Festival and Travel Planner 2025

[Chris_Yannick]

So, would I have liked a video of that dance where Adolfo and Juan Matos took turns leading me maaaany years ago? No, honestly, not really.

I understand that. I also know many followers who have those videos with Adolfo (or someone else famous) and have always posted them on social media because they want the memory to be seen by others. But it's mostly the not so famous dancers who provide the best experiences connection wise.
Those up and coming stars are being filmed more often than in the past so the quantity of people being filmed is higher now.

It is definitely a personal thing whether you wish to be filmed or not. It's just in my experience, the people who say they don't want to be filmed, are beginners.

However, the biggest disagreement I have is with what Super Mario is saying in that clip. I just don't believe him. I also want to hear more from Denisse and Diego, both of whom support their career by being recorded or producing videos themselves.

Personally, I find being recorded while dancing a flattering experience. And if I happen to be in the background of a video, I'll be zooming in on myself trying to spot my mistakes

 

[Offbeat]

I don’t know if star mambo is able to monetize his videos. He puts them on FB, IG, and YouTube. If he is able to monetize he has vested interests in filming those whose videos attract more viewers. That goes to the point that @desconocida was making about certain pairings.

Also being repeatedly filmed makes you social status higher among the festival goers.

And ofcourse he films his friends.

 

[Smejmoon]

For those going to rave here, I'd love to know what's covered in Alexistyle's "Salsa - the lost rhythms" (Sunday 12pm).

I got up early and made it to the last 15 minutes and recap video. Didn't hear about lost rhythms during that time. He covered guaguanco pachanga /charanga debacle, samba, and maybe something else I forgot.
It was mixture of listening to bunch of tracks, where these rhythms appear and solo dancing.
Basically he gave people permission to dance, if music doesn't match what they learned in school and some basic steps as a starting point. It was good, but for beginners. He also played percussion live when people were doing steps and gave bunch of pointers what to look for in music.
Also FM had class just after and he said that previous class was great. Even if it run into his time slot.

 

[MamboJazz]

you'll notice there're always certain pairings being filmed of a technically rather small group of regular congress goers. That increases the likelihood of these people dancing among each other most of the time, as this has obviously produced good results in the past and one would want to recreate 'good' results, right?

I don’t know if star mambo is able to monetize his videos. He puts them on FB, IG, and YouTube. If he is able to monetize he has vested interests in filming those whose videos attract more viewers. That goes to the point that @desconocida was making about certain pairings.

Also being repeatedly filmed makes you social status higher among the festival goers.

And ofcourse he films his friends.

Videographers are on the official listings of the events, so I guess they get paid like the other artists (including travel and hotel). Their job is to deliver appealing videos from the dancing, so of course they mostly stick to the known great dancers, and of course that results in some cliquishness. But they also film sometimes less known faces.

I learned a lot from those videos in the past, now I look them less. The filming during social is special to salsa. In Bachata and WCS they film the couple performing alone having all the space for themselves.

 

[MamboJazz]

It's just in my experience, the people who say they don't want to be filmed, are beginners.

I guess beginners / intermediates often fear to be filmed with good reasons, many advanced line up for the celebs and like to be proudly filmed, and the really good dancers don't care about it or even dislike it because it disturbs their fun of dancing.

 

[Smejmoon]

Salsa rave level was not great, but very good for big festival. I've had multiple series where 5 or more dances in the row were great and this happens in few events. Same for some of my friends. Just good dance after good dance. I had some bad ones as well, but less than I expected after reviews.
It was interesting mixture of Spanish vibes where people dug music deeper. There were buch of beginners who loved songs, sang them to me, and it was pure pleasure to groove with them.
Then I understood that English organize the festival and this was everywhere from staff, to djs, to dancers. UK has a lot of cool dancers.
Romanians made big presence and a lot of people from Germany and US as usual. There were few people from all sides of the planet.
Musical selection was best at the first hours, when almost noone was on the dance floor. DJs played interesting, beautiful, long tracks, they had LPs laid out vertically so you could see from which recording current song is from. Then music switched to more mainstreamish, and a lot of romantica after 5am.
Quite a bit of timba, and son, but mostly in pool party time. Heard a lot of guajiras as well, which is rare.
My first time here, but seems event already will be too big next time, so unsure if I'll go. With 2 hour flight I might reconsider, but first day I didn't sleep 24+ hours because of long flights and dancing till the morning.
Area, hotels, food require separate considerations, it's a tourist trap area, but I'm too sleepy for that debate. Also I was invited and shared costs, so no complaints.
My wish is to find bootlegged recordings of DJ sets.
Also it's great to dance full-in salsa again.

