Below I have the four videos of the top four finishers of the finals from Saturday (thanks to Jose for posting the videos). Watch them and let me hear your opinion by voting and leaving a comment below (please 
).
Esti Ashkanazi & Martin Avendano
Sandra Gallegos & Jose Chavarria
Samantha Vargas & David Nieto
Alien Ramirez & Alex DaSilva
Which couple would you give FIRST place to?
- Esti Ashkanazi & Martin Avendano (51%, 20 Votes)
- Alien Ramirez & Alex DaSilva (46%, 18 Votes)
- Samantha Vargas & David Nieto (3%, 1 Votes)
- Sandra Gallegos & Jose Chavarria (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 39
Loading …Which couple would you give SECOND place to?
- Esti Ashkanazi & Martin Avendano (40%, 12 Votes)
- Alien Ramirez & Alex DaSilva (37%, 11 Votes)
- Samantha Vargas & David Nieto (13%, 4 Votes)
- Sandra Gallegos & Jose Chavarria (10%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 30
Loading …Which couple would you give THIRD place to?
- Samantha Vargas & David Nieto (48%, 12 Votes)
- Sandra Gallegos & Jose Chavarria (32%, 8 Votes)
- Esti Ashkanazi & Martin Avendano (12%, 3 Votes)
- Alien Ramirez & Alex DaSilva (8%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 25
Loading …Today I had a chance to read Steve’s (from Xtreme Salsa) review of the 2007 Mayan Salsa competition. Having watched the routines in the same row as he did on Saturday night, I immediately asked him to pick the winners. His answer was the same as the general consensus of all eight of my friends that were also present that night. We all seemed to agree that it was a two-horse race between Alex da Silva/Alien Ramirez and Esti Ashkanazi/Martin Avendano with the nod more than likely going to Martin/Esti because Alex was off-beat during his routine. It was anyone’s guess for third. I don’t think I am qualified to give blow by blow commentary on the actual performances so I will point you to Steve’s review (although I respect Steve, he is clearly biased in his review but at least it is the most descriptive one I have seen to date). Needless to say the final results were shocking with Alex/Alien failing to place in the top three. Since I had no idea how the scoring works in this competition, I was surprised but accepted that there had to be a good reason for the judging. Until I did something I never did at previous competitions I attended; I actually looked at the posted scores of the judges (pic here). The disparity in the scores in both magnitude (25 v 8 for one performer) and placement (1st place vs last place for several performers) only leaves me to believe that there could not have been a judging rubric in place for this competition. It is as if the organizers just grabbed seven salsa professionals, gave them a blank sheet of paper and said “judge!”. At least I hope that is what happened for if there were indeed a rubic in place then it would really reflect poorly on the how “professional” the judges actually are. I will leave the conspiracy theories to other folks who actually care more than I do. Suffice to say that next year I will do what most of my friends did this year; go to the competition to see great performers perform then go home and not worry about the results.
Also I decided to play with the numbers from the scores on Saturday. Below I have the scores for the top four finishers. I also have the scores as they would be if you removed the highest and lowest score for each competitor. By the way this manipulation is clearly arbitrary.
The competition rocked! Yes it is true, Mayan judges have often been questioned for their biases towards or against a particular couple. Alex Dasilva’s routine was just genius. The tricks worked well with the song and they were breathtaking, HOWEVER, I believe that they failed to place (in my opinion) because the couple didn’t dance enough. It’s a dance competition and though tricks are necessary, they do not and should not replace good, strong, synchronized dancing by the couple which many performers say is hard to have. Many people can do the tricks if they practice enough, not anyone can look brilliant on the floor with a partner doing a salsa dance routine.
Anonymous?!?!? Can’t you hear Camila’s little cheers in the video?