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The Leeds Weekender Salsafest 2009 Print E-mail
Written by Torqueo   
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
The Venue
The event took place at the Alea Casino, near the Armouries Museum in Leeds, about 5 minutes from the city centre. There was a Holiday Inn Express just around the corner with a number of the city centre hotels about 10 minutes walk away, and parking available in the large multi-storey next door to the casino, which was free for casino visitors..
The workshops and parties took place on the 2nd floor, in an area that's reserved for private functions. The main room, used for the parties, was partioned during the day to host two simultaneous workshops, with a 3rd being hosted in a room on the floor below. The main bar area hosted the vendors (Shoes, CD's, and massage), and had plenty of comfortable seating.
The area was very well maintained and clean, the only slight issue being that we were in a casino, so they enforced a very strict policy of no-entry to under 18's.
There were a number of eateries, a supermarket, and coffee shop, all within walking distance.
The Workshops
mauricio_leeds09.jpgThere was a good variety of workshops on offer, with 3 running simultaneously at any one time during the whole of Saturday daytime, plus a few hours on Sunday morning. The workshop line-up included Mauro & Eva, Franklyn & Brigitte, Mel C & Emil, Mauricio Reyes, Nigel Maye, Nicky Lloyd Greame, and more. Various styles were catered for, from the more technical partnerwork and styling classes, to Reggaeton, ideas to 'Spice up your Salsa', and others. The daytime was well attended and room allocating (to ensure the best sized room was used for each workshop) was arranged immediately before each workshop by way of a show of hands in the bar area.
The Parties
I didn't attend the Friday night party, which I heard was quiet as a result of a nearby event taking place.
sami_pilar_leeds09.jpgThe Saturday party, however, was busy and had a good vibe. The night kicked off with Nikolai dj'ing for the first couple of hours, and was then taken over by Mauricio Reyes. I DJ'd for just over an hour until 2am before Mauricio finished things off. The night was scheduled to finish at 3am, and was still well attended at this time, but instead we got a couple of soul line-ups and a Reggaeton mash-up until after 3:30am.
During the party, we were treated to a couple of rounds of shows. First up was Sami & Pilar, Danzalifestyle, then Irene Miguel, then around half an hour later was Mauro & Eva, Danzalifestyle, and Sami & Pilar. Overall, the shows got a very good response and didn't interrupt the party too much.
Overall
This is a very relaxed, intimate, and fun weekender, and the convenience of the new venue is an improvement on last year. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and this is the kind of event that's just going to keep on getting bigger.
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