New York International Salsa Congress Review
Let’s talk about what makes the 2008 NY Salsa Congress different from previous years. The director of the congress, John “Choco” Knight, has truly developed the 2008 NY Salsa Congress into a well-marketed all-week event. The schedule is so full of back-to-back attractions – workshops, afternoon socials, afternoon shows, and night shows, night socials – that it is difficult to find free time to rest, eat or sleep during the congress. Before the congress even started, there was plenty of dancing at pre-parties during the week all over New York City.
It has hard to estimate the number of people that participated in each evening social. I do not think that anyone kept track. Suffice it to say that it was crowded! I could have danced every song if I wanted to. Let’s assume that I danced about 100 songs during the whole congress (6 songs per hour x 4 hours x 4 nights = 96 songs). Out of those dance partners, I can only remember one girl saying that she didn’t want to dance. Those are good odds! The point is that everyone wanted to dance, and there was a lot of everyone.
Our favorite professional dancers/instructors were easy to spot also. They were usually found in the middle of a circle of observers.
[flv:http%3A%2F%2Fvideo-sf2p.facebook.com%2Fv163%2F90%2F114%2F37062141355_36657.mp4 http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v357/0/69/515780560/n515780560_1968508_99.jpg 300 180] |
Performances
Saturday and Sunday night performances were amazingly spectacular, so many to list. Two acts that stood out from the rest were Jayson Molina’s kids group and Maykel Fonts solo performance.
Every year, Jayson Molina showcases a mega routine composed of very young Salsa dancers. The most charismatic kid (the one with spiky hair) in that performance looked no older than 6 years old!
The Cha Cha performance of Cuban-born dancer Maykel Read the rest of this entry »