Mexico CIty with Amigos Del Solar 2009
Our “Labor-Day-Weekend-from-heaven:” 1 day after America’s Got Talent was over, we were off to Oaxaca & Mexico City to perform & teach for a great group of people !
It was a very ambitious weekend that originally started with a show and workshop with Amigos del Solar in Mexico City. We met them at the San Francisco Salsa Congress and they were excited to bring us to their 6th year anniversary show with Ismael Rivera. The weekend expanded to doing a show on Friday in Oaxaca with Carlos Vargas, a Saturday workshop & show in Mexico City, and then a Sunday show at the New York Congress. Yikes!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
We flew into Mexico City first and met Marco and Laura, the leaders of Amigos del Solar, and the most generous and welcoming people we know. We had the best Mexican meal of my life at the airport, and discovered that Mole outside of Mexico is nothing compared to the authentic taste inside of Mexico. We also learned that Marco and Laura have a similar relationship to Zoë and I. We each could relate to the struggles in how we create choreography together as a romantic partnership, how to run the business, and how we fight over the room temperature at home. It was strange that my partnership with Zoë was reincarnated in Mexico City, but beautiful how such great friendships occur over long distances !
First Stop:
OAXACA!!
Carlos Varga’s Academia De Baile
Performances for Carlos Varga’s anniversary of his salsa dance company:
Dave, Zoë & Carlos Vargas
Dave, Zoë & one fine salsa performer!
Second Stop:
MEXICO CITY!!
Marco Cordero & Laura Lopez’s
Salsa Dance School and company
Amigos Del Solar
Dave & Zoe teach intro to Salsa Lifts in Mexico City.
Students in Mexico City who were so excited to be apart of our Introduction to Salsa Lifts 2 hour workshop.
Performances for Amigos Del Solar
MEXICO CITY!!
Ok, so i am floating on his belly.
That's one way to do it! Tee-hee!
Dave & Zoë with miss “Beautiful Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dancing”!
Thank you Amigos Del Solar for such a wonderful visit to Mexico CIty! We loved your performances, and so great to share the show with you!
We flew to Oaxaca after lunch and arrived to the dance studio. I thought it was so cool that the studio had a tree in the middle of the room, right next to the dance floor, very Frank Lloyd Write or something. We then went to the hotel for the big anniversary event. Well, before the big event, we had another great meal. Zoe had her second steak of the day flavored with mole spices, and I discovered the true meaning of an enchilada.
The event celebrated the 8th anniversary of Carlos Vargas and his Academia de Baile. Salsa con Cache was there, as was Sin City Salseros, Alex Da Silva’s partner Alien, and many local and student groups. The crowd was immensely supportive of all the groups, but there was one special moment for me that I’ll never forget. There were a number of performing kids who looked incredible, but once they got on stage, a girl became stage frightened. The crowd encouraged her, but the girl, in tears, refused to perform. A close adult friend hugged her as she cried and cried with the crowd’s support. Ten minutes later, she finally summoned the will to perform despite the hiccups. The kids rocked the show, got a huge standing ovation, and modeled courage to the world!
Our show went very well, and we spent well over an hour taking pictures with many locals after the show. It was great to look out and see an entire ballroom of Mexican Salseros and their families enjoying themselves late into the night.
With only 3 hrs of sleep, we left with Salsa Con Cache and Sin City Salseros on a plane at seven in the morning to Mexico City. We taught a workshop at noon emphasizing tools for training your body for aerial salsa and a few basic moves.
At night, we performed in both sets of the anniversary party for Amigos Del Sol. In the first set, we had the most magical experience ever performing “Como Quien Pierde Una Estrella,” a mexican bolero by singer Alejandro Fernandez. Marco told us that performing this number in Mexico would hit home to the community. He was right. Zoë and I will never forget performing this piece in Mexico. Our passion for the dance, and our intense connection felt so true, and all this happened like magic because we were carried by the spirit of the audience full of pride in their culture and how we were honoring them through a marriage of their music and our acrobatic flights.
