take so much pride in, was disjointed at best. Running around stressing about both the routines also took a toll in my camera settings which I admit, were far, far from my best work.

Nevertheless, I still took several shots of the performers (after the performance of course) as well as the general crowd.

The first performance of the night, Sam and Aisha, along with Havana Estudio was pleased as pie to present, the Young Starz of 2011. ‘Young’ because it is their first time. I was a ‘Young Star’ last year at the Malaysian Salsa Festival 2010, and it was an amazing pleasure to see the next generation of performers! They performed an energetic routine entirely choreographed by Sam, to the electric Cuban tune of ­­Somos Dos by Jose Alberto y Raulin Rosendo. You often remind first-timers to remember to smile. Obviously they had no problem with smiling, and their pleasure and enthusiasm was clear to all.

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They hit all the right breaks and more importantly, they had fun. You always remember your first time…

[Credits to the Young Starz (in no particular order): Aaron & Jess, Rizal & Ling Long, Arin & Chui Mei, Raja & Bee, Jai & Linnet, Peter & Lai Heng]

 

The next performance, an experimental Shines routine, also entirely choreographed by Sam, specially for the Anniversary celebrations. Some people think shines are boring. Well think again! This might just make you change your mind. Ray Baretto’s Trompeta Y Trombon was such an incredible choice. Sam’s legendary musicality prevails once again. In fact, in later discussions, some of us agreed that this song could not be danced smoothly on the social floors. It was in fact, made for shines. It had the catchy beats, the dynamics for a varied routine, as well as the energy for a great shines choreography. Who else better to do it than Sam? Tip? Keep your eye out for the slow lunge/dip by everyone towards the end. Wow!

[Credits to the Shines Dancers (from left to right): Salseros – Aaron, Dominique (yup, that’s me), Martin, Raj and Raja, Salseras – Ani, Wen Nie, Melanie, Tze Yee, Emily and May.]

Finally, the moment we have all been waiting for, the main performance of the night. The Havana Estudio Professional-Amateur (Pro-Am) Performance Team of 2011! Incredibly, Sam choreographed this entire routine all by himself as well. There is no end to this man’s Legend. While in the previous 2 performance, the dancers were required to find their own costumes, so long as they were in sync with the agreed color theme, the Pro-Am Performance Team had a distinct costume for that night. The Men were clad in a catchy red shirt complete with black slacks and a nifty black vest. Of course, you don’t forget the bling that comes with the dance! The Women – WOW! Red hot and tantalizingly spicy with their fiery red corsets and short black skirts, along with matching red sparkling hair pieces. All-in-all, the fiery theme suited the super-turbo-charged performance where we aimed to burn, the good kind of burn. The music was courtesy of Machito with the maestro’s rendition of ­­Yo Soy La Rhumba.

[Credits to the Pro-Am Routine Dancers (in no particular order): Raj & Emily, Jie Liang & Denise, Dominique (yup, it’s me again) & Julianna, Sam & Gina, Adam & Irene, Ruben & Yvonne, Jerry & Adela.]

As a tribute to the boys and girls who performed that night, here are a few more of my humble photos of some of the performers on that eventful night to remember...

For a quick link to the First Part of the memorable Havana Estudio 13th Anniversary Bash, please click here!

http://dominiquekeephotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/havana-estudio-13th-anniversary-party.html
 

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for June: 8 post 267 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 85 posts 3,351 pics

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