"Salsa meets Tumba"
Get to know the exciting rhythm of "Tumba" (our Carnival/Folklore music) and the elegance of the Curaçao Waltz and Mazurka at "Hoffi Barbolina". A workshop and show will be given by the best folklore dancers of the island. Broaden you spectrum of moves and experience new ways to move your body and translate them in your way of dancing Salsa! Live Salsa music by the local band Gibi Fuertissimo.
Price: $20

Edie's Daily Report
Well folks, it was another day in Paradise!  We sat out on the beach all day, played water polo at the pool, played miniature golf, some of us went snorkeling, others went scuba diving... it was AWESOME today!!!  The biggest difference between this event and others is that the promoters have allowed plenty of time for touring, jeep safaris, horse-back riding, and other activities during our stay.  Every night there's dancing, parties, and every day there are Salsa workshops!  

Tonight, we were treated to a beautiful show at the Salsipuedes dance studio (the island's first and only Salsa school) by the best folkloric dancers of Curacao.  The costumes, colors, and music were just beautiful.  They demonstrated a typical island Waltz, the rhythms of Tumba, and how it is danced.  Tumba is the dance of the island, and I finally got a chance to see first-hand how they danced it starting with the right foot forward!  Many of you know, from reading my article about Curacao, the Salseros on the island always danced Salsa starting with the right foot forward - for literally GENERATIONS.  This became a problem when trying to dance with the rest of the world at different world events.  On July 6th, 1999, the leaders of the dance school here on Curacao broke generations of tradition and decided to start teaching with the left foot forward.  They did this as a necessity to be able to dance with the rest of the world, and dance standard moves like the cross body lead, and other moves that can only be done correctly startingh with the left foot forward.  

The show's cast members grabbed people from the audience to dance with them on stage.  It was a blast watching as normal, every day dancers started dancing Tumba with the performers.  EVERYONE WAS GREAT!  I think we were all shocked to see some of the best dancers in the world dancing Tumba and doing it CORRECTLY, or at least to the best of their abilities!  The performers probably never dreamed they had some real showmen in the audience, and most were professional dancers to boot!   I was amazed at how the dancers they picked, including Caribbean Soul dancers, and a phenomenal couple from Aruba, could follow VERY well, and literally make THE PERFORMERS look OUTSTANDING!  It was really quite a performance!  

Later on that night, I gave a mini-spins class to the workers of the Festival, and gave them a few pointers.  I felt bad that the volunteers of these events do all this work, invest all their time, and rarely get to take any workshops.  Hopefully, we'll be able to schedule something just for them.