 

[Smejmoon]

Also quite a few people complained about videographers, including flying drones. There were just a couple pros, which don't seem much for thousand people event. But bunch of friends and others just filming. I decided to ignore them mostly, but it's not cool.

 

[desconocida]

However, the biggest disagreement I have is with what Super Mario is saying in that clip. I just don't believe him. I also want to hear more from Denisse and Diego, both of whom support their career by being recorded or producing videos themselves.

I could imagine that one of the reasons you're finding Mario's statement inauthentic or somewhat disingenuous is because he leaves out the important part, which is kind of left to be understood (or not) between the lines: it feels to me like he also strongly objects to being used for promotional purposes by those who upload their videos of them "dancing with the stars". So part of his considerations might also be about his brand.
Diego is actually a super laid back dancer (and a sweetheart) who really emphasises connection in his social dancing. He is not attention seeking at all, and hence probably one of the very few whose dancing doesn't change with camera on or off. I think he pretty much grew up as a dancer being used to being filmed, so my guess is he doesn't mind personally, but both him and Yari primarily use their teaching and performing content to promote themselves, where they actually have a lot to offer. As somebody said above - it's mainly up and coming artists who promote themselves with social dancing videos, preferrably with 'stars'.

I don’t know if star mambo is able to monetize his videos. He puts them on FB, IG, and YouTube. If he is able to monetize he has vested interests in filming those whose videos attract more viewers. That goes to the point that @desconocida was making about certain pairings.

Also being repeatedly filmed makes you social status higher among the festival goers.

And ofcourse he films his friends.

Funny you mentioned that, made me remember a conversation with a lead, who is absolutely on par with all those 'popular' leads being filmed all the time. He told me that one of the well-known videographers initially always recorded him whenever he saw him but after 4-6 times or so realized, his videos do not draw a social media frenzy and stopped filming him once and for all. I'd dare to add that had nothing to do with the dances not being good or entertaining to watch, but this person isn't well-connected on social media and doesn't have a following which would create a buzz.
Which brings me back to that other aspect: professional videographers seem to mainly highlight what's popular, not necessarily what's best and worth seeing, or average and representative of the event, or just everybody, giving you a feeling for the overall vibe. Because likes and views and all those heart and fire emojis are their metric, this is what will get them booked the next time.

 

[desconocida]

I got up early and made it to the last 15 minutes and recap video. Didn't hear about lost rhythms during that time. He covered guaguanco pachanga /charanga debacle, samba, and maybe something else I forgot.
It was mixture of listening to bunch of tracks, where these rhythms appear and solo dancing.
Basically he gave people permission to dance, if music doesn't match what they learned in school and some basic steps as a starting point. It was good, but for beginners. He also played percussion live when people were doing steps and gave bunch of pointers what to look for in music.
Also FM had class just after and he said that previous class was great. Even if it run into his time slot.

Thanks for your sacrifice for the group We all know how painful the getting up early part must have been

 

[Gaviota]

I got up early and made it to the last 15 minutes and recap video. Didn't hear about lost rhythms during that time. He covered guaguanco pachanga /charanga debacle, samba, and maybe something else I forgot.
It was mixture of listening to bunch of tracks, where these rhythms appear and solo dancing.
Basically he gave people permission to dance, if music doesn't match what they learned in school and some basic steps as a starting point. It was good, but for beginners. He also played percussion live when people were doing steps and gave bunch of pointers what to look for in music.
Also FM had class just after and he said that previous class was great. Even if it run into his time slot.

Thank you so much for checking it out and reporting back!

