by Apple Tropical NY
| "Create Unity Through Salsa" become a big statement for a guy named Albert Torres, the creator of West Coast Salsa Congress. He has proved that Salsa can draw people from all around the world together and every year it keeps growing more than ever. This year's event was held from May 24th - May 30th at LAX Marriott Hotel (24th-26th) and at the Salsa Land at Hollywood Park Casino, Los Angeles, California (27th - 30th). | ||||
| Among more than 100 salsa events each year, West Coast Salsa Congress is considered the largest salsa congress in the world. Why? Look at this statistics: | ||||
| + | Nearly 4,000 Salsa music lovers and dancers from 40 different countries attended this intensive event. | |||
| + | 112 performances were selected from 500 dance companies around the world. | |||
| + | 40 worldwide instructors gave workshops. | |||
| + | The congress was held at "The Salsa Land", built specially in the property of Hollywood Park Casino for West Coast Salsa Congress within 173,000 Square Feet (equals to 4 football fields) | |||
| Not just that, 6th West Coast Salsa Congress was not just about dances and performances. It also included many interesting seminars and workshops such as: | ||||
| + | Musician workshops Learn direct experiences from best Salsa musicians and some attendees were selected to perform on the stage on Thursday night (May 27th), the first grand opening night of the congress |
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| + | Success in Salsa seminars Understand how to be come financially successful in salsa dance school business by Salsa Brava. |
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| + | Rhythms for dancers Mike Bello (www.membofello.com) shares his experience in dance and music. I specially attended this seminar and felt it is very useful for both dancers and non-dancers to understand how clave related to different piece of instruments in the band. The seminar is not about dancing, but learning about basic structure of salsa music focusing on clave. |
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| It has been LA Congress tradition that People who have been dedicated to Latin Music and salsa Dance will be honorable mentioned at this event. This year, Albert Torres is proud to announce that Don Pedro Knight, husband and musical director for the late Celia Cruz, the "Queen of Salsa," will be making a rare appearance to accept his award for his many contributions to Latin Entertainment as well as Johnny Pacheco, one of the most influential artists and musicians in Latin Music Industry. | ||||
| Well…well… well… I think you have enough for facts and statistics. I would like to tell you about my congress adventure. I live in New York and I have been watching West Coast Salsa Congress every year from the beginning via videotapes that some friends passed them on to me. I have attended other Congress events so I did not expect anything exciting out of this trip besides the relaxation that I looked forward to every time I can get out of the big city like New York. I was wrong. I arrived to Los Angeles on Thursday morning and I started my intensive salsa weekend by joining Salsa beach party at Santa Monica beach. It was a lovely afternoon but was a bit chilly, so there were almost nobody at the beach. DJ played quite loud music until I am afraid that it would bother people in the neighborhood. There were not many people in the beginning. However, few hours later, more people showed up and it got so crowded. I heard from a friend after that polices had come over and had DJ stopped playing music. Most people from outside LA stayed at the Marriott Hotel (about $120 a night). There are a lot of cheaper hotels in that area. However, comparing to the same level of services, the Marriott hotel package is not bad at all. Besides that, the benefit of staying in the hotel the congress provides is there are shuttle buses between hotel and congress location, which is about 15 minutes away by bus. Therefore, you don't need to worry about going back late to the hotel at 4 am in the morning and taxi service in LA is very expensive unless you rent a car which could be problematic for some people. Also, you have opportunities to get to know people and dancers from other countries who attend this event. |
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Fee to get into the congress was a little bit pricey. If you only want to attend the night events (performances, live band, and dancing), you have to pay $35 a night in average. Dance-related educational seminar costs around $50 per workshop and dance workshops cost $60 per day (3 classes, and 45-minute per class). I attended "Rhythms for Dancers" workshop and it was great. The class was taught by Mike Bello, a native of New York who moved to California and started his salsa on 2 there. You can check out his website at www.membofellow.com. It was a class to understand what the on 2 rhythm is all about related to musical instruments and other salsa styles (on1 and Cuban). I also joined one-day dance workshops taught by top salsa instructors around the world. Each class was short and had a lot of people. If you are serious to get something out of this, I can guarantee your disappointment. However, it was a good opportunity to learn with top instructors from different places and get to know different style of salsa. The performances were divided into 2 sessions: afternoon (Friday - Sunday) and evening (Thursday-Sunday). Main dance companies performed at the evening shows where most audiences attended while student groups and amateur dance companies performed at the afternoon sessions. Total numbers of performances for evening shows were 130 and 70 for the afternoon. Each number was about 3-4 minutes long, so can you imagine how many hours would that be just to watch all salsa performances. I am already tired when just thinking about it. That reminded me I have to bring the energy drink with me every night to keep myself awake. |
