SnowDancer
Son Montuno
Was I the only Salsa Forum member there? Here's a short review.
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Workshops: Quite a good lineup. They decided to call the workshops 'intensive' and made them all 1 1/2 hours, with the last 15-20 minutes of each one reserved for practice. I thought this was a nice idea, and I came away learning quite a bit. Also, I avoided the 'fried brain' syndrome that I usually get at these events.
Among my favorite classes were:
"Crazy Hand Tricks (On2)" by Micah and Kathy. These appear to all be quite leadable, although I can only do a couple of the simpler ones so far.
"Advanced Footwork & Partnerwork (On2) by Adolfo & Carla. I took one of Adolfo's workshops (I think it was the same guy) at the NY congress and was totally lost. Then, the room was too crowded, and most of the leads seemed to have no trouble doing what he demonstrated as he plowed ahead. In Vancouver, having a less hard-core On2 crowd, he proceeded more slowly. I think he could explain things in better detail. BUT, he does teach some really nice moves!
"How Did They Do That? (On2)" by Hacha Y Machete. Just a nice, complex pattern demonstrating some fast changes in direction along with a lot of movement by the lead.
There were also workshops by Salsamania, Shani Talmor & Shaka Brown, Leon Rose, Neeraj & Gosia, and Sekou. I just wish I could have taken more of these, but there were time conflicts with the ones I attended.
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Performances: What I really liked was the well-organized way these were arranged. We didn't have to sit through an extra hour of MC's making off-color jokes. Instead, after each performance, they would dim the lights and a few seconds would go by while the next act took the stage. There were 3 separate stages that made this possible, and many of the acts were short non-salsa segments like hip-hop (maybe a bit too much of that, but still not bad) that served as filler between the main salsa/mambo performances. You could tell that the organizers put a lot of effort into this. The only restriction on photography was 'no flash'.
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Socials: DJ music except for one local band on one of the nights, plus a separate room with other music like bachata. One difference from most other festivals I've been to is that there were far more women than men present. Another was that the average age of the participants seemed really young to me, like 20-something. Seemed like pretty good conditions for a lead.
I had a lot of really great dances, and it's surprising how some of the women from small Canadian towns I've barely heard of (Nainaimo?) were really excellent on2 dancers. OTOH, I had quite a few bad sessions with beginner women who, perhaps, felt obliged to accept a dance with me, but really didn't want to. What I heard is that Vancouver is a fairly new salsa scene, and that's why everyone seems so young, and many inexperienced. But there are some great dancers, and I think it's going to be really strong as time goes by.
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Overall, I think this was a really fun event in a very lively city.
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Workshops: Quite a good lineup. They decided to call the workshops 'intensive' and made them all 1 1/2 hours, with the last 15-20 minutes of each one reserved for practice. I thought this was a nice idea, and I came away learning quite a bit. Also, I avoided the 'fried brain' syndrome that I usually get at these events.
Among my favorite classes were:"Crazy Hand Tricks (On2)" by Micah and Kathy. These appear to all be quite leadable, although I can only do a couple of the simpler ones so far.
"Advanced Footwork & Partnerwork (On2) by Adolfo & Carla. I took one of Adolfo's workshops (I think it was the same guy) at the NY congress and was totally lost. Then, the room was too crowded, and most of the leads seemed to have no trouble doing what he demonstrated as he plowed ahead. In Vancouver, having a less hard-core On2 crowd, he proceeded more slowly. I think he could explain things in better detail. BUT, he does teach some really nice moves!
"How Did They Do That? (On2)" by Hacha Y Machete. Just a nice, complex pattern demonstrating some fast changes in direction along with a lot of movement by the lead.
There were also workshops by Salsamania, Shani Talmor & Shaka Brown, Leon Rose, Neeraj & Gosia, and Sekou. I just wish I could have taken more of these, but there were time conflicts with the ones I attended.
-----------------------------------------------
Performances: What I really liked was the well-organized way these were arranged. We didn't have to sit through an extra hour of MC's making off-color jokes. Instead, after each performance, they would dim the lights and a few seconds would go by while the next act took the stage. There were 3 separate stages that made this possible, and many of the acts were short non-salsa segments like hip-hop (maybe a bit too much of that, but still not bad) that served as filler between the main salsa/mambo performances. You could tell that the organizers put a lot of effort into this. The only restriction on photography was 'no flash'.
-----------------------------------------------
Socials: DJ music except for one local band on one of the nights, plus a separate room with other music like bachata. One difference from most other festivals I've been to is that there were far more women than men present. Another was that the average age of the participants seemed really young to me, like 20-something. Seemed like pretty good conditions for a lead.
I had a lot of really great dances, and it's surprising how some of the women from small Canadian towns I've barely heard of (Nainaimo?) were really excellent on2 dancers. OTOH, I had quite a few bad sessions with beginner women who, perhaps, felt obliged to accept a dance with me, but really didn't want to. What I heard is that Vancouver is a fairly new salsa scene, and that's why everyone seems so young, and many inexperienced. But there are some great dancers, and I think it's going to be really strong as time goes by.-----------------------------------------------
Overall, I think this was a really fun event in a very lively city.