 

[MamboJazz]

made me remember a conversation with a lead, who is absolutely on par with all those 'popular' leads being filmed all the time. He told me that one of the well-known videographers initially always recorded him whenever he saw him but after 4-6 times or so realized, his videos do not draw a social media frenzy and stopped filming him once and for all. I'd dare to add that had nothing to do with the dances not being good or entertaining to watch, but this person isn't well-connected on social media and doesn't have a following which would create a buzz.

Interesting point.

Which brings me back to that other aspect: professional videographers seem to mainly highlight what's popular, not necessarily what's best and worth seeing, or average and representative of the event, or just everybody, giving you a feeling for the overall vibe.

The videos showing celeb couples can be misleading. I often look into the surroundings: how dance the other dancers? Same for workshop videos: when the instructor calls "Great! Beautiful!" but all participants look clumsy and lost then I have an idea how the social was in the evening.

 

[eclo]

That would be a good start. I think I might like specific 'filming hours' even more

I strongly disagree. I know plenty of people with 10+ more years of salsa experience who don't like what the recording culture is doing to the social scene. It's not about minding to be in a video per se for most, it's rather about the changed dynamics of the dance, about people oftentimes not dancing with each other as much as with the camera, the perceived necessity to dance ever flashier, even some 'aggressiveness' sometimes. So many of the things Mario mentioned in that video from Berlin, essentially... Also the cliquishness this phenomenon produces: you'll notice there're always certain pairings being filmed of a technically rather small group of regular congress goers. That increases the likelihood of these people dancing among each other most of the time, as this has obviously produced good results in the past and one would want to recreate 'good' results, right? In fact, the likelihood of me as a follower being rejected by a lead who doesn't know me in a recording-heavy setting is much higher than in a less social-media driven one. And it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the level. In fact, the average level of leads was considerably lower in Mambo Italiano than in Amsterdam and I don't think I received any rejections in A-Dam, but quite a few in Rome.
So, would I have liked a video of that dance where Adolfo and Juan Matos took turns leading me maaaany years ago? No, honestly, not really. What matters for me is how the moment felt and that's in my memory only and will stay there, ready for me to recall whenever i feel like it. I don't need video evidence of it.

I agree, also a follower so maybe the dynamics are different for us? I'm amazed so many leads seem to have a totally opposite view. But maybe it is the difference in dynamics. Maybe as a lead it's easier to ignore? Or maybe it's just us two! But I agree with everything you've said.

I absolutely agree about the dynamics, especially the cliqueyness, and the way it's changing the dance itself. It's very obvious at some events that there are those who get filmed and those who don't. It's not based on talent at all, it's who you are and who you know. I get the impression sometimes that the festival circuit is more of a private members club.

I absolutely agree it has nothing to do with skill level. I agree the level is not always that high, but the issue is because they're getting filmed they think they are hot sh** and there is little impetus to really develop as dancers, as long as you can fake it enough to look good on video.

Also I do feel it changes the way people dance. The performance type dancing is becoming more dominant and there is more confusion on performance v social dancing. Musicality, technique and connection are becoming secondary to mastering show off moves. I see it filtering down too, some often downright dangerous performance moves being pulled on social dancefloors, people are seeing these 'social dance' videos and thinking that's what social dance is, except they're really performances. This is often downright dangerous with the many overconfident intermediate leads, and i think this is maybe why were noticing it more as followers?

 

[logic]

Salsa rave level was not great, but very good for big festival. I've had multiple series where 5 or more dances in the row were great and this happens in few events. Same for some of my friends. Just good dance after good dance. I had some bad ones as well, but less than I expected after reviews.
It was interesting mixture of Spanish vibes where people dug music deeper. There were buch of beginners who loved songs, sang them to me, and it was pure pleasure to groove with them.
Then I understood that English organize the festival and this was everywhere from staff, to djs, to dancers. UK has a lot of cool dancers.
Romanians made big presence and a lot of people from Germany and US as usual. There were few people from all sides of the planet.
Musical selection was best at the first hours, when almost noone was on the dance floor. DJs played interesting, beautiful, long tracks, they had LPs laid out vertically so you could see from which recording current song is from. Then music switched to more mainstreamish, and a lot of romantica after 5am.
Quite a bit of timba, and son, but mostly in pool party time. Heard a lot of guajiras as well, which is rare.
My first time here, but seems event already will be too big next time, so unsure if I'll go. With 2 hour flight I might reconsider, but first day I didn't sleep 24+ hours because of long flights and dancing till the morning.
Area, hotels, food require separate considerations, it's a tourist trap area, but I'm too sleepy for that debate. Also I was invited and shared costs, so no complaints.
My wish is to find bootlegged recordings of DJ sets.
Also it's great to dance full-in salsa again.