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| I arrived to the Salsa Land on the first opening night (Thursday) and was amazed about how gigantic this structure was. It composed of 2 main tents: the dance floor and the performance stage. There were also additional two small dance floors and a lot of salsa-related product boots around the area such as cloths, shoes, and instructional videos from different dance companies. There were plenty of seats that you could sit and enjoyed the atmosphere. My only comment about the location was restroom. There were movable toilets and there were not many of them. In addition, the congress failed to keep them clean all the times, so I had to make sure not to drink too much water although I wanted to. | ||||
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| During the first show, there was a surprise to one performer of Salsumba, Washington D.C. from her boyfriend. He, with the help from the team, planned to propose her after the performance. That was a very nice moment. People sitting around me were jokingly talking "What would he do if she says NO?" | ||||
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I watched most performances except Sunday night and I have to admire effort that each team has put in. The level of salsa performances nowadays has improved tremendously comparing to how it was few years ago. Before, although you only danced salsa as a hobby, you still were able to perform in LA Congress with a simple routine. Now, The LA salsa congress is no longer a stage for amateur dancers anymore, most performers are professionally trained not only in salsa, but also in jazz, ballet, modern dance, or hip-hop. The routine of each team is very complicated and composed with a lot of acrobatic movements. The most surprising thing for me is watching dance companies from outside United States. They have improved so much in terms of dance techniques and creativity in putting a story and music together. No wonder that a lot of less-known or unknown dance companies seemed to catch up big guys like Salsa Brava, Santo Rico, and Eddie Torres. |
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| If you asked me what shows did I really like? Well, that is the tough question. I started to feel less excited after the first night. The reason? The artistic directions of most performances were too similar, although the dance technique has improved so much. Most performances began with either jazz or hip-hop introductions. Then, changed to super fast salsa tunes that I wonder if they really breathed while they were dancing. I felt sorry to see some female performers tried to catch up the routines and they didn't look comfortable dancing at all. Most teams focused on acrobatic movements rather than on dance itself. Guys lifted, dipped, and thrown women like they were weightless. The only dance company that I think still maintained a good quality of classic salsa dancing is Eddie Torres. Salsa dance has developed far beyond what the real dance was in 1960s and I am glad that at least somebody still keeps that value. | ||||
| I come up with categories and my favorite groups in each of them (based on all performances I watched from Thursday to Sunday). Here my Oscar goes to: | ||||
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| Now it comes to the best part of the Congress: live bands and social dancing. | ||||
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| There were 2 bands each night playing in the main dance hall. LA Salsa Congress opened the first night with Johnny Pachego and his Orchestra and also they put together a band students who attended music workshops earlier that week, following in other days with Africando, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Johnny Polanco, Orchestra de La Luz and El Gran Combo. The most exciting band for me was Africando because it was first performance for them in the United States after so many years. They are the most influential Afro-Cuban-Salsa musicians who produced a lot of great music. | ||||
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| View video clips of social dancing at the Congress: + Social Dance 1 + Social Dance 2 + Social Dance 3 + Social Dance Solo |
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Besides performances, what I expect most this time is to dance with people from different country. Every night until 4am, dance floor was full of people.. really full of people. It was amazing to see many salsa lovers gathered together at the same event. However, if you are looking for a comfortable atmosphere with smooth music, Congress is not the right place for you. First of all, there were several DJs each night and they were eager to get people excited by putting fast music most of the night. I am from New York where is known for super fast dance, but I still feel the music at the Congress is much faster. A lot of people I talked to didn't like the floor. In addition, there were so many people dancing on the floor and many people watching them from the side. Therefore, most dancers used dance floor in social dances as their performance stages. They exhibited their best dances (by themselves) more than having fun and connecting with their partners. As a whole, I still had a lot of funs and made a lot of friends although I felt exhausted every night. I also noticed that there were more dance companies that performed on 2 but still most people that I danced with in the social still danced on 1. First question that people who asked me to dance was "Are you on1 or on2?" I mostly answered "Whatever you are, I will just follow you". I left the Salsa Land with yarning (because it was 4am in the morning) and of course a big smile on my face. It is a great experience that if you are a salsa lover and if you have never been to the Congress, I strongly recommend you to join LA Congress at least once. Although you may or may not like it, after few years pass by, you will only have a good memory left and will laugh about it. |
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