It is back again – and coming real soon. The 10th Annual Los Angeles Salsa Congress (previously called the West Coast Salsa Congress). Just a quick heads-up to everyone who is planning to go – tickets are selling fast and hotel is almost booked. This year they are bringing back one of my favorite bands: The New Swing Sextet (rumor has it they have a new album coming out). They are also bringing the great Cheo Feliciano to help us groove to what will be an amazing night of social dancing on that Saturday night. If you have never been to a salsa congress before, I HIGHLY encourage you to attend one – it is an unforgettable experience, no matter your current salsa skill level.
Our friend Alan from Nuevotec Productions has made an awesome documentary about the ESPN Salsa World Championships – which is being called a ‘Salsamentary’. It is an amazing work to get to know how the entire World Championships started, learn about the people, the dancers and everything that goes on behind the scenes. Here is a brief description:
Salsamentary takes a look at the journey of six dancers as they step on salsa’s largest stage through its highest level of competitive dancing. Each dancer has their own reason for competing. Some enjoy the challenge of competing against the world’s best dancers. Others want to build their salsa dance resume and credentials quickly through the event, which is televised on several ESPN national and international stations, as well as DVDs sold globally. The rewards cannot be expressed just in terms of the prize money awarded to the first, second, and third places.
“… Everybody else in the world or the country basically we’re saying that San Diego didn’t have a big enough salsa scene. And so my husband and I set out to prove them wrong, and prove them wrong we did.” – Tulane Rivera.
2007 marked the return of the large format event to San Diego with the 1st annual San Diego Salsa Festival. Others can add more insight, but the last large event in the beautiful city was held in 2005 (San Diego Congress). The quote from Tulane Rivera is in regards to the growing salsa community. That very community created the demand, and Angel and Tulane Rivera from A Time To Dance Studio (with Albert Torres Productions) helped fill the need. The married couple talked about their salsa experiences outside California, having themselves traveled to different parts of Europe and Asia. “Getting out of your bubble … seeing another world” – Angel Rivera. So they focused on securing a few key performers (and instructors) outside of their area, including Hacha y Machete, Tito and Tamara and Jayson Molina from Puerto Rico. Additionally, the promoters also talked about the level of dancing in San Diego increasing dramatically, and that locals aren’t necessarily looking at L.A. anymore for its trends.
While I wasn’t able to attend any classes, (from what I understand) the workshops were quite successful, with full passes almost selling out due to lack of physical workshop space. Of course, you could not have a San Diego event without its incredible local talent such as Majesty in Motion, Iran Castillo, Mario and Sarai, Salsa Divas, Juan and Susie, etc.
I was only able to attend the Saturday night party, and wish I could have extended my stay. When one’s camcorder lens instantly *fogs up* after immediately entering the main dance ballroom, one can make some simple observations – 1) There’s too many people dancing and 2) There’s not enough air conditioning and 3) the venue is too small. The venue was fairly large, and there was a massive amount of people social dancing filling the room up to capacity. Great turnout? You betcha. I also saw a few out of town social dancers from places such as NJ, NY, and Florida. The future looks bright for the 2008 festival, also in late September.
With that said, most of the comments I got were: “I like your YouTube videos“. And I realized that the way I danced in those videos is way to old. So, thanks to Allan, he captured me dancing with the wonderful Jennifer Stein from Majesty In Motion Dance Co. Enjoy!
What’s the sweeter bonus? A weekend in beautiful Palm Springs, CA? Or a salsa congress and bootcamp in the 2007 Salsa Summer Splash? Maybe it’s a draw. Regardless, I had a great time at the event. Palm Springs gets very crowded with salseros in the months of July and August. Al Espinoza’s event somehow pulls a large following, despite the fact that his party is the third event (in 8 weeks) in the desert oasis. Both the workshop/bootcamp portion and the performances/parties were well attended. Want a reggaeton class? Check. Bachata or salsa shines? Yup. I’m trying to recall if there was a zouk workshop. Wanna talk about some great instructors? John Narvaez and Liz Rojas from Salsamania taught an intermediate/advanced on2 pattern class. The bay area team broke down the pattern thoroughly, and even split the class between guys and girls to get their respective pieces down. John also took some time outside of the class to help me with a difficult section. Anthony and I really enjoyed the session.
In addition to meeting Sir Anthony Persaud of San Diego for the first time, I met Pauline (Miss Flare), Karlos, and a bunch of other salseros from the Bay Area, LA, San Diego, etc. Great company. On the performance tip, they started pretty close to their scheduled time, within a half hour. Some of the standout routines included Majesty in Motion, John Narvaez and Liz Rojas, Pretty Boys and Girls, Salsabor y Cache. Click on some of the images below for a sampling of the videos. Thanks to Anthony for doing the interview with Dave Stein and Majesty in Motion. Keep the podcast going for the community! Continue reading ‘Nuevotec Salsa Summer Splash 2007 Video Dance Review’
We are making some good changes that had been ignored for a year. We will...
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