The year in congresses (2014)

Here’s a quick summary of the festivals/congresses/salsa weekends I’ve done this year.

1. January – Weekend in Paris

Two glorious nights of glorious dancing at Sal’sounds and O’Sullivans.

2. January - Stars of Salsa in London, UK

This one’s on my doorstep so it’s a tough one not to attend. Not many internationals, but generally good dancing and incredibly tiring! Was disappointed because I was promised Karel Flores, as a teacher but she only attended one party to social dance…Promises, promises…

3. February – Valentine’s Salsa Festival in Zagreb, Croatia

Small, friendly and perfect for getting to know people. Spent a lot of time dancing with Grupo Alafia and a couple of frenchies, which suited me fine. Unfortunately, the festival is being cut down this year for budgetary reasons so will now be more akin to a workshop weekend with a couple of parties.

4. March – Salsa Addicted Festival, Timisoara, Romania

One of my favourites in 2013, SAF disappointed in 2014 by virtue of a last minute issue with the venue. Having a main salsa room split into two, a hardcore mambo and a romantica/bachata room didn’t quite do it for me. Going back this year though to give it another chance as the dancing never disappoints!

5. April – NYC for Easter

Dancing at Noche de Descarga, Nelson Flores’ social was particularly memorable, but otherwise unimpressive wekend in terms of dancing but awesome in terms of food and shopping!

6. May – MamboCity 5 star congress, London, UK

One of my favourites of the year. There was something wonderfully magical about this one this year. Non-snobby, family, happy vibe all over. Great music. Great dancing. I’ve never felt this way about MamboCity before, but I’m very hopeful that I might get the same feeling again in 2015. Notable mention goes to a fantastic 2-hour Juan Matos workshop and to the pancakes at breakfast in the morning!

7. May – Milan on2 festival, Italy

I spent too much of this weekend working. However, the dancing level was good, the snob level was high. The music wasn’t fantastic to be honest, nor was the sound quality, dance floor organisation (three, rather randomly pieced together floors in one room, with the DJ in the middle). Good show program given large pool of Italian talen. Fantastic camaraderie and pre/post party hangouts though!

8. May - Weekend in Paris

Some really good dancing as usual at Sal’sounds and O’Sullivans.

9. June – Croatia Summer Salsa Festival, Rovinj, Croatia

The dancing in 2013 had been simply epic. In 2014, the dancing level fell off a bit, as did the DJs' music selection. This festival is now a little too large and too crazy for me. It’s actually difficult to find a quiet beach spot! Rovinj is still magical, but after 5 visits, I think it may be time to move on. 

10. July – Salsa Beach Splash, Sibenik, Croatia

This one also hits the top spots for my favourite this year (and in all its editions!). In 2012, I attended for 3 nights, in 2013 for 4 nights and in 2014 for 5 nights. I’m actually thinking of making it 6 next year! Holiday perfection, with DJ sets and dancers that are perfect for social dancing all night, every night. The tent makes the temperature perfect, even in the middle of summer. The resort makes everything painless. 

This year, I was fortunate enough to attend the Karel Flores choreography bootcamp and trained hard for two days before going on to do two days of workshops. I was worried beforehand that dancing all day and night would make me tired and break me, but it simply gave me more energy! I wasn't exactly committed to going to the workshops, it just worked out that way because of the quality of the classes on offer! The only shame of spending so much time inside is that I missed out on tanning time!

My one complaint was that the pool party didn’t play much salsa, but then, in the scheme of 5 days and nights, I can hardly complain about 4 short hours that were highly entertaining regardless. 

11. September – Marrakesh Salsa Festival, Morocco

I loved this one too. Not for the festival itself, but for the holiday experience. It’s difficult for me to accept the idea of a full pool-side holiday. Throw in nightly salsa dancing though and it’s right up my street! 

The blue sky in Marrakesh and perfectly secluded apartment compound we stayed in was heavenly, especially in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the streets and souks of the city.

The cream of Moroccan dancers made this festival worthwhile for me and I found the music to be generally good. The white party at Nikki Beach (outside) on Sunday was a sight to behold. Unfortunately, the level of dancing is generally low, with lots of on1 dancers, so if you want only good dances, you need to be quite selective. 

Probably the only festival I’ve ever come back from feeling rested, relaxed and happy. Definitely one worth doing to charge up your sunshine batteries pre-winter!

12. October – Berlin Salsa Festival, Germany

One of the biggest out there. One central venue, easy access, cheap accommodation, dancing till 9am. This one has it all and is incredibly well attended by dancers far and wide. 

I had some great dances with friends, no new discoveries and completely killed my feet. An emergency stretching session was required on Sunday and the pain in my feet lasted long after my return! Warning: Sometimes this one feels more like a networking event than a salsa festival though because you spend so much time saying hello to people!

