PRO-AM COUPLE:

Professional & Amateur couple where one participant is the Professional and other is an Amateur

First participant is a performer or instructor and has in the past received payment for performing or teaching

Other participant is a student or has never performed or instructed for payment

COMPETITION DATES

Preliminaries 1 Toronto: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Preliminaries 2: Saturday February 20, 2010 - 6PM

Pro-Am Couples Finals: Saturday March 12, 2010

The Palais Royale Ballroom - 1601 Lakeshore Blvd W

Local and out of town contestants compete in Toronto

FINALS - Saturday March 13, 2010

Finals for the Professional category will be held at The Palais Royale Ballroom

(All local and out of town contestants must be in Toronto)

• ROUTINE OR CHOREOGRAPHY REQUIRED
• All contestants must check iby 6:00pm sharp and submit music
• All the couples will dance together to a warm-up song
• Contestants will perform a choreographed showcase of their choice that must be between 1:45-2:00 minutes in duration
• Song chosen for the finals must be 90% salsa = max 12 seconds of non-salsa content
• Only CD's will be accepted and must be clearly labeled with participants' names and category. There must be ONE SINGLE TRACK on the CD!
• Costumes may contribute to the overall presentation score. However the use of regular street clothes will result in points penalties
• There will be a panel of 4-6 local and international judges. All of whom have several years of experience teaching, performing and/or competing in Salsa.

PRIZES

The winners of the Pro-Am Couples Category of the 2010 Toronto Salsa Festival will win:

• A Bahamas Cuise for two - Courtesy Moreno Travel
• Two Night Passes to the Montreal Salsa Convention April 2010 (Value $150) - Courtesy of The 2010 Montreal Salsa Convetion
• 50% Off Passes to the Canada Salsa Congress - Courtesy of The Canada Salsa Congress
• Competition Winner prize bonus package (TBA)

Competitor Full Pass Special: Competitors will enter free to all evenings in which they are competing. They can also upgrade their pass to a FULL ALL ACCESS PASS by adding $99 ( $274 value!)

PRELIMINARIES 1 TORONTO - Saturday February 6, 2010

• NO ROUTINE OR CHOREOGRAPHY REQUIRED
• 9pm sharp Check-in and receive contestant number
• Contest will begin approximately 11:30pm
• All couples will compete to random song selected by DJ
• Every contestant must enroll into the competition online or at the door prior to competing
• 5-6 couples will be chosen to advance to the Finals
• Costumes are not required
• There is no placement structure in the preliminaries round. Only qualifying competitors advancing to finals will be announced

PRELIMINARIES 2 - Saturday February 20, 2010 - 6PM

• NO ROUTINE OR CHOREOGRAPHY REQUIRED
• 6pm sharp Check-in, receive contestant number
• Contest will begin approximately 7pm
• All couples will compete to random song selected by DJ
• Every contestant must enroll into the competition online or at the door prior to competing
• 5 couples will be chosen to advance to the Finals
• Costumes are not required
• There is no placement structure in the preliminaries round. Only qualifying competitors advancing to finals will be announced

ADDITIONAL RULES & TIPS FOR COMPETITORS

• There will be a maximum of four (4) dips, lifts or tricks allowed..
• Shines or separation from partner must not exceed 30 seconds

Points Deductions:

• Deviation from min and max routine time (5 points )
• Additional tricks (5 points per incident)
• Music (non-Salsa) (5 points for every 30 seconds of music)
• Separation from partner longer than 30 seconds (5 points)

Dancers will be judged in the following categories:

• Timing
• Musicality
• Technique/Difficulty
• Connection/synchronization
• Showmanship
• Originality

*Please see example of score sheet for more information