I only had 2 bad dances over the whole weekend. The level mix I found to be the same with going to Rovinj. I liked the music for all the days, apart from Sunday. For me, on Sunday, things started off well, then became quite patchy before turning outright bad, it did recover somewhat at the end.

The pool afternoon socials, were a massive let down. The size of the dance area, is simply not suitable for the number of people who turned up to the event. They knew the evening room needed to be opened up for "double" the numbers, but kept quiet about the fact that, they can't double the pool party dance area.
When the Saturday afternoon social got moved indoors, it was clear the number of people wanting to dance at that time, was far in excess of the outdoor area. I left when they moved it back outside that day. If you can't dance, and can't even get into the area (unless people leave), then the pool party/afternoon social becomes a meaningless experience. Also, the videographers annoyed me as well. That Starmambo guy takes up too much damn room on the dance floor when there is none to spare.

 

[desconocida]

I agree, also a follower so maybe the dynamics are different for us? I'm amazed so many leads seem to have a totally opposite view. But maybe it is the difference in dynamics. Maybe as a lead it's easier to ignore? Or maybe it's just us two! But I agree with everything you've said.

I absolutely agree about the dynamics, especially the cliqueyness, and the way it's changing the dance itself. It's very obvious at some events that there are those who get filmed and those who don't. It's not based on talent at all, it's who you are and who you know. I get the impression sometimes that the festival circuit is more of a private members club.

I absolutely agree it has nothing to do with skill level. I agree the level is not always that high, but the issue is because they're getting filmed they think they are hot sh** and there is little impetus to really develop as dancers, as long as you can fake it enough to look good on video.

Also I do feel it changes the way people dance. The performance type dancing is becoming more dominant and there is more confusion on performance v social dancing. Musicality, technique and connection are becoming secondary to mastering show off moves. I see it filtering down too, some often downright dangerous performance moves being pulled on social dancefloors, people are seeing these 'social dance' videos and thinking that's what social dance is, except they're really performances. This is often downright dangerous with the many overconfident intermediate leads, and i think this is maybe why were noticing it more as followers?

Yes, absolutely, every single word of what you said resonates with me deeply. And I also don't think it's just us. About 80% of followers I ever talked to about this phenomenon felt very similarly, and also some leads, too. But we, as a scene, are kind of held hostage by these social media rules and no sigle individual can really break free from them entirely - at least not if they would still like to partake in the festival fun.
Btw., what you said in the third paragraph, about developing social dancing skills, my feeling is that besides social media it's also the performance team craze that plays heavily into that, and in my personal experience particularly so in the Italian scene. There are so many really good young dancers who are on various teams, who manage to look good during performances and with certain partners (mainly those from their own in-group) on the dance floor, but once you dance with them you are seriously questioning what dance it is supposed to be. I had such an experience with a young Tropical Gem dancer who looked groovy and fun but I wasn't even really able to decipher CBLs from his leading. Had similar experiences with members of other teams.

 

[Offbeat]

Imbut this person isn't well-connected on social media and doesn't have a following which would create a buzz.

Yes! I was going to mention that and forgot. How popular/active you are on the social media or how many connections you have.

 

[MamboJazz]

The pool afternoon socials, were a massive let down. The size of the dance area, is simply not suitable for the number of people who turned up to the event. They knew the evening room needed to be opened up for "double" the numbers, but kept quiet about the fact that, they can't double the pool party dance area.
When the Saturday afternoon social got moved indoors, it was clear the number of people wanting to dance at that time, was far in excess of the outdoor area. I left when they moved it back outside that day. If you can't dance, and can't even get into the area (unless people leave), then the pool party/afternoon social becomes a meaningless experience.

