Whats happenening to Congresses?

O

Oki_On2

Changui
I'll start with a hello to everyone.
I live in Okinawa, a small island part of but seperate to mainland japan and so I am always very excited to try and attend congresses on this side of the world. Recently I found out about the 10 year(?) anniversary congress for Tokyo and their new "rule set."
1) Every member in your team will pay 13000yen ( roughly $120) to perform, per routine. This will be counted as a free pass to all workshops and events for (only) THAT day.
2) You will send in an audition Video of your routine along with a 4000yen ($35) prior to attending the congress.
3) Yoru routine must be made brand new specifically for the 2008 japan salsa congress.
4) you will sign something that says that if you perform this routine at any other congress, you will specify that you made this routine for the Japan salsa congress.
5) the routine will be no more than 2:15 if it is your first time, 2:30 if you performed the year before, 3:00 if you performed in LA, etc.
6) If you are not performing, its about $30 per workshop, $40-50 for performances, and $40-50 for the party afterwards.

now all this info is translated rougly over to english so If I missed or messed something up, forgive me but I just had to bring up the fact that these congresses are getting out of hand. sorry if I ruined anything for anyone.

Guess I'll stick to local parties and the Korea congress next week, see you guys there!
 
part of the reason why i prefer attending the smaller congresses. warmer and friendlier and less of that commercial-trying-to-rip-me-off feeling

j
 
Hello Oki_On2! :waves:

Oki_On2 said:
Recently I found out about the 10 year(?) anniversary congress for Tokyo and their new "rule set."
Click to expand...

To be fair, the new rule set is not that different from the rule set from last year - there were always audition fees and performance fees. The "new routine rule" isn't anything new either.

One thing I've noticed about the salsa scene in Japan is that it's very heavily performance-focused. Every teacher seems to perform and run several student teams alongside. Just about everyone from intermediate upwards (and sometimes below :roll:) seems to be either a member or former member of a performance team somewhere. Every event seems to have a showtime set aside to give these teams a chance to perform, which in turn attracts the "supporters" of these teams to the event. This is very different from the social-oriented scene I come from (Scotland/UK). The Japan congress is seen by these hundreds of teams as *the* place to showcase their work, and frankly, if every one of them were allowed to perform there, it would make the event totally boring for non-performers like me. The charges and the "new routine" rule should deter some of the lesser teams from entering, and the time limits on routines (shorter overall than last year's limits) are very welcome indeed.

Oki_On2 said:
6) If you are not performing, its about $30 per workshop, $40-50 for performances, and $40-50 for the party afterwards.
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My understanding is it's $30 per workshop, $40-50 for each party night (shows + dancing), and $40-50 for the all-night after-party on Sunday. A full pass should be available again this year, and it will work out a bit cheaper than this. The full pass for last year's Japan congress was 32,500 yen ($300), which I think was on the par with other congresses around the world (except some of the budget destinations :lol: - Turkey congress for 90 EUR must be hard to beat).

Oki_On2 said:
Guess I'll stick to local parties and the Korea congress next week, see you guys there!
Click to expand...
Have a great time at the Korea congress - I hear it's great. It sounds like the whole of the Tokyo salsa scene is going (except me! :().
 
Oki_On2 said:
I'll start with a hello to everyone.
I live in Okinawa, a small island part of but seperate to mainland japan and so I am always very excited to try and attend congresses on this side of the world. Recently I found out about the 10 year(?) anniversary congress for Tokyo and their new "rule set."
1) Every member in your team will pay 13000yen ( roughly $120) to perform, per routine. This will be counted as a free pass to all workshops and events for (only) THAT day.
2) You will send in an audition Video of your routine along with a 4000yen ($35) prior to attending the congress.

5) the routine will be no more than 2:15 if it is your first time, 2:30 if you performed the year before, 3:00 if you performed in LA, etc.
Click to expand...

You didn't mention what the "old" rule set was. They must have a lot of performance teams submitting audition videos and a lot of people who want to perform on several teams. There are far too many congresses and similar events in the US for anyone to charge quite that much. It sounds like the Tokyo event doesn't have to worry about other Japan salsa congresses.
 