13. November – Warsaw Salsa Festival, Poland

Probably the cheapest congress in Europe right now courtesy of the Zloty, cheap hotel prices and cheap flights. Very well attended by Londoners and usually by frenchies, though this year, the French contingent was slightly disappointing. Generally high level of dancing on the social floor, but also quite a strong presence from the fashionistas (same as Berlin, but less diluted). 

Fantastic live music by Jimmy Bosch and los Dislocados from the Ukraine. In comparison, the DJ sets felt a bit flat to me, only having me properly flying on Saturday night. 

In my mind, Warsaw has passed the sweet spot in size and is getting close to losing its “one big family on the dance floor” vibe. It will most likely grow again next year, so it will be interesting to see how things evolve.

14. November – Mzansi Cape Town Salsa Festival, South Africa

Simply a dream. The festival in itself was well organised, but the level generally unimpressive (still better than Marrakesh though!). There was an international crew of social dancers, a selection of artists and a strong local teaching contingent that were quite sufficient to keep me dancing through the weekend.

The festival was enhanced by dancing outside, under the sun, by an impromptu after party organised at a moment’s notice and by a sunset boat cruise with free and unlimited champagne as well as a varied music set and a whole lot of dancing. Throw in some tourist attractions – climbing up Lion’s Head, a open top bus tour, going up Table Mountain – and you’ve got a winner for a once in a lifetime salsa holiday experience!

On congresses - Intimacy

Small congress lovers will claim that a prime quality of the events they attend is their more intimate nature. For me though, the intimacy of a congress is determined by the number of people you know, how small it feels to you. Take the Berlin Congress in 2010. The congress was huge, but I knew so many people there that to me, it felt small. I spent the whole weekend dancing with friends from prior congresses, catching up with people, having a much needed dance with someone I hadn’t seen in three months. I eventually met and befriended a small handful of people, but there were very few surprises. 

Compare this with my experience of the Tumbao Festival in Lille. The congress was less than a quarter of the size and almost felt like a country barn dance - it was also primarily a Cuban congress, which didn't help with this impression. On arrival I figured that I knew perhaps 20 dancers, but as a percentage, I knew or recognised far less people than I had in Berlin. So it's not the physical size of the congress that matters towards determining the degree of intimacy that an event might hold, but the number of friendly faces that you'll be surrounded by.

Consider also the percentage of dancers you desperately want to dance with. As a closeted on2 snob, in a congress where most people were only interested in the Cuban room, I suddenly realised just how restricted my preferred audience was. Being the closeted snob that I am, I kept up the denial and spent much time in the Cuban room, but was constantly griping internally about the missing on2/LA dancers. Don't get me wrong, I essentially want to dance with anyone and everyone. Put on the music, show me the dance floor, give me a partner and I'm perfectly happy. But give me a choice as to the music, the dance floor and the partner and you've got a whole different ball game. 

Thus, given my preference for choice, I would rather lose myself amidst a sea of (mambo) dancers. To those who say you lose the intimacy in this environment, I would reply that you simply need to restrict the boundaries or the dance floor in your mind. People may say it's snobby to only dance in one area of the dance floor, to hang out where all the good dancers are, or just under the DJ booth, but ultimately, if you restrict your field of vision and focus on those people in your immediate vicinity as opposed to those two rooms away, the event will no longer feel so large or so daunting. You can pick any area, it can be the doorway if that makes you happy and keeps you cool; the spot next to the shoes so that you can nab a few dances with the Italians who sell them; the bar, to ensure those having liquid breaks will watch and appreciate your artistry. Pick your area and make it feel like home by dancing with all the willing dancers within it. And if you ever want to move around and start again in a new ocean of amazing mambo strangers, at least you’ll be completely free to do so!

On the Berlin Salsa Congress 2010

So here are my thoughts on Berlin:

Overall - Amazing. Thoughts on entering were "it's a mini Athens!", which is possibly the highest compliment I've ever given to a congress in the Post Athens congress world. Everyone was there - dancers, artists. Everything was centrally located. It was cheap. One of the best weekends in a while and a definite on any serious salsa dancer's European calendar (with Zurich and of course, Athens).

Let's break it down:

1. Prices
1. Flights - Flights to Berlin are cheap and plentiful. Both Berlin airports are within easy distance and if you fly with other dancers, you can get a taxi into the centre for something akin to €5 or less. Do it on your own late at night and it's possible too - after all you won't have spent much on the flights. The trains to and from the airport are easy to find your way on even though they take a little longer. If you're cash poor and time rich (or richer), this is definitely your best option.
2. Pass prices - The pass structure in Berlin is one of the friendliest out there. There are very many options to choose from shows/no-shows, Saturday workshops, Sunday workshops, seating, extra shows etc. By the time you have sifted through them all and picked one, you're guaranteed to feel like you've got value for money because you will only be paying for what you wanted and not for the bits that you didn't need or want. Countless reductions and offers also make you feel as though you got a good deal on your pass price. Even if it ultimately all adds up, you'll walk away feeling like you got it for a steal. The positive impact is energising!
3. Hotels - Berlin, despite being in the Euro-zone (which at the moment is hitting pound earners where it hurts), is really pretty cheap. Hostels are dirt cheap, good quality and plentiful - probably because Berlin is the logical starting point for any tour of Eastern Europe and a pretty logical place of passage for anyone touring Western Europe too. Fantastic competition and voilà - low prices! Find a hostel near to the venue and you can either pack it with your own friends or make new ones out of all the other dancers in your room... 
4. Bottled water - Key to any congress is the price and accessibility of water. Being able to rehydrate when you're dancing all night is key to stamina. Thus far, no one has beaten Athens prices of €0.50 per bottle. Berlin doesn't rank well on this front - water was at least €2.00 with an extra Euro thrown in for the "plastic bottle recycling guarantee" - bring the bottle back and your coin will be returned to you. All great, for the environment, but not being able to bring your own large water bottle to workshops (and throwing them out into massive bins outside the venue for someone else's "plastic bottling recycling guarantee" benefit) rather fosters resentment. Selling ice-cream on site in lieu of water and soft drinks was a good idea. However, ice-cream typically makes you thirsty and thus only encourages you to drink more! Needless to say Coke or Fanta are a better source of energy and have the added benefit of containing caffeine as well! On the subject of water though - note that this particular complaint has been taken into account and the water policy has been changed for next year. I believe the water will be cheaper and people will be able to bring their own drinks to workshops. Check the website for details. 
2. Venue



1. Floor - Fine. Not bad, not perfect hardwood, not sticky either. Some patches got sticky on the last night but otherwise it was great. No complaints.
2. Number of dance floors - Two. One was larger and supposedly the mambo floor and the other was smaller and played a wider mix of bachata, romantica and cuban....On the first night they both played a huge amount of bachata to the point where the hardcore were moving from room to room trying to escape the onslaught....But on Saturday is was fairly classic mambo in the main room and pretty standard stuff outside. On Sunday night, it was all in one room, with very poor sound, very little space - Not too worry though, this is being remedied for next year, so I shan't waste my breath complaining about how disappointed we all were. 
3. Workshops vs. parties - All in same venue so all great. Some workshops were in a different venue. I never made it out there so have no idea where said other rooms were located. Apparently more other rooms are being used next year. On principle, I don't like having to go outside or change out of dance shoes in between workshops. We'll see how that goes...
4. Show seats - You could sit for the shows, but you couldn't see much. There was a large screen but this wasn't used to amplify those on stage but only for titles and names and background pictures. To really get close to the shows you had to stand. Next year, there's a "if you pay, you can sit in the good seats policy". I'm not a huge show watcher (would rather sleep), but if you are, still not sure whether it's worth it (some are still very far back and it's on a first come first served basis). Personally think you should be able to sit with your friends to make more noise and chit chat, rather than sit next the people who bought their tickets at the same time your did.
5. Show visibility - Depends highly on where you sit (see above)
6. Workshop visibility - Decent, artists were elevated for the most part. Very popular congress so crowded, but generally good. 
7. Workshop organisation - See above. Really depends on the teachers how they want to try and space their students out.
3. Crowd
1. Workshops - High level within workshops means that artists are able to teach according to plan
2. Parties - Very high level of dancing - no complaints. Only had one average cha cha all weekend and one gratuitous "progressing friend" dance. All else wonderful.
3. Size - Huge. Not good with numbers, but this is one of the biggest European congresses. If you're serious about dancing, you need to be there.
4. After parties - None to speak of. Serious shame. Luckily they are changing this next year. A congress of this size needs to enable the crazies to dance until 7am. 
4. Line-up
1. Quality of teaching - Very high. Number of high quality teachers - more than you'll find anywhere else.
2. Choice of workshops - Large. Five per hour. 6 slots a day.
3. Number of shows - Loads. It's almost a requirement to skip all of them! In two show sections per night with the second being shorter. You can choose to dance or sleep through one of them without a problem. 
4. Artists on dance floor - Yup. Though there is a grouping factor of so many of them being in the same place and a slight incentive for them to hang out, drink and take pictures together. But there are enough great dancers that this is immaterial.
5. Location
1. Centralised - While not in one single hotel, everything was within 5 minutes walk. Very straightforward.
2. Distance from airport - 20mins by cab, 1 hour by train
3. Time from London - 2 hours by plane
4. Number of days off work - Only one necessary - late night flights mean that you can still work Friday. Bear in mind though that working on the Monday after this one is impossible - Extreme exhaustion awaits you after some of the best congress parties in Europe. 

For more information check out the website to come next year:

http://www.mas-salsa.de/Mainframe2011_eng.htm