That's what I was thinking last week when I heard the number of participants will double compared to last year. They could easily double the size of the night party indoor location by removing that mobile wall, but they can't double the outdoor space. Last year pool party had enough dance space (maybe last hour got a bit crowded). They could only let the water out in the pool to double the size.

 

[MamboJazz]

it's also the performance team craze that plays heavily into that, and in my personal experience particularly so in the Italian scene. There are so many really good young dancers who are on various teams, who manage to look good during performances and with certain partners (mainly those from their own in-group) on the dance floor, but once you dance with them you are seriously questioning what dance it is supposed to be. I had such an experience with a young Tropical Gem dancer who looked groovy and fun but I wasn't even really able to decipher CBLs from his leading. Had similar experiences with members of other teams.

Yes, my female friends had the same experience with that group in social, they told me afterwards and I could sense the problem just by watching.

 

[eclo]

Yes, absolutely, every single word of what you said resonates with me deeply. And I also don't think it's just us. About 80% of followers I ever talked to about this phenomenon felt very similarly, and also some leads, too. But we, as a scene, are kind of held hostage by these social media rules and no sigle individual can really break free from them entirely - at least not if they would still like to partake in the festival fun.
Btw., what you said in the third paragraph, about developing social dancing skills, my feeling is that besides social media it's also the performance team craze that plays heavily into that, and in my personal experience particularly so in the Italian scene. There are so many really good young dancers who are on various teams, who manage to look good during performances and with certain partners (mainly those from their own in-group) on the dance floor, but once you dance with them you are seriously questioning what dance it is supposed to be. I had such an experience with a young Tropical Gem dancer who looked groovy and fun but I wasn't even really able to decipher CBLs from his leading. Had similar experiences with members of other teams.

I am glad I'm not alone!

I agree on performance teams too. I think they often go hand in hand with social media too, they provide so much of the content for all the reels etc, people join in teams to have the chance to be videoed etc. Very few people seem to actually enjoy watching shows at congresses in person.

Funny you mention Italy, the only time I've danced in Italy everyone was asking me who I trained with & bemused when I said no one! I found the social dancing very underwhelming, as an unknown dancer who wasn't there with a team or a teacher, I was pretty much ignored!

There is a place for performance absolutely, but when it becomes so dominant and is pushing out social dance and social dance is becoming performance, we do have to reassess. They are different beasts and need different skill sets. As a scene it feels like we've been neglecting the social skills side.

I agree at feeling kinda held hostage, I think that's why spaces like the debate in Berlin are great, because we don't all agree and we shouldn't all agree. But at the moment, there is very little space for anyone who isn't happy with the status quo to speak out. If you do you're just 'not supportive of the scene'.

 

[Mambosero]

The pool afternoon socials, were a massive let down. The size of the dance area, is simply not suitable for the number of people who turned up to the event. They knew the evening room needed to be opened up for "double" the numbers, but kept quiet about the fact that, they can't double the pool party dance area.
When the Saturday afternoon social got moved indoors, it was clear the number of people wanting to dance at that time, was far in excess of the outdoor area. I left when they moved it back outside that day. If you can't dance, and can't even get into the area (unless people leave), then the pool party/afternoon social becomes a meaningless experience. Also, the videographers annoyed me as well. That Starmambo guy takes up too much damn room on the dance floor when there is none to spare.

I think this is why I won’t be returning next year. Day socials are more important than the night parties for me. I went early one day to the pool party and it was really good. I had to leave by 18:30 because of the overcrowding.

The only complaint I have about the indoor room is how bad the floor gets when it’s very hot. There’s no ventilation so the floor was wet from the moisture.

 

[Smejmoon]

The only complaint I have about the indoor room is how bad the floor gets when it’s very hot. There’s no ventilation so the floor was wet from the moisture.

Same as sound quality, floor started night nicely and then got worse over time, till there were puddles.