2008 Mayan Professional Finals
The finals of the Mayan Salsa Competition was this past Saturday. Earlier in the evening they had a semi-final round for the “International/Out-of-State” competitors. This made no sense to the audience (yours truly included) as all three couples that competed made it to the finals that were held an hour later. The professional division was wide open this year, and those of us in attendance had a hard time picking the top three (I made two out of three). As for a review of the night, I will defer to Steve who should be writing a review just as he did last year. While I had no qualms with the top three when they were announced, once I saw the scores I realized how bogus the judging really is. Despite Steve and Cynthia’s best efforts to explain the scoring system to me, I cannot be convinced that a judge could really watch a performance by salsa professionals and hand out a “0″ and “2″ out of a total which is at least 24. If I grabbed a monkey and went up there and did a samba routine I would have expected to at least score 5 points. After witnessing the horrendous judging last year and this year, I no longer have faith in the “competition” aspect and if I attend in the future it will just be to partake of a good show. This competition has lost all credibility as far as I am concerned, and it would with a lot of folks as well if they knew what was going on. The only way this will change is if the professionals, who put so much time and effort to perform at a high standard, demand that the organizers of the competition exhibit the same level of professionalism. I doubt that will happen though as for whatever reason the competition apparently carries a lot of prestige with the professionals in this town.
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Luis Aguilar and Liz Lira. performing their fourth place routine
This is the only video I can find from Saturday night. All the videos from the night should be posted soon on the Club Mayan website.
(Update: Steve posted his review here)
(Update: I have a video of David and Charlene previewing their routine here.)
Hahahah! My favorite part: “If I grabbed a monkey and went up there and did a samba routine I would have expected to at least score 5 points.”. You know its “interesting” that Isidro and Sheila placed top 10 in the ESPN Salsa World Championships, yet they placed 9th in this LA contest…
Good article…i agree its jacked up….personally…Liz is a great teacher wonderful performer…as well as Luis…both came into the mayan as favorites in my opinion…but really, there were major mess ups in this routine….and it wasnt as electrifying as they are known to be…..how did someone score them close to perfect at 23? ….As you said …how does someone get 0 yet other judges scored them at a 20 and higher….. they should not be resorting to such a weak scoring system.
OMG!!! THE COMPETITION THIS YEAR TURNED OUT SO WRONG…. MY FAVORITES HAD MISTAKES AND LOST THEIR SPOT TO BE ON THE TOP 3 I THINK LIKE YOU GUYS SAID THE SCORING IS AWFULL SOME OF THE JUDGES WERE CRUEL HOW CAN YOU GIVE SOMEONE A O THAT IS NOT ETHICAL THIS PEOPLE SPEND HOURS PUTTING THEIR ROUTINE TOGETHER…THEY HAVE TO CHANGE THE SCORING SYSTEM AND TAKE MORE TIME CHOOSING THEIR JUDGES SO WE CAN SEE FAIR SCORING
I think the Mayan has had some mistakes in the past and there were probably some scores that were a little low, BUT you need to understand that the Mayan is not looking for the best “ballroom couple” or the best spinning female around. The Mayan is looking for the best overall routine that is a great “show.” Some of the routines that people thought deserved more credit would do great for a Salsa Congress performance or something at a salsa party but not for the “specticle” show that the Mayan is and will always look for. The couple who won, David Nieto and Charlene Rose, had many attempts at the Mayan as well but not until they put together the right rountine and right energy did they find success. The Mayan is not just about good dancers, as all of those who competed are excellent dancers and should not feel bad about not wining! But the Mayan is looking for an overall talented couple who can do many different things really clean, really fast and really entertaining. It’s always a close race. Even though it’s not a ballroom competition, professionals and amatures alike, practically kill themselves practicing each year to try and grab the title. It is significant title to hold and a great expression of dance. I can’t wait to see who wins next year!
Ricky, the point I am trying to make is that based on the scoring, you really cannot tell what the “Mayan” is looking for in terms of their judging. And if the “Mayan” knows they should pass that information unto the judges. Imaging if you will this was an Olympic competition (which you would agree has a fairly established system of judging) and you have one judge giving a “0” and another giving a “20” to the same routine. Could you imagine the uproar? The competition would be called a sham! My assertion is that by looking at the scores from the judges you can clearly see that there is no consensus on what the judges are looking for. And if this is the case, how can the competitors themselves know? And by extension how can anyone know? Maybe some of the judges were looking for the best “ballroom couple” that night, while the others weren’t. So no one can say what being “Mayan Champion” means other than it means the winners came out with the highest score that night. So I see it more of a showcase of the top talent in salsa and not as a true competition anymore.
Hey this is probably the best place to ask, do any of you know the name of the salsa song liz and luis used in their semi fianl routine. I am planning on using it for the WSC’s but i can’t use it without the name. If anyone does know the name of this song please email me at salsaking89@aol.com thank you. I thought liz should have taken 1st place she is by far the greatest thing i’ve seen at the Mayan competition. i’m glad Isidro and Sheila did better at this competition aswell i think they are a great couple.