Congress: workshops or just the party pass?

N

noobster

Son
Trying to figure this out for the SFO congress. I could go to the Saturday and Sunday workshops but I don't want to be so salsa-ed out I can't enjoy the parties. Also I've never found group classes all that helpful in general. Maybe congress workshops are different though. I'm leaning toward the party pass, but anybody care to weigh in? :)
 
See I was tempted for the NY congress but I could not find any just dance pass packets so did not go. For me it would be social dancing all the way.
 
ya know....

out of all the many many workshops that took place, there were a total of 2 that I learnt something from and thought were really good....

next year, social dancing only and i'd not go every night....

if you don't have to travel too far to the venue and can rest at home etc then i'd just to the parties

I was thinking, even with no social package to NY congress even if you went 3 nights, i think it'd have been maybe 100/120 bucks (if bought early) and the full pass i think i paid 200 ish/maybe morei can't remember now...that exttra 100 odd bucks is a private with someone famous or 2 local privates type thing and i think I'd/you'd get more out of that.

I dunno, just my 2 cents i think i'm done with group workshops on the large scale...

That said Jayson Molina's class last night in Philly was FAB again :)
 
If you are new to the scene, then it is a good way to meet people and sample what different instructors are like.

I have all the turn patterns and footwork I need for social dancing. For me, I'm working on musicality so congress workshops are of little interest to me these days. If I wanted more moves then I just could just come up with new stuff myself.

I do make exceptions though. In DC in 2006, they had Body movement, spins, Gyro Kinesis, Zouk, Guaguanco workshops so I signed up for that! I wish instructors would think beyond the yet another turn pattern or footwork workshop. If you are going to teach a turn pattern, please give me your insight on lead and follow technique and do a turn pattern that fits the music otherwise I may as well just buy the DVD.

A regular group class with Instructor A is always going to be better than a congress workshop with the same Instructor A because of the instructor/student ratio.
 
My advice is to go for either of the two choices. Do not image that you can do both without "lack of quality"

When I go for a congress I do not manage to do both ....I mean really do both. Either I´m too tired at the parties or too tired at the classes. And I understand that my body refuses to do both. I always get some kind of injury or infection.

Next time there is a congress i my hometown I will go for the parties only. BUT there is a weekender with Tropical Gem this autumn. Then I will probably go for both but I will NOT attend all classes. I will sleep as much as I need before I go for the classes ;) . And take a nap after lunch.

(This weekender is so cheap that I fell I do not need to attend all classes)

/Luc
 
lucretia said:
My advice is to go for either of the two choices. Do not image that you can do both without "lack of quality"

When I go for a congress I do not manage to do both ....I mean really do both. Either I´m too tired at the parties or too tired at the classes. And I understand that my body refuses to do both. I always get some kind of injury or infection.
/Luc
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I usually go for both, classes and party. But I'm not going to take all possible workshops and therefor exhaust myself. As I explained in another thread, I categorize the workshops. There's one categorie for workshops that I definitely want to attend and then there are the workshops that I might attend to if I'm in the mood, not too tired, feel not hungry, etc. So far this system worked fine and I enjoyed my congress, learned something new and had quite some fun at the party.
 
noobster said:
Trying to figure this out for the SFO congress. I could go to the Saturday and Sunday workshops but I don't want to be so salsa-ed out I can't enjoy the parties. Also I've never found group classes all that helpful in general. Maybe congress workshops are different though. I'm leaning toward the party pass, but anybody care to weigh in? :)
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I got the early bird special, which was $375 for 3 days hotel at the Marriot and a full pass. At that price, I decided to go with the full pass. The other consideration was the fact that the instructor line-up looks pretty good in terms of instructors I like or have never taken but like the way they dance.

This congress has a decent band every night, which probably means 15 minute songs so I will be pacing myself at night and not going hardcore unless the DJs are good and get a lot of time. I love the live music, but I'm more selective during the band time. I will probably skip the shows and take a nap, then party till a decent hour and do the workshops. :lol:
 
rjoe92057 said:
If you are going to teach a turn pattern, please give me your insight on lead and follow technique and do a turn pattern that fits the music otherwise I may as well just buy the DVD.

A regular group class with Instructor A is always going to be better than a congress workshop with the same Instructor A because of the instructor/student ratio.
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I agree on both points. :lol:
 
noobster said:
Trying to figure this out for the SFO congress. I could go to the Saturday and Sunday workshops but I don't want to be so salsa-ed out I can't enjoy the parties. Also I've never found group classes all that helpful in general. Maybe congress workshops are different though. I'm leaning toward the party pass, but anybody care to weigh in? :)
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In my experience the group workshops are too crowded, you never know the level of the group, the instructors can be late/substituted, etc. I only take the evening pass. In case you want to learn from a particular instructor, save the full event pass money and take privates instead.

If you take the full event pass, then try only a few workshops instead of cramming as many as you can in a day.
 
So far I've always got a full pass for the congresses I've attended, and I did learn a lot of things from workshops. For example, I learned to dance on2 from congress workshops, and also afrocuban rumba. I've also taken some very good body movement and styling workshops (these classes are not available locally). I even learned things from partner work classes as a follower, thanks to some excellent teachers. At the NY congress, however, I didn't take many workshops (mainly because of the time I had to spend for the survival challenge), and in hindsight a party pass would have been enough. If the workshop schedule is already out, you can check and decide if you find enough workshops that look interesting. If not, check the teacher listing and see how many teachers you want to take classes with. If the listing doesn't look particularly attractive, then go for a party pass (plus a private lesson or two perhaps).

