There is a reason for that. I didn't move around the room very much at the day socials nor was I there for very long.
At peak times though, it's nigh impossible to find specific people.
Yes, she did mention having a nice dance with you.
Festival and Travel Planner 2026
- Thread starter azana
- Start date
There is a reason for that. I didn't move around the room very much at the day socials nor was I there for very long.
At peak times though, it's nigh impossible to find specific people.
Yes, she did mention having a nice dance with you.
He is always invisible
Do you really want to try Berlin when there are so many other options. I gave up on it. I don’t recall if I tried it once or twice.
Is Berlin marathon still held?
Basically yes but not just sway side to side. You can rotate around and a few other things.
If she doesn’t know me I would imagine her thinking "Can he dance at all?"
If you are confident, they won’t that. It’s easy to tell whether someone can dance or not
The last two years it was the same week-end as Geneva, but this year they have separate week-ends so I can give Berlin a try.
Nothing to find in the net yet.
I met salsa people in the airplane flying home but had never seen them at the festival.
Berlin marathon is cancelled. I enjoy the Berlin congress day socials but the night parties are a miss for me. Very strict water rules, floor is weird, sound quality is a bit off because of the room, and the level drops significantly. Some people like the earlier hours but in reality a lot of the good dancers still show up late.
Berlin day socials have workshops in parallel - do enough people attend the day socials or are there only five lost couples?
Btw the exact workshop plan was already published seven months before, try to say germans don't like planning ahead.
The attendance was good last year. I think the level was high because it’s mostly serious social dancers vs workshop attendees.
Before anybody points me I haven't been in either of the international İstanbul festivals but my first dance teacher wanted so bad to sell us some tickets to the one in May back in the day
As far as I understand the festival in March is not organized by the Turkish Dance Federation and the one in May is either by the federation or someone with close ties to it because all dance teachers in my area push their students to go there.
It does have an active salsa scene. I don’t know after Covid, but I do not think it got affected a lot. There is one SF member from Istanbul. He is not active on here. You can try to send him pm.
RogueBlader
Son
I was at the 1st weekend in Budapest (at the Novotel Budapest City Conference centre). I only attended the morning sessions (Saturday 0130, Sunday 0230, Monday 0100) and skipped everything else as I was meeting with a bunch of people during the weekend and wandered around the city.
The dance quality was pleasingly high, floor was good, there was always space and the music was high quality. There was always water available which is a rarity in the Continental Europe congresses I've attended so far. I lasted until around 5am on the Saturday, until breakfast (!!) on the Sunday and had to turn in Monday "early" so I could catch a midday flight home.
My enjoyment of the weekend does not prevent me from criticising the late starts for the "morning" socials and I know of a few people who have made this complaint. I think the shows lasted longer than they should have, eating into dancing time (my spies informed me when it was suitable to get onto the floor, so at least I got a nap in). I get the feeling that there is something of a masochistic streak amongst some dancers that feel the need to arrive late and dance until 0700 to prove something, and I get that, and perhaps that is the point of this particular congress, but don't let the late finishing of shows deprive people of social dancing, please.
Despite all that, I think I caught a dance with Sophia Safran...or someone who looks incredibly like her. Not that I was looking for a dance with a star. I just remember having a break on the side at 0500 (I think) on the Sunday, and a woman looking as fresh as a daisy coming up and asking for a dance. I don't usually go onto the floor in the middle of a song so I declined and said I'd go on the next song. She was fine with it and had a dance with someone else for the rest of the song, then waited for me to come to her for the next dance. I tell you, her dancing was so so smooth, it was like gliding with someone on ice skates in full control of her abilities. Afterward, I had to verify online if it was really her without luck.
She was a highlight in a Sunday morning of fantastic dances with other partners. That Sunday morning will live long in my memory.
Duly noted.
That weekend at Novotel is the 'artist & show' weekend where social dancing isn't as high a priority as in the Anantara venue.
At Anantara, there is 5 hours of afternoon dancing every day and the dancing starts and ends on time. Some people complained that there was actually too much social dancing at Anantara and they couldn't possibly keep up with all the social dance hours.
Curious who she was. Sophia has a very distinct look so any pic of hers would be ID'd immediately. Although I saw many good followers during that weekend in pictures so it could have been anyone.
There was in parallel a cuban festival at the same location ("Salsa Open") - did you notice anything from it? They had different tickets, so no easy crossing over I guess. I wonder how that worked in parallel.
RogueBlader
Son
I may have danced with one cuban dancer from that event who strayed into the regular event - at least she told me up front. I did not notice any anything else, not even a second entrance. Then again, it was late....
The program says the cuban festival had socials until 4 am each night, astonishing that you didn't even notice a second entrance. So as usual both worlds lived in parallel universes and didn't touch.
At the second weekend there was a tango festival in parallel, it was just 20 meters walking to another room and I peeked in there two times. Also a different world not getting into any touch with the mambo crowd.
The dates for next year are out and I will be pushed to visit that first weekend in Novotel next time, because the second weekend has set the same date as the local Euro dance festival which I liked too much last weekend to miss it next time. I will miss the beautiful Anantara location but also curious about the vibe of the other weekend.
Thanks. Do let me know the handle if you have it...