Oki_On2 said:
...2) You will send in an audition Video of your routine along with a 4000yen ($35) prior to attending the congress.
3) Yoru routine must be made brand new specifically for the 2008 japan salsa congress.
...
5) the routine will be no more than 2:15 if it is your first time, 2:30 if you performed the year before, 3:00 if you performed in LA, etc.
...
now all this info is translated rougly over to english so If I missed or messed something up, forgive me but I just had to bring up the fact that these congresses are getting out of hand. sorry if I ruined anything for anyone.
Click to expand...

These here are good rules. Audition videos allow the organizers to keep the quality of performances high. remember that the people who go to congresses to see shows want, after all, the best possible show.

Brand new routine rule is great. As much as I love some dance teams, it gets a bit frustrating to see them perform the same routine all year at the same congresses. This rule promotes the true professional troupes that dedicate enough time to develop new material and limits the lenght of shows, which is another thing show goers always complain about.

Time limits on choreographies are great also. No matter how good a couple is, after three minutes (four minutes for a troupe) I feel like watching someone else. Rememeber that a good performer always leaves the audience wanting more.

Congresses are not getting out of hand. Sub-par, overly long shows are. I am glad that some organizers are protecting their investments and the investment of the ticket buying attendees to limit the lenght of shows and improve the over all quality.
 
i agree that some of the rules make sense, but others are out of step with the salsa mindset i experience here in new york. the rule whereby you create a new routine for this congress: good! i too am sick of seeing the same routines a million times. if you want to call yourself a pro team, butch up and make a new routine for an important event where people are paying a lot of money to watch you. that's what professional dancers do.

weird rule: the one whereby You Will Forever for Posterity Denote that This Routine was Made Specifically for the Japan Congress if you are Foolish Enough to Perform it Again. um, whatever. there's not the brand cache evident in the salsa world yet (in terms of teams or events) to merit that kind of silliness. i could care less *where* it was performed before (unless my 'care' is motivated by the routine's reputation for awesomeness)... i mostly care that i get to see something new.
 
Well, Im sorry to say, but not EVERYONE has seen any one specific routine at a specific congress. Im sure there are some of you that have the luxury ( not necessarily financially) to be able to say "I just saw that same routine at *insert exotic congress location here* . WTF, why can`t they perform a new one"? Thats why dancers travel with their routines. Its all part the experience, and Im sorry to say, but if you can pump out 3 or 4 routines a year, there is def. something missing in those routines at a semi-pro to pro level.

Pro teams should butch up and make new routines? There is alot of hard work involved in creating one quality routine and it is because of that quality routine that people want to invite you to every congress you can think of and without looking up that actual information, I would say there are ATLEAST 30 different salsa events worldwide. Should they create a new routine for each of about half of those 30 that they will prob. get invites to?

You guys also talk about "filtering" the quality of the content....... what ever happened to the congresses that booked a handful of TOP NOTCH performers and then allowed salsa joe down the street to make a name for himself or just have fun on stage. Regardless of what "filtering" might take place, everyone has different tastes and I can assure you that you will still be bored by someone that night.

Also, you are right, the Tokyo congress has no competition and is therefore a salsa monopoly in japan of sorts, but I feel sad at how comericial things have become. And the rules haven`t always been that way.....def not in `03......

As far as the pricing, the performances and the Party are def. charged seperately if you don`t have a package deal. People are def. escorted out of the building in order to either purchase tickets or wait on line to get back in for the social dancing.
 
Japan congress

Just bumping this thread up to say that the full pass for the Japan congress this year is 32,500 Yen (about $300 USD), which includes the Friday party, Saturday & Sunday workshops, shows & parties and the Sunday after-party. Same price as last year's.

For those who are not interested in workshops, party tickets are available as follows:
Friday (9pm-2am): 4000 Yen
Saturday & Sunday (shows 5.30-8.30pm, dance 8.30-11/11.30pm): 5000 Yen each night
After-party (Sunday midnight- 5am): 5000 Yen

* Sat/Sun party tickets get you in for shows and dancing - but note the early finishing time! (only 2 1/2 - 3 hours of dancing after 3 hours of shows!? :shock: I think they should make the performance rules even tougher to allow more dance time! :roll: And not having any Saturday late-night dancing is just bizarre). Sunday after-party requires a separate ticket.



Anyone coming? :)
 
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