Semi-Pro Finalists 3rd ANNUAL MALE SALSA DANCER COMPETITION

[cn6464]

Based on the judges' scores, the guys who placed deserved to do so. Regardless of who your friends are, you shouldn't give negative comments about the other guys. Everyone is entitled to their own style and interpretation of music. Otherwise, we would be looking at carbon copies and wouldn't have anything to comment about in the first place. Now, lets just enjoy the final on the 24th and be supportive, not haters. To all the competitors, nothing but love and good vibes!

Celia Ochoa

[cn6464]

I meant the 14th, oopsie.

[1littlemermaid]

Joel Castro from oxnard did deserve to place..in the top three at least. Good footwork good routine. The other guys did good as well. Cant wait for the finals :) Good luck to all. ONE MORE THING....NO BALLROOM PLEASE

[am085698]

Perhaps he deserved to place but not in the top three. You have to think that originallity counts and there are a couple of places where he took parts of other rutines ... He takes a piece of a Johnny Vasquez routine and when you take from GREATS like him and dont "bring it" like he did the judges notice and take points away. Also the guys in 1st & 3rd may not have Joel's Talent but their routines where better prepared.

[OriginalRumbera]

Oh puhleez!!! Joel was great. He was one of the only MASCULINE MANLY dancers. The rest danced and dressed way too MARICON.

[am085698]

He did dance masculine & I didn't say he didn't deserve 2 place I just said he's not top 3 @ least not at that moment. 2b top 3 he needed 2 beat 1 of the top 3 in 1 of the following ways routine, lines, or timing.

Ernesto Estrada

Eder Avila

Alfredo Martinez

also danced in a masculine style and Joel did not beat Eder & Alfredo's musicality or timing. Not even Alfredo, the guy in 2nd beat Eder's musicallity. Alfredo was musical, he had lines, great intro, middle, & end, plus he was way fast

[MsLASalsera]

Joel was aweful. There were too many things wrong with him and his routine. I do think he has potential for the future to do better, but certainly this year he did not have enough to be one of the top guys. I think if he would have placed, he would have one of the bottom guys. Then he would have taken the place of the 7th place Eder or 8th place Ismael. But I think he did not because he lacked and did poorly in the things the judges were looking for.

[am085698]

I'm not sure I like you saying he was aweful, still I was about to give you a thumbs up but I messed up and did the bottom onw sorry. If you know how to take it back let me know.

[MsLASalsera]

Eder was not prepared, and it is a competition and they do not have different standards for people that improvise. He did not have all the things judges score on. He had good footwork and musicality, but he lacked stage presence and his routine was not strong. Though, I think the judges saw his ability to dance and musicality so they did not score him that poorly because of that.

[MsLASalsera]

Then for Ismael, he did many aweful moves and his routine was not good, but he had better stage presence and technique compared to Joel. Therefore, if you look a the lowest placed guys they have weak sides but they have their strong side too, but Joel only had poor to average in the categories scored. He did not have a strong category. Dancing manly was not what was being scored. He did not that more manly than any of the guys.

[MsLASalsera]

Only because a guy can move his body, hips, hands doesn't mean he is gay. Dancing manly is not about moving the feet and arms and having a stiff body.

[am085698]

Right ... stiff does not equal manly. But there is a way to move to be manly even if you are moving your hips.

[am085698]

Continuing from below

MeFacBo it's cool that you're supporting your boy and all but he's not the only one that is keeping a manly style Check out Ernesto Estrada who did plain Afro Rumba in a real raw style nothing feminine about it and completely different

OriginalRumbera No This time it was no popularity contest the scores & places where given pretty fairly, just check out the number of views some of the most popular guys are in lower places

I DO AGREE THE FEMENINE STYLE HAS TO GO

[am085698]

OK you guys I know what you're saying about the feminine stuff, which is just ballroom style, and I agree with you IT HAS TO GO!!! My prob is that you have to watch all the vids before you make your comments. Dont just watch this vid and some of your own favorites and comment.

[OriginalRumbera]

Yep, what's up with L.A. style salsa? Maybe these guys watch the women too much so that's why they incorporate all those feminine moves. I also think the winners were selected based on POPULARITY and not on dance skill or creativity.

[MeFacBo]

The whole bunch of them dance like women except the guy from Oxnard, so these guys should just enter the best female salsa contest and compete with the women because they all dance way too feminine, except Joel from Oxnard who was the ONLY one who even tried to dance like a MAN.