Sag, I'm sure I saw a party pass option for the NY congress - maybe the organisers added it later?
 
I'm still undecided re. workshops at the UK congress...

I'm going to be there on Friday and Saturday and need to decide if I should just get two nights' party passes or Friday's party pass + Saturday's day pass (workshops+party). Since it's a new venue, I don't know if you can even get into the building without a pass, and if not, it would be a bit inconvenient for privates. If I can get into the vendors area without a pass, I think I'd be quite happy to spend all afternoon there.
 
I generally don't go to these events these days unless they are really convenient.... although I am tempted by Blackpool simply because I've never been there (and the ballroom looks fantastic, if kitsch, and is historic!)

I'd go to ones in other dances if I was at an intermediate stage, though. They can be fun and inspirational. I'm thinking about a tango week next summer ....

I think the classes / workshops are generally too crowded and the instruction is often indifferent partly because of that. I would dance too much at the party nights, get stale, and generally couldn't dance for a week thereafter. When you look at the all-up expense and consider what you could get by way of at least 5 hours of privates or studying with the teachers of your choice, I'd go for the latter.
 
For me, the catalyst of my salsa burntout started at the 1st Sydnay Congress (also my first congress)..... :cry: .

In hindsight, I should have just given the whole workshop thing a miss (apart from Edie's workshop.... I'm STILL using her principles from that day :notworthy: ).

I felt kinda 'cheated' in most of the other workshops :x .... (especially the suppoosed on2 'conversion'. Grrrr...)

....of course, by the evening I was soooo exhausted, I was not my usual self out there. Definitely wasn't a good idea.... but that was only me.
 
partu party party. with a few classes . not that I don't need to go to classes but I don't get much or I get frusteated with huge congress classes. :D but thats just me.
 
MacMoto said:
I'm still undecided re. workshops at the UK congress...

I'm going to be there on Friday and Saturday and need to decide if I should just get two nights' party passes or Friday's party pass + Saturday's day pass (workshops+party). Since it's a new venue, I don't know if you can even get into the building without a pass, and if not, it would be a bit inconvenient for privates. If I can get into the vendors area without a pass, I think I'd be quite happy to spend all afternoon there.
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In the end I decided to bite the bullet and get a day pass for the Saturday just in case a pass is needed in order to get into the building. I have a private lesson with one of the congress teachers lined up and need to be able to meet up with him. I might as well take a few workshops as well since I've paid for them...

So I went to the website to buy my Friday party pass and Saturday day pass, and I found out that you could only order one pass per session online, each session incurring a charge of £3.50. I thought about buying by phone but then found that they charge an additional 7% admin fee of for phone bookings. Hmmm :?
 
MacMoto said:
...

So I went to the website to buy my Friday party pass and Saturday day pass, and I found out that you could only order one pass per session online, each session incurring a charge of £3.50. I thought about buying by phone but then found that they charge an additional 7% admin fee of for phone bookings. Hmmm :?
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Hmmm - I smell a rip off somewhere there. I can understand charging a little bit for a stamp and an envelope to post your tickets out, but 2 party nights and two days of classes would mean that buying for the whole weekend would give you a web booking charge of about £14. As you have no option except booking by credit card, they really should absorb the fees into the basic price - and charging you 7% for the privilege of buying a ticket to attend their event is ridiculous.

Can you put a cheque in the post to them or is every single transaction done through a third-party ticketmaster-type fraudst... oh, sorry .... entrepreneur?
 
KP-salsa said:
I can understand charging a little bit for a stamp and an envelope to post your tickets out, but
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No stamp, no envelope - you get e-tickets.
KP-salsa said:
2 party nights and two days of classes would mean that buying for the whole weekend would give you a web booking charge of about £14.
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A day pass includes the party for the same day, so you wouldn't need 2 party passes if you are doing two days' workshops. And a full pass is cheaper than two day passes. Still, MamboCity congress gave you an option of buying a 2-day pass (Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun), which is what I needed here.

KP-salsa said:
Can you put a cheque in the post to them or is every single transaction done through a third-party ticketmaster-type fraudst... oh, sorry .... entrepreneur?
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The website givens only two options: online or phone. If you insisted a cheque in the post, I'm sure they would charge an admin fee for that too :roll:
 
Salsachinita,

What were some of the things you learnt from Edie's workshop if you don't mind me asking?

salsachinita said:
In hindsight, I should have just given the whole workshop thing a miss (apart from Edie's workshop.... I'm STILL using her principles from that day :notworthy: ).
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MacMoto said:
The website givens only two options: online or phone. If you insisted a cheque in the post, I'm sure they would charge an admin fee for that too :roll:
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Well, to my mind that is an unavoidable part of the ticket price and should therefore be included in their advertised prices. It's like airlines who used to be able to say "flights from 99p" but then as you booked threw loads of extra obligatory charges at you and you end up paying almost £50. Airlines now have to advertise the full price and this is a similar situation.
 
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