Which Salsa Congresses Or Major Events Do You Plan To Attend in 2015?

UchimaSalsa said:
I'll certainly go to Rovinj in Croatia and Warsaw el Sol.
Benidorm maybe.
Even though I live in London, I don't like the location at the opposite side of the city for 5*. I don't see myself travelling everyday by tube there. Why don't they organise it at a central place.
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2016 should bring you some cheer: There'll be two Central London congresses next year, the SoS one and the UKDC.
 
Can I use this thread to talk about events I am banning? I was going to go to the Vienna Salsa Congress, until they announced they are sold out and no longer selling individual party passes at the door (I only wanted to attend 1 or 2 parties, so it didn't make sense to buy a full pass). They tried to pull the same shenanigans last year, but in the end they sold party passes at the door. I'm sure that passes will magically become available at the door at the last minute, but I just don't agree with the way they have communicated to the public, which is: if you don't buy a pass, you are not getting in. Okay, so I guess I won't be participating in your overpriced event with no headliners and no live band.
 
Smejmoon said:
Update and review.
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Added subjective ratings for Dancing, Music, Atmosphere, Location

Stars of Salsa
Dancing - 3, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 3, Location - 4
Three awesome dances, I was there only for 2 nights.

Mambo Nights B-day
Dancing - 3, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 5 (because of pre/after parties), Location - 4

Tallinn Salsa Festival
Dancing - 4, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 4, Location - 4
It's hit and miss each year, sometimes better sometimes worse, organizers change often.

Mambo City 5*
Dancing - 3, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 3 (or 4 if rum is counted in, drinking is kinda necessary), Location - 2
Great dancing after 2AM, too many people, not that good band, no air, bad floor, had some mind blowing dances as well - this is London.

Istanbul IDF
Dancing - 4, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 4, Location - 4
Too many shows, bit too Islamic culture, warm and friendly atmosphere, great Turkish people.

Prague Salsa Marathon
Dancing - 3 (few dancers, range of levels), Music 5 (something I experienced only here, great music at meal times, relaxed djs playing for fun, it got worse at prime dancing time, when usual stuff got played), Atmosphere - 5 (most friendly), Location - 5 (great place and Prague was blooming at that time).
Tons of music, great environment, great food included in price, lacked Czech people.

Vilnius Salsa Festival
Dancing - 3, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 5+, Location - 4
So buzzworthy, started losing steps in last day.

Riga Salsa Festival
Dancing - 4, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 5+, Location - 5+
Great atmosphere, little sleep, it's my home town, so atmosphere and location probably get extra point from me, YMMV.

3rd Front reload
Dancing - 5+, Music - 5, Atmosphere - 5+, Location - 5+ (except getting Russian visa, which is expensive).
The only thing this event was missing for me was great live bands.

Bachaturo
Dancing - 4, Music - 4 (it was more radical in salsa room, because it's bachata fest, YMMV), Atmosphere - 3, Location - 4.

Belarusian Salsa festival
Dancing - 4, Music - 4, Atmosphere - 5, Location - 3.
Tiny fests are easier to make great, but they are more volatile. Many locals did not come. Did I say it was tiny?

Berlin Salsa congress
Dancing - 4 (great from 3AM till 7AM), Music - 3 (good in afterparties), Atmosphere - 4 (but you have to take your own people), Location - 2.

Warsaw Salsa Festival
Dancing - 5, Music - 4+ (too much romantica, live bands awesome), Atmosphere - 5, Location - 4.
All around might be better than Rostov, because some people like shows and workshops and live bands. Dance wise Rostov has the highest level. Like Rovinj this festival is getting too big.

Riga Bachata festival
Dancing - 3, Music - 3, Atmosphere - 3, Location - 3 (but it's 10 minutes ride from my house and I had couple great Salsa dances there)

Baltic Fever festival
Dancing - 4 (not enough people on Sunday), Music - 3 (too much romantica), Atmosphere - 4, Location - 5
This fest pleasantly surprised me. I thought it will be mostly bachata, kizomba, but there was dedicated salsa room on all days except Sunday and many good salsa dancers. I even took classes on Saturday.)


Dancing: I like dancers who can, who play with music and myself, improvisation and musicality. I do select my dance partners and over years we start to know each other and it gets better and better. Basically, in larger fests I always have someone good to dance with.
Music: I don't like whiny salsa (romantica), I like surprises, unusual music. Don't like too much bachata (more than 4 per night) and no kizomba please.
Atmosphere is very subjective - half of it really depends on people I know beforehand. But in Prague I did not know anyone beforehand and became friends with quite a few.
Location - is about where events happen, how to get there for me, where to stay and the city in general. I like to go for a hikes in the area in the morning.

