Shows at congress, yes please or no they are tiresome?

Shows at a congress

  • Yes Please!

  • God no!

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A

AgeingHippy

Changui
Hello all

I have just come back from the annual Teeside congress. My first congress ever, having only been at it for 10 months now. I had fun but there is one factor that I found very tiresome.

Is it just me?

The shows that are put on... I did not find one person who thought they were a good idea. Granted, it was hardly a rigorous poll and as a beginner I may be missing something but IMO they simply put a dampener on an evening. We pay loads for the congress and then are forced to stand around for an hour and a half while this goes on.

Any thoughts? For who's benefit are these shows really? For the ego boost of presenters and performers or for the punters?

This punter would rather there were no shows at all and we were just allowed to get on and dance :-/
 
Shows are now pretty standard in every congress. I used to be vehemently against shows but now I am more mellowed out. I just plan my evenings accordingly. I know shows are usually on first around 10pm or 11pm, so I eat a late dinner and then come to dance around midnight. Honestly, it doesn't bother me any more.
 
They make a lot of money from the shows because most of the performers pay to perform. A lot of performers wouldn't go to congresses if they had to pay full price either so you would have less people go.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
Shows are now pretty standard in every congress. I used to be vehemently against shows but now I am more mellowed out. I just plan my evenings accordingly. I know shows are usually on first around 10pm or 11pm, so I eat a late dinner and then come to dance around midnight. Honestly, it doesn't bother me any more.
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I'll even go one step further. Not only doesn't it bother me anymore, but now I do venture out to watch them. Not each night, but at least once. I've adjusted my expectations about the entire congress format and now I'm fine with it. In fact, if the performer(s) pick a decent song and don't embarrass themselves I'm happy.
 
timberamayor said:
One reason I don't do congresos. I am more interested in the bands than the teachers so congresos with no band are out. And then again it needs to be timba so ... :)
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You know I would love to see habana or maykel, maybe mayito but I went to los van van and it didnt move me! In Peru I went to Manolito y su trabuco and I was very happy the 1st song! Then the second it was good too! The third was ok but when the fourth came I was like ; " cmom, is the same first song again?"
 
I don't watch every show, but I guess they can be interesting. Sometimes you get very unique moments, such as this (start at 1:10 to cut to the chase):


Although now I think it may, maaaaay have been set up, being there in the moment was an awesome experience. The whole place went absolutely crazy. Probably the highlight of the congress/festival.

Like the performances in the middle of a social, I welcome a bit of rest. If I do pay for a full pass, then I definitely expect to attend as many workshops as possible. Performances before the social allow me a bit of rest time to recover, and just chill with my friends as we critique each show.

sport-ice_skater-ice_skate-ice_skating-skating-skaters-jna1147_low.jpg


Also, as some have said, people usually pay to perform at these things, and for better or worse, that attracts more dancers to the congress. I think it increases the overall level of dancing at the social afterward, but I guess that's up for debate. Just trying to find a positive lining here.
 
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Are you attracted by the wickedly great dancers that only come for their shows?

I've seen honest people sitting in corners bored out of their skull pulling faces, rolling eyes.
And I've seen people rush to the first few lines cheering to every move the acts do.
Therefore I'm not sure if they wouldn't be missed once they're gone.
 
MrNiceGuy said:
Are you attracted by the wickedly great dancers that only come for their shows?

I've seen honest people sitting in corners bored out of their skull pulling faces, rolling eyes.
And I've seen people rush to the first few lines cheering to every move the acts do.
Therefore I'm not sure if they wouldn't be missed once they're gone.
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Oh I'm sure they wouldn't be missed. But the quality of performances isn't just black and white. There's a nice middle that is actually cool for me to watch, because, indirectly, I'm checking to see who might be fun to dance with. Everyone wants to dance with the pros, I do too, but anything below that I also have my eye on.

Say the social comes up. You spot that one person that looked sharp and happy. "You looked great in your performance." Boom, good attitude from the start.

Some of these people just want their ego stroked. I'll comply no problem.
 
I didnt vote because I don't feel strongly about performances at congresses. I do view them as completely unrelated to why I am at the congress in the first place. I dont dance like they do in the shows because it is a routine. However, I respect hard work, so I usually take in some of the performances and I cheer them on.
 
I have managed this by making sure to arrive towards the end of the performance schedule. Usually the last two or three acts are the best and it is much more enjoyable than to have to sit or stand for an hour. The plus side to performances is that it draws new dance partners to the event and when it comes to social dancing you often will find a good dance among those who came with a team. And it is fun to watch the advanced performs if they stay and social dance.
 
I actually don't mind performances at the San Francisco Salsa Congress (the only one I go to). What I don't like are performances in my weekly clubs and socials. THAT really takes away from my limited weeknight dance time and dance enjoyment. I make a point of attending Congress performances like I would if I was attending a play or dance performance in the city. I get my fill of performance routines that one time per year and I enjoy them.

I recognize that there are a lot of people who like to perform and I see no reason why they shouldn't have an event like a Congress to get together and perform and compete with each other and anyone else who wants to watch. It is up to the Congress promotors to clearly present the goals of the Congress and for attendees to pay attention to the event schedule. It is a matter of expectations.

