David Paris has a vast background in teaching and performing salsa in the US and around the world. Internationally, Dave has taught and performed in the International Salsa Festival in Italy; the World Dance Festival in South Korea; the Salsaweb festival in Canada, and has taught workshops in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Equador. In the New York City, he is the founder, co-director, and choreographer for Mambo Theatre Dance Co; former principle dancer and instructor for RazzmTazz dance co; founder, director, and choreographer of RazzmTazz Junior; and a member of the New York City Latin Hustle Lift Team.

From Volume 1 to 7, you will learn all that is there is to know about tricks, lifts and aerials to improve your dance repertoire. There's no else compare with this dynamic duo in 7 volumes of instructional DVDs.

FOR MORE INFO AND TO BUY THE DVDs ONLINE, CLICK HERE...

http://www.rodchata.com

San Diego, CA

It was hard to say goodbye to my family in Fairbanks, but I know we'll see them again real soon. In this picture Grandma Jennifer wants to know when Liam will come visit again. He looks contemplative and told her he'd be back as soon as he could.

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Liam had fun at the airport gate. He flirted with the blonde ticket agent across the room and she ended up on all fours crawling toward him! I was surprised to see a woman in her Alaska Airlines suit and skirt crawling on the airport floor toward Liam, who was in turn crawling as fast as he could to her. It reminded me of a movie when a couple runs to each other after being reunited after a long separation. Liam has a way with woman, I'm telling you. I would have taken a photo - but it was already a bit awkward having a grown woman on all fours and I didn't want her to think I was going to post the photos online or something. =) Here he looks at me like, "how are we going to carry all of this onto the plane?"

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The flight from Alaska went well. There were only about 35 people on the 737 so Liam and I had at least two entire rows to ourselves. He ate, read, slept, ate some more. It was over before we knew it. Jeremy picked us up at the airport and it was good to see him.

Two weeks is too long to be away, especially when during that time Liam learned all sorts of new tricks, including: crawling like a speed racer; clicking his tongue (thanks Uncle Tyler!); peekaboo (thanks Grandpa Scott!); sticking his tongue out (thanks Grandpa Scott!); banging on the kitchen table (thanks again Grandpa Scott, now all his cheerios really go everywhere); eating watermelon (thanks Grandma Jennifer!).

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We had a wonderful time in Alaska, but we're glad to be home and back into our routine. Here are some photos from the plane.

Liam catches some zzzzzzs

When flying to Alaska, I recommend flying during the day and get a window seat. The views are spectacular. There are mountains and glaciers for as far as the eye can see.

Since a few weeks now, my Swing dance club at school (MSDC: Marianopolis Swing Dance Club) and I have been intensively practicing for our upcoming show. Anyone who's interested is welcomed to come see probably Montreal's youngest Swing dance troupe perform!

Swing Fiesta!
Friday, April 11, 2008 at 6:30 PM.
Marianopolis College (room F-105)
4873 Westmount Avenue
Westmount, Quebec
Metros: Vendôme, Villa Maria
Buses: 66, 124, 138

Tickets: $8.00 in advance ($10.00 at the door)
Money goes to help our teacher Alain Wong for his 7-week bike ride from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico "promoting micro-credit as a tool to fight poverty". Current amount raised: $750.00; the objective: $3000.00!

There are going to be 3 Swing dance choreographies and 2 Latin dance choreographies. My friend Ashley and I are also going to sing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", originally sung by Marilyn Monroe. We're gonna serve desserts and drinks, and give a mini social dance lesson afterwards. Please come in great numbers to show your support! :)

The MSDC crew 2008! Front row: me, Wisit, Andy and Ilonka. Back row: Nicky, Ting Tin, Jonathan. Missing: David, Martin, Ashley.

Boston Tea Party!
This passed weekend (March 28-30), I went to Boston Tea Party, a major Swing dance event where Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing mix. There were performances, competitions, workshops with pros and lots of social dancing! My favorite part of the event was watching all the pros compete! I have watched a lot of DVDs, but watching the Invitation Strictly Lindy and WCS competition live brought the excitement to a whole other level! Max and Annie did a completely crazy aerial during their Strictly Lindy segment that drove the crowd nuts! The other absolutely amazing (and hilarious) competition was the Jack & Jill Crossovers in which pros of WCS must dance with a randomly chosen Lindy Hop pro! After a whole weekend exposed to WCS, now I really want to learn it! Social dancing to hip hop and R&B is fuuuun!

Here's fun footage from youtube

It was my first "serious" competition at the Boston Tea Party. I participated in the Lindy Hop Intermediate Jack & Jill, danced with 3 random partners and made it to the finals! I didn't win anything, but dancing at the finals with the 4th random partner was just one of the best experiences ever! All this motivates me to keep working on my dancing to become better! hehe!

Family for the weekend! <3 Back row: me and Anne. Front row: Aleix, Marie and Alain.

MSDC Practice today!

During the free period at school today, Alain taught us some cool Swing dance tricks! Flying in the air can be super scary, but doing these crazy tricks are probably the only times I'm not so afraid to have my feet off the ground! One note though: Swing dancing is not about these crazy aerials and flips! They are just very fun to learn and flashy during performances!

Martin is pushing me up in the air as I flip across. Wisit is in the back, spotting me in case I crash!

Here's a clip of me doing the exact flip a few months ago with Alain.

I love the plasticized, surreal quality of the photos and the unnatural vibrancy of the colours. It really does look like someone's created an extremely detailed little sports diorama and carved thousands of wee sports fans out of plastic.

He's also got a beautiful series called "Aerials". I love the structure in the picture below, and how it shows that even though each person just walked in and found their spot on the grass, there's always an organizational structure running through everything we do.

Vincent's doing all right these days. His work has been featured in the world's best magazines like National Geographic, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Time, Life, and Newsweek. In 2005 he was named one of the "100 Most Influential People In Photography" by American Photo Magazine and it's not hard to see why. His more traditional journalistic documentary photos are the epitome of "a picture's worth a thousand words". There isn't a single shot that doesn't evoke and portray emotion. He's captured several heart-breakingingly honest and hardcore images from the war in Afghanistan and the devastation to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

And to top it all off, in his "Adventure" series he's got some ridiculously beautiful pictures of Paniolo cowboys in Hawai'i.