For those in the salsa scene, the biggest question
for 2012 was Rovinj or Sibenik? These two festivals took place on the Croatian
seaside, but a month apart. For about 6 months last year, the debate was hot on
everyone’s lips. Those who had to choose made their choice, some of us were
lucky to do both and afterwards – well everyone wanted to know which was
better!
Well folks, the quick and easy answer is that they
are different. While based around a similar recipe for success, the heady mixture
of sunshine and pool parties, with similar options to stay longer and create a
holiday experience rather than a quick dash salsa festival, the essence of
these festivals and the experience at each diverged significantly. They were
both fantastic and I will be stretching my budget and holiday days to attend
both again this year.
As that cookie-cutter answer isn't particularly
helpful, I've tried to lay out the differences and benefits of each below to
help others decide.
Rovinj –
“Party people looking for a salsa holiday”
+ It’s a massive congress and you just know
that everyone will be there.
+ Rovinj is the most charming little
place with a whole lot of magic in the air. I have been 3 times to date and
each time I have put my suitcase down, taken out my flip flops on and breathed in
pure unadulterated happiness. And then I kept on breathing in that happiness
until the day I left. Just thinking about Rovinj makes me happy. It’s quite
impressive!
+ The Festival is in its 9th year. The
organisers have learnt a lot along the way and it is very well organised. There’s
so much going on, you basically get to pick and choose what you want to do.
Remember to sleep a little, but otherwise, do try to join in as much as
possible as the experience will be worth it!
+ Every year they add in an extra party or two.
Last year they formalised the daily beach parties, the year before they created
the Monday boat trips (every year they sell tickets to a whole extra boat vs.
expectations), they’ve also added a Monday party for all those who stick around
an extra day…
+ Most people stay in cosy little flats in the old
town for €20-€30 per night. It’s a bargain and it’s lovely not to stay in a
hotel!
+ You can dance any style you want – Cuban, LA/mambo,
kizomba/bachata
+ Good DJs – Mauri, Willy (AMS) and Oz….This
year they have Romy on the lineup too…
+ Concerts – always at least one, if not two
+ Pool party – the EVENT of the year for many
in the salsa world. Videos all over youtube, pictures all over facebook… Everyone
gets involved. It gets a little crazy, but that’s all part of the fun!
- There
are almost too many people. Even over 6 days it’s impossible to hang out with
everyone you know, or even see everyone. You have to make choices and
prioritise some people over others.
- You’re
paying for a massive artists line-up but probably won’t make it to the
workshops as the beach is quite simply too appealing
- The artists don’t generally social dance
unless they are asked to do so for charity. They do however participate
strongly in the pool party entertainment. The absence of most artists on the
social dance floor doesn’t really hurt the parties as people are simply too
relaxed to care!
- Parties
last till 6am but every night you will feel like you’ve been robbed of time and
deserve a few more hours of dancing!
- Dance
level – You’ll find everything at this festival – the drunks, the party people,
the women chasers, the dancers, the sun lovers…it caters to everyone!
- It
gets unbelievably hot on the dance floor and you will need to take breaks to
avoid letting your partner slip through your fingers at every spin
- Rocky beaches – no sand! They are still awesome though, don't get me wrong!
- Flights getting more expensive every year –
no longer possible to fly to Pula for reasonable prices, Trieste, Venice and
Zagreb are the only real options for flying in. It’s still worth the extra trek
though!
Sibenik
– “Dancing people looking for a summer salsa festival”
+ Fewer people than Rovinj – pretty much all
on2 dancers
+ It’s only in its second year and the
organisation was already pretty seamless in the first edition. They've clearly
watched and learnt from other congresses
+ The dance floor was under a tent that was
open around the sides – you could dance all night long without feeling like you
were in desperate need of a shower (or just walked out of one)
+ The salsa room was full of great on2 dancers –
a bachata/kizomba room provided a break if you wanted it – live band on Friday. I
personally didn’t mind the absence of the Cuban room, or of a whole host of
dancers that I don’t often dance with either…
+ Great DJs – Haihan, Shaan, Dani K, Willy (FR)
– All their sets were pure gold last year. In comparison the music in Rovinj was
average/ok until 3pm and then got good when Willy/Oz came on for the final set…All
Rovinj needs to improve is stricter controls on how much some of its DJs drink
before their set…
+ Great dancers – The festival attracted the “dancing
people” instead of the “party people”…The result was amazing dancing all night
long, night after night
+ Shorter artist line-up, but the organisers
clearly tried to bring artists who were “triple threats”, i.e. those who are
great teachers, produce great shows and are keen and brilliant social dancers
as well. The atmosphere was chilled despite the artists’ social dancing.
Frankie was around all night, social dancing non-stop but there was never a
circle of onlookers with cameras crowding around him.
+ Parties lasted until at least 7am. We had to
start begging the DJs to play bad songs so we could tear ourselves away from
the dance floor!
+ Pool party – Slightly less animated and
clearly a smaller effort than in Rovinj. Having said that I had a lot more fun
at the Sibenik pool party, even though I fell asleep under a speaker for a
couple of hours! There was more actual dancing (of all styles), less of a sense
that you were part of a mob and more of a feeling that each and every one of us
was participating in creating something new.
+ Free Nivea travel-size hygiene products!
- Based in a holiday resort – Flats for rent 10
minutes’ walk away at prices similar to Rovinj. You can stay in the resort for
higher prices. Everything is available at the resort, but it lacks charm…
- Rather than residing in the old town you need
a 10 minute taxi ride to get there…
- People were housed across the resort and
outside the resort as well. Normal people were also staying in the hotels and
weren’t always too happy with the salsa dancers…While people weren’t housed any
closer together in Rovinj, in Sibenik there was a sense that we were all close enough
but slightly far apart at times…
- 80% of attendees did workshops – the beach-y
areas were somewhat quiet during the afternoons
- Less food choice – resort restaurants and a
couple along the road we were staying that closed early…
- Also no sand – you could argue there were
better rocks, but I think that’s pushing it a bit…
- They had a problem with the floor due to
poorly timed rainfall before the congress. The perfectly new wooden floor
became a little uneven as a result and you tended to gravitate from one side to
the other when dancing. Forgot about this by Sunday though and I’m sure this
will be one thing that they definitely won’t let happen again….
- More expensive flights – transfers needed
from Zadar or Split.
If you still don’t know – try them both out! Or
hijack them and spend your money on the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress in July…You
can’t really go wrong with summer festivals!
No comments:
Post a Comment