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1st Annual Romanian Salsa Congress
19th -22nd July 2007
This event was staged by Punto Passion Dance Company, Wilmark Academia de Baile and Salsa Cubana, three of Romania’s established dance schools. Also from what I could see plenty of support from other promoters.
First of all the location, Constanta…….. wow. This is the biggest city on the Romanian Black sea coastline. Beautiful beaches, fantastic views!!!!! For me it was the perfect congress location. Blazin weather 37c. So you had a choice of beach and or workshops. As I was working!!!! I did both.
The event opened with a pre congress party at Club Salsa Del Mar in Mamaia on Thursday. This is the main holiday area of Constanta. Also it’s a stand alone Salsa club playing Salsa/Latin music most nights of the week!!!
On Dexx, DJs Mikael-Romania, Dian-Bulgaria, Incognito-Netherlands and yours truly Sizzla- London UK. For some reason every Euro gig I get I’m down as from London!!
If we think venues are hot here try dancing in 30c with no air con!!! Fortunately you could dance outside which most did. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect regarding music so I went well tooled up. But I needn’t have worried the Djs played a great mix of classic salsa/mambo/ salsadura which was appreciated by the dancers, who were imho excellent. A few Bachata tracks throughout the night were well received (remember it’s a Latin country)
Remember folks its thirsty work being a DJ especially in 30c heat, so constant refuelling was the order of the night. We wrapped up around 5ish.
The workshops and parties took place in Sala Sporturilor which must have capacity for 2000 dancers. The workshops catered for all styles: Cuban, LA, On 2, Columbian, Bachata including turnpatterns, styling and shines.
I took the opportunity to watch some of the workshops, which were well delivered.The students were very enthusiastic soaking up everthing like a sponge. Also the level and calibre of students were very good. Some of the shine routines were monstorous, no probs for these guys.
The instructors I saw: Orville Small and Sabina, Manuel Mascarell, Uwem Ekpo, Louis Vasquez and Melissa, Randolf and Willianne , Claudio and Ana, Wilmark, Alexa etc(sorry if I missed anyone out ) all did a fantastic job. The local instructors were also on the mark. Nice job guys.
Sala Sporturilor hosted the parties up until 1am. There were shows on every night with troupes from USA, Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Romania. Some well know-Orville/Luis others less so. All the shows I saw were slick, professional and entertaining. Also, importantly not too many, this does eat into the dance time which dancers hate.
From two til five the party continued at Club Salsa Del Mar, a short drive away. Big props to the Djs for doing a good job. It wasn’t easy keeping things going in this intense heat. A big plus for this congress as far as I could see were the instructors social dancing with the locals……..all night. Luis, Manuel et al looked liked they’d been in the shower.
This Congress will develop and grow in time. It’s their first one which had some small problems; the same can be said for most congresses. However given the weather, the fantastic people, the incredible hospitality, the location, the people involved etc this congress will get bigger. I’ll certainly be back next year.
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