By Shirley Fastner
Edie "The
Salsa Freak" Salsa Workshop October 22,
2006 Logan Square Auditorium
Leave it to
a fairly new arrival, Studio Viva, to finally
bring Edie "The Salsa Freak", our
premiere Ambassadress of Salsa, to Chicago!
If you have not heard of Edie and you dance
salsa, it is time to come out from under your
rock and go to one of her 6 websites, "SalsaFreak.com"
and find out what this woman has been doing
single handedly for the world of salsa and
learn quite a bit at the same time. (There
are entire dance syllabuses to download there,
not to mention the hilarious "Salsa-Holics
Anonymous" chart she has had on her site forever
indicating the "Phases of Salsa Addiction"
- a must-see!) Edie has become an international
phenomenon and has been voted best international
instructor at each of the L.A., British and
Swiss Congresses. She actually teaches an
entire culture not just steps and is holding
a weekend workshop somewhere in the world
on almost any given weekend from Orlando to
Munich to Romania!
We were privileged
to have Edie with us October 21-23 bringing
some of the best workshops I have yet to see
because she addresses every single issue in
the big picture. Having been integrally involved
in this for some 13 years, she can pick things
apart and spot problems a mile away and has
a solution/quick fix for every challenge.
After all, who could have a better perspective
on all of this, than someone who is in a different
city or country one weekend after another
- and not just teaching workshops but actually
out in the clubs dancing and seeing what is
going on from place to place (including our
own fair city). As Edie puts it, "Europe is
way out there, and is surpassing us", so all
of our dancers could benefit from more workshops
- maybe even alleviate some of those awful
dance injuries that occur night after night
with more proper form. Edie also has insights
on the entire salsa scene. She thinks "salsa
is on the edge" and that it could go either
way at this point, basically hinting that
she is trying to clean it up! Her goal is
not to take the sexiness out of the dance,
but to eliminate some of the sleaze that is
creeping into salsa that perhaps explains
the look one gets at times when one admits
to dancing it!
Sunday's workshop
began shortly after 1 p.m. with 2 hours of
"Ladies Styling". Edie is the first instructor
that I have seen teach Ladies Styling with
partners which is exactly what is called for
as salsa is a partner dance after all - one
of its main attractions. When styling first
started getting so popular, suddenly everyone
was off doing their own thing and the partner
aspect of the dance seemed to be slipping
away. How many times have you been off doing
your own thing and then not known when to
call it a day for your partner to come back
to you? One point Edie makes is that women
should do the more feminine styling and leave
the Suzy Qs, etc. to the guys. Another was
made regarding the movement in salsa not being
in the hips but in the upper body. (She even
had the women practice walking - slowly, perfect
posture and looking right into the eyes of
the men who were lined up). Next we had "Edie's
World Famous Spins Class", also for 2 hours,
which was chock full of much needed pointers.
The "Ten Deadly
Sins of Lead and Follow" (1 hour) was really
an important class as God knows there is always
a lot of cleaning up we can do in our dancing
and Edie has seen every scenario. One recurring
theme from Edie was "Remember, it's not how
you feel but how you LOOK" sound familiar?
Another concept addressed was to make it look
easy. Nobody wants to see you frantically
struggling out there to get it right. The
final class was "Hollywood Style Turn Patterns
and Figures". No workshop would be complete
without mention of the "on 1 or on 2" dilemma
and once again, Edie said that certain songs,
particularly old mambo, called for "2", as
well as even some particular moves, while
she felt that most of the newer songs called
for "1". Edie does mainly teach on the "1",
however, and all of the other styles can be
extrapolated from this.
The Logan
Square Auditorium turned out to be a fabulous
venue for the event even though we were quickly
hustled out and the last class cut in half
when the workshops ran over, which they tend
to do. There was also an all day beginner
boot camp the previous day on Saturday, as
well as an instructors workshop on Monday
evening elsewhere. As Edie put it, she has
72 hours of material that she has put together
to teach and, of course, we would not get
to all of it but she is one of the most professional
in the business.
Previously
based in L.A. while she was married, Edie
is traveling so much these days, that when
I asked her where she calls home of late,
the best response I could get was "I do my
laundry in Florida" and she's not getting
tired of being on the road all the time either.
It is easy to see that she loves what she
does! Even though most know her as just Edie,
when asked what last name she goes by these
days, she responded "The Salsa Freak" And
of course, she doesn't smoke or drink Per
her website, she also appears to be a life
coach and given her background, she seems
to be well-qualified. In her previous life,
she was in hi-tech, which has served her well
as the internet is what catapulted her to
world renown initially with the best international
site, "SalsaWeb". She has come a long way
for someone who started salsa at the age of
30 (is that late?)
I saw Edie
perform here once about 10 years ago at Taste
of Chicago but that was the only time she
was here. Studio Viva was just started in
January by Dora Baroti and we are grateful
that they sponsored Edie. Hopefully, we won't
have to wait too long before she graces our
shores again - maybe even at our own Chicago
Salsa Congress? (hint, hint).
