Ottawa with A Latin Beat - Tropicasino Second Anniversary

To the exciting rhythms of clave (pa-pa-pa pa-pa) Tropicasino Dance Group was recently celebrating its second anniversary at Club Caliente. Inside the cozy nightclub with parrots on the walls and silk palm trees around the tables, the crowd on the dance floor on a recent Saturday night, suddenly parted to make room for the Rueda, a circle of couples.

"Dame Una ! | "("Give me one!"), the caller shouted, and the men let go of one partner and grabbed another to the right. "Exhibela !" ("Show her off !") and the men pushed the woman into a turn and snapped them back to their rights.

This is salsa dancing, casino Rueda style. In salsa Rueda (Rueda mean wheel), the leader calls out fast three-step combinations that dancers perform before moving on to the next partner, building to a choreography that draws on more than 150 steps, with names like "setenta", "finger", and "tell her no". "Call names are not always politically correct" says Cristobal Miller, director and founder of Tropicasino group.

"It is soething fun to watch and to do" says one of Tropicasino students. "It is not threatening. I hate the club scene, but I can go to Club Caliente, do the Rueda, and that's it. I leave sweaty soaked from heat to toe".

"Salsa is the perfect antidote to everything that is boring in life" confessed another student, a computer engineer from Nortel. He said he also enjoyed the novelty of dancing in couples.

Spanish lyrics filled the airs as the deejay was spinning hits from Latin American crooners: Puerto Rico's latest chart toppers Victor Manuelle and Marc Anthony, The Dominican Republic's Jose Alberto (El Canario) and Colombian famous group Grupo Niche. "I think it is quite funny that I do not understand the words" one woman says, nevertheless intoxicated by the singer's voice.

Salsa dancing and specially Casino Rueda has been enjoying an increasing popularity in the last two years as the Tropicasino group brought it to Ottawa, and started teaching it. "We started with only a couple of students some time ago and now our classes are full and because we keep getting more students every week we had to expand to three days a week" says Cristobal Miller director of the dance group. "We have people with different backgrounds here: computer engineers, lawyers, financial advisers, statisticians and university students and they all seem to have discovered the true meaning of life." adds Cristobal.

More than a dance group Tropicasino is a group of people who love Latin music and do not loose the opportunity to promote our Latin thing (music and dance). They teach at Paraiso Latin Nightclub on  WEDNESDAYS and FRIDAYS they are always looking for new members to join their dance group.

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