excerpt from the monday's edition of The Phila Inquirer
They all like it hot, hot, hotDancers dip into the power of salsa in Center City.
By Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writer
Sometimes, Christy Kam and Pan Thomakos can't help themselves: They'll be walking near their West Philadelphia homes, discussing a dance move, and they'll have to give in.
"We'll do a lift in the street and people will be like, 'What?'" said Kam, 24.
It's the power of salsa.
Practitioners of the sexy Latin dance gathered in Center City yesterday for the final day of the Third Annual Philadelphia Salsa Congress. Instructors from around the country met with participants from around the world for two days of enthusiastic, and often exhausting, dancing.
Despite the perception that salsa is something limited to hip, lean 20-somethings, the dancers came in all sizes, ages and colors, for example 13-year-old Rebecca Aviles, a Philadelphia girl who started to salsa two years ago, and Amy Williams, 49, a Seattle woman who began taking lessons last year.
"When you're on the dance floor, people don't care what you look like, what age you are or what race you are. All they care about is whether or not you can dance," Williams said.
And whether or not you can dance isn't based on specific criteria:
"There was one instructor, he must have been in his 70s and he was such a role model for me," Williams said. "The dance is ageless. You can still be shaking it when you're 70."
Event organizer Willie Torres said more than 800 people came out for Saturday's dance party; at some points, the dance floor was so packed that people could barely move, he said.
"It's a passionate dance. You hear the music, it's difficult to just stand still," said Torres, 51, of Philadelphia. "It doesn't have a name. It doesn't have a color. It doesn't have a size. Everyone can do it."
The popularity of salsa and other partner dances have been on the rise thanks to television shows like Dancing with the Stars. After a long spell of going solo on the dance floor, couples are coming together again, taking lessons and joining dance clubs.
Thomakos, 20, joined a ballroom dancing club at the University of Pennsylvania two years ago and has been on his feet ever since. He and dance partner Kam picked up some new moves yesterday, including one in which he seemed to bounce her head on his knee and thigh like a soccer ball.
"He hasn't dropped me yet," said Kam, of West Philadelphia. Then she paused. "Oh, wait, he did."
"You were only this high," Thomakos protested, indicating an altitude just a few inches from the ground.
The pair, who dance together in competitions, used to date. But even though their relationship is over, their dance partnership continues. That's not that unusual, Kam said.
"Finding a dance partner is harder than finding a boyfriend," she said.
