Dominoes and Dancing

Posted by Maryanne Salvat On June - 25 - 2009

characters-at-ing-amigos-celebrity-domino-night-1For those of us who’ve got a little bit of Cuban coffee coursing through our veins and some Salsa in our step, last weekend was a throwback to our Cuban Roots- and we are not talking cassava or malanga. We could scarcely contain the dancing throughout the touching musical tribute to the Queen of Salsa last Friday night, The Life and Music of Celia Cruz extravaganza at the Adrienne Arsht Center, finally indulging our inner Salsa Queen during the standing ovation. Fortunately, Saturday night provided just the opportunity for dancing and more dancing, as ING and Amigos for Kids brought a little bit of Havana to Jungle Island for their annual Celebrity Domino Tournament. As usual, the event was over-the-top, with scantily-dressed beauties, food stations from Miami’s top restaurants, lots of free flowing libations, an ice-cream stand and donut shop and the requisite espresso machine- a welcomed addition to any party. The event was huge, taking up two floors of Jungle Island, including the outside balcony, with well over a thousand guests. Thanks to an adoring grandmother who always let me win at dominoes, I never developed a skill for the game, so participating in the tournament was not an option. But that didn’t matter one bit, since the best part of this event was the music. The Celia Cruz All-Stars, actual band members of the late Celia Cruz, several of whom starred in the musical, took to the stage for their world debut, turning the place into the Tropicana from the I Love Lucy series. As if the crowd wasn’t already buzzing, the band got everyone on the dance floor, performing numerous songs from just about every style of Latin music, and making for some very sore feet the next morning.

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