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London LatinFest Weekender |
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Written by JoJo
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Tuesday, 04 September 2007 |
The London LatinFest Weekender is an annual event which marks the end of a programme of 10 days of events in August, organised by The Latin Collective, and was held on August Bank Holiday weekend 2007.
Mel and I decided to go on a Girls Salsa Central Outing to check out the LatinFest Weekender in order to review it and obtain some more interviews and video footage for the Salsa Central website.
The basic set-up for the weekender was 2 full days of classes held on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons, from 2pm until 8pm, followed by 2 full-on All-Nighters from 9.30pm until 6am, all of which was held at Scala in Kings Cross, London.
If you have already read my review of the Scalalatina All-Nighters, you will be aware that these events are my favourite salsa gigs, so I was really looking forward to this weekend, especially given the fact that I was about to have 2 All-Nighters back-to-back!!!
There were various options for the weekender which ranged from single party nights, to the full weekender package, so prices varied depending on how much or little you wanted to do, with the maximum price being £90 for the full pass.
We travelled down to London on the Saturday morning and arrived in London around 2pm, when we went straight to our hotel, Travel Lodge Kings Cross, to check in. This particular Travel Lodge is right next door to Scala, so it took us all of 1 minute to walk to our hotel – how’s that for handy????
After checking in, we went for a quick bite to eat at a fantastic Italian restaurant across the road, then hot-footed it to Scala around 4pm to check out the classes.
The classes included a great mix of all kinds of styles and types of Latin dance, which I thought was very well balanced. Classes included Footwork and Shines, Rueda, Bachata, Merengue, Reggaeton, Salsa On1 and On2, Partner Work and Turn Patterns, Body Isolation, Spin Technique, Rumba, Lambada-Zouk, Samba Axe, Cha Cha Cha, Cross Body and Cuban Style, and Dips.
Teachers included Tiz, Aiste, Joe Davids, Marchant Birch, Lee and Shelley, Moe Flex, Laith Sami, Orville Small, Andrea Stewart, Mauro, Yambu Dance Company and Irene Miguel.
On the Saturday afternoon we watched some of Marchant and Davina’s Alchemy Way class in the Main room, which was very well attended, Tiz’s Bachata class in the VIP Room, and a little of Moe Flex’s Rumba class which was taking place up in the Balcony Bar.
In the following hour we then watched some of Lee and Shelley’s Spin Technique class in the Main room, which was very popular, and very informative, so the other classes had less attendees, which were Joe and Dani’s Turn Combo class in the VIP Room, and a Lambada-Zouk class in the Foyer bar.
In the last hour there were Bachata, Partner Work, Cross Body for Cuban Dancers, Reggaeton and Mambo Lifestyle classes going on.
There were always 4 classes running concurrently, though we didn’t get to see all of the classes at any one time. Everyone we spoke to seemed to enjoy the classes that they had chosen to take part in.
The venue then closed down for a little while to prepare for the All-Night event which kicked off at 9.30pm.
The LatinFest Weekender also incorporated the Semi-Final and Finals (Pro and Am) of the LatinFest Championships, which had been taking place at heats across the UK since May. There were also various shows by the teachers from the classes on both evenings, which were all worth watching.
The Saturday All-Nighter was less well attended than I had expected, and because of this, the evening ended early at around 4.30am, and although this was a little disappointing, it was also a blessing in disguise, as it had been a very long day indeed.
After what seemed like only a couple of hours sleep, we ventured back out of our hotel, and after a quick trip to the Notting Hill Carnival for some jerk chicken :o), we made our way back to Scala to check out the second day of classes that were going on.
We watched some of Joe’s NY Salsa class in the Main room, and some of Orville and Sabi’s class up in the Balcony Bar. Later, we then moved onto another class with Orville, this time in the Main room and caught a little of the Cha Cha Cha classes that were going on upstairs.
For the last hour I checked out Tiz and Andrea’s Funky Body Movement and Styling class in the Foyer Bar, and some of the On2 Styling class in the Main room with Yambu Dance Company. Meanwhile Mel was checking out some of the other classes and getting some video interviews.
We headed back across to Scala after eating and a short rest for the second of the All-Nighters, which this time was full to bursting! I think this had to be the busiest Scalalatina night I’ve ever seen. The Main Salsa room and the Cuban room upstairs were both packed out, and both parties were raging, although at times it was a little too packed to dance without getting squashed and stamped on.
I don’t know where all these people had been the night before, but tonight they had come from all over the country (and brought all their mates with them too it seemed). This time the party went on until 6am.
Over both days there was a full schedule of workshops, which all seemed to be clearly taught and enjoyed by everyone that took part in them. At both All-Nighters the shows were good, and the competitions were entertaining and worth watching, especially the professional one, which was won by Lee and Shelley. The downsides were that Saturday night was a little too quiet for my liking and Sunday night was the opposite, a little too crowded at times – though Sunday was by far the night I enjoyed the most. And it made a great change to be staying right next door, rather than having the long journey home straight after the gig, as is usually the case for me.
As we travelled back home on Monday morning we missed the salsa at the Notting Hill Carnival, and also the Carnival After Party on Monday night, both of which are organised by the Latin Collective, but we’d had a jam-packed weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Keep an eye on Salsa Central for video footage and interviews from the LatinFest Weekender………. coming soon.
www.latincollectiveuk.com
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