THE PUERTO RICO SALSA CONGRESS 2006 - review

Text: Erik Roland

It was great to be in Puerto Rico. I am sure a lot of people who were there feel the same. Puerto Rico is beautiful, like paradise on earth. Indeed, the music was amazing, and many of the best dancers in the world were there. We saw great dance performances, and wow: the competition.. fantastic. But dont think that this makes this congress the best of them all. The fact that this was 10 year aniversary did not help much on making this a great dance event.

You may read reviews and see pictures and get the impression that this congress was well organized - but it was not. It was organized, but not great. I might aggree to say it was a great congress, but it was not a great dance event. I have been to many salsa congresses. One of the reasons I love it is because of the dancing. You can experience some amazing dances at these events, they are supposed to be the absolute best place for dancing. The first congress I went to (Los Angeles in 2002), I remember it like yesterday because of the dancing. When it comes to dancing - this years congress in Puerto Rico was not great, not good, barely ok. Most people at this congress were not dancing.

I could talk about the fact that they advertised (website) for performers/instructors who never even got a phone call from them (one of the biggest names told us that in person), but I will only mention it. I could talk about how nothing was on time, but you probably already heard about the concept "puerto rican time".

I think it is worth mentioning that there was no dance floor the first 3 days of the congress! At a congress for dancers, dancers were offered to dance on the carpet (or bring their own dance floor?). Then when they finally put dance floor, they turned off the lights - it was totally dark! For some reason the organizers had the idea that dancers prefer absolutely no light when dancing. It just felt cheap - and dangerous.

Furthermore, it seemed as if the main goal for the organizers was to fill the building with as many people as possible. They just kept selling tickets and letting in people. Are there no laws for how many people are allowed into a building? On the last two nights we felt like fish in a barrel. It was so crowded that a lot of dancers who came to dance actually left disappointed. It was so crowded and so dark that is was not nice at all.

We (and many others that we have spoken with) are left with a feeling that the organizers have no respect for dancers who travel a long way to attend this event. We are people who plan this maybe a year ahead of time. We buy plane tickets, hotels and everything. We pay ahead of time for every single event at the congress. Every hour is planned. We support the congress because we love salsa. We go there ONLY for the congress. Why doesn't these organizers consider us first before they try to make money on people who only come for one night? After returning back to the other side of the planet is feels frustrating that we put so much money and effort into going somewhere where we thought we could have the dance-experience of the year. Our tip for the future: Don't bother paying hundreds of dollars for a pass to this congress. It will not ensure you anything. Just go to San Juan and buy your ticket for the concert/party at the door. It only cost about 20 dollars.

 

We still had had a blast socializing and making new friends. It is always a great honor to talk to Albert Torres, the most significant man in the salsa world. We also met these fantastic dancers from Poland, Mek and Monica. They are the most complete dancers we have met, and they are such humble and kind people - just amazing. We were also lucky to bump into our great friends from portland (they also performed), Javier and Jenny from Gemini Salsa company, and Ricardo, the best on2 dancer in Oregon. There were also so many friends from New York that it almost felt like a new york nightclub. AND, we had the honor of getting to know a amazing couple from Texas, Carlos and Azucena. They are computer geeks (engineers) who happens to be some of the best salsa dancers in the world. Check out the amazing software they created for people to learn to understand the beats of salsa music.

 

Source for the two photos below: http://www.mambofateegz.com/photoalbum.htm

Here with friends from Portland and Albert Torres (who is the blond tall guy?)

 

Thanks for reading and keep dancing!

 

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