I never travel to Congresses. I am purely a social dancer. I've never had any interest in performing. Since Congresses tend to draw international attendance I can see the appeal of wanting to go to a Congress to dance and meet with people from other places and for the potential to have a long intense party weekend. Personally, I prefer to travel to a city and sample their regular local dance scene. I would much prefer to dance at LVG in New York than go to the NY Congress.

I've also learned that Congresses are not a good place for beginners to learn how to dance. With so much emphasis on performances at the Congress they overwhelmingly get instructors who essentially teach performance dancing. The instructors teach long complicated patterns that no on would use in a social dance situation. However, I can see that this is appealing and interesting to the many performers attending the Congress. Once again, it is a matter of expectations.

Should there be or are there Congresses out there that focus on social dancing? That have a few good instructors that teach social dance skills? That teach about the music? Salsa history? That have good live bands? That have social dancing that starts early in the evening or maybe during the daytime as well. That are located in a beautiful place with sightseeing potential? I'm sure SFer's can mention events in there area that meet some of these criteria. At this point in my salsa journey I'm not looking to go to a dance event with a 1000 people. I still prefer to sample small local scenes in different places.
 
salsamarty said:
Since Congresses tend to draw international attendance I can see the appeal of wanting to go to a Congress to dance and meet with people from other places and for the potential to have a long intense party weekend. Personally, I prefer to travel to a city and sample their regular local dance scene. I would much prefer to dance at LVG in New York than go to the NY Congress.
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NY, LA and a few other big cities are exception. Having traveled a fair bit and sampled local scenes at multiple places, it can be very underwhelming. E.g. for all the talk of Amsterdam, I went to three or four socials in a week I was there, including one out of town which was highly recommended. The experience was more akin to Monday nights at Cocomo. It was far worse in India, when I was there last month (inspite of the fact my visit coincided with Oliver Pineda's workshops and him attending the socials). Bottomline, you can't have LVG type experience everywhere. You can't have one tenth of LVG type experience in most places.

Hence the appeal of congresses as you rightly pointed out. You do get to dance with better dancers from other parts of the world in one place. The music will be usually better with a good live band as well. Traveling can be fun.
 
Offbeat said:
NY, LA and a few other big cities are exception. Having traveled a fair bit and sampled local scenes at multiple places, it can be very underwhelming. E.g. for all the talk of Amsterdam, I went to three or four socials in a week I was there, including one out of town which was highly recommended. The experience was more akin to Monday nights at Cocomo. It was far worse in India, when I was there last month (inspite of the fact my visit coincided with Oliver Pineda's workshops and him attending the socials). Bottomline, you can't have LVG type experience everywhere. You can't have one tenth of LVG type experience in most places.

Hence the appeal of congresses as you rightly pointed out. You do get to dance with better dancers from other parts of the world in one place. The music will be usually better with a good live band as well. Traveling can be fun.
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You definitely have to do your research before attending an unknown dance scene in a new city. SalsaForums is a great resource for doing this research. I find salsa Congresses to be sufficiently unappealing that I won't go to them even if they are the only dance venue in town.
 
salsamarty said:
You definitely have to do your research before attending an unknown dance scene in a new city. SalsaForums is a great resource for doing this research. I find salsa Congresses to be sufficiently unappealing that I won't go to them even if they are the only dance venue in town.
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I don't travel to dance. I happen to dance when I am traveling somewhere. Therefore doing research is moot :) If I have to travel to dance, then it would mostly be a congress and for a 3 day weekend (or four at most, though I haven't done that). I only traveled to NY once for dancing on a long weekend. Given minimum five hours flight plus time difference, traveling on a short weekender to out of town, puts most desirable places out of reach logistically.

Why do you find a salsa congress unappealing? :) We can take that offline :) :)
 
Offbeat said:
Why do you find a salsa congress unappealing?
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I prefer a smaller more intimate venue. I feel the same about music concerts. My first preference is not to go to an event with 500+ people. And Congresses tend to be performance oriented and, as I said, I'm only willing to indulge that aspect of salsa 1x per year in San Francisco. I don't go for the workshops because I've found most instructors to be not very good. So a Congress doesn't have much appeal for me.
 
My biggest gripe with shows are that often time there are so many.
For example, Berlin Salsa Congress has so many shows (every day) it becomes mind-numbing after a while (though there are some very good ones and they give the possibility for lesser known groups and even some quite different than Salsa\Bachata\Kizomba). I think they are necessary though, because it's ment as pure entertainment and some people will go to a venue purely to see a group perform (we all know at least one group that you'll see at EVERY congress). Sadly, there are alot of dancers nowadays who don't value to simply enjoy the groups that are showing what they've been studying\training for about 5 to 8 hours a week (at least), but use that moment to judge the skills of the performers and comment how it should be. If i could have a dime for every time i've been watching a show and people near me either complained about speed of song, skill of dancers, clothes the dancers are wearing, how the music installation is or something similar..
 
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