I might have forgotten something - probably some nice local events. La Rumbantela monthly in Kaunas is usually very good. I was to several smaller events in Moscow - some where very good. And some very good smaller events in Istanbul, I don't remember names. There was great event in Munich - don't remember name as well. Also sometimes weekly parties in Riga have higher level than some fests above, but that's highly volatile.
 
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This is a great listing but with regard to the "dance" ratings, which for some is an essential category, it is probably only useful for leads, as the experiences of leads versus follows tend to vary widely at most salsa events, including congresses, to the point where they are exactly opposite (for example if the lead/follow ratio is very off one direction or the other). So we need a woman (or several) to do the same ratings :)
 
Sabrosura said:
This is a great listing but with regard to the "dance" ratings, which for some is an essential category, it is probably only useful for leads, as the experiences of leads versus follows tend to vary widely at most salsa events, including congresses, to the point where they are exactly opposite (for example if the lead/follow ratio is very off one direction or the other). So we need a woman (or several) to do the same ratings :)
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Probably. Some of it is about nurturing relationship, dancing the way that she wants to find you at the next festival and make sure you go there. Some of it is about getting to know dancers you like who introduce you to other dancers you might like. For example Berlin congress seemed not too good event for me. But because it was so big - there were more than enough great dances for me; and also people introduced me to others. Or in Warsaw, when I stole a lady from @thepresenceon2 she was later happy to dance with me more, then one more from his satellites noticed me and asked for a dance and thus both of them later invited me on the facebook and we'll dance again. Great dancers, but I never danced with them before and with one of them I was scared to. :) Or what happened in Rostov where people did not know me - one good dancer agreed to dance with me, then asked for second dance, and then started to bring her girlfriends. :D And that's a tough crowd - they invite best social dancing dudes from all of the world. I even had a warning once from the stranger, that if I won't be musical, I might as well go home. Or corrections on the dance floor (very appropriate and and humbling).

I've never bothered about ratios too much. If I don't have enough follows, I steal them from others, if there are too many I dance with two at the time. Also I can dance by myself if music is great - no problem. Almost always in parties with 20 or more people, there are guys and girls waiting to dance and not inviting each other. Go figure.
 
Smejmoon said:
I even had a warning once from the stranger, that if I won't be musical, I might as well go home. Or corrections on the dance floor (very appropriate and and humbling).
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Lol and they call on2 people snobs, looks like it can get much worse :p

What kind of corrections were they giving if you don't mind sharing the stories? Just curious :)
 
I don't think they are snobs though. They're just highly qualified. But there is no problem to improvise. So I asked Masha Vanyushina for a dance; and then after first bars of my struggle, she's saying - "this is son, son", then I say - "I know, I just don't know how to dance it, but I'll try", - and she's like "OK, son". And nothing bad happened. I get to dance with her again later. :) In Warsaw she did with me what she's done with your former idol FM and many other salsa stars - destroyed in boogaloo shines. It was fun. :)
 
Smejmoon said:
Probably. Some of it is about nurturing relationship, dancing the way that she wants to find you at the next festival and make sure you go there. Some of it is about getting to know dancers you like who introduce you to other dancers you might like. For example Berlin congress seemed not too good event for me. But because it was so big - there were more than enough great dances for me; and also people introduced me to others. Or in Warsaw, when I stole a lady from @thepresenceon2 she was later happy to dance with me more, then one more from his satellites noticed me and asked for a dance and thus both of them later invited me on the facebook and we'll dance again. Great dancers, but I never danced with them before and with one of them I was scared to. :) Or what happened in Rostov where people did not know me - one good dancer agreed to dance with me, then asked for second dance, and then started to bring her girlfriends. :D And that's a tough crowd - they invite best social dancing dudes from all of the world. I even had a warning once from the stranger, that if I won't be musical, I might as well go home. Or corrections on the dance floor (very appropriate and and humbling).

I've never bothered about ratios too much. If I don't have enough follows, I steal them from others, if there are too many I dance with two at the time. Also I can dance by myself if music is great - no problem. Almost always in parties with 20 or more people, there are guys and girls waiting to dance and not inviting each other. Go figure.
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Satellites, dude you're hilarious.. Re the stealing, I think that was the first time I saw you on the floor and the dancer I was dancing with is awesome and I trusted your lead so it was all in good fun.. Rewarded by more dances between you guys. I'm curious as to who you were scared of... Lol, you can pm the answer if you'd like. Also replying to your point that there are tons of people on the side not dancing and not asking one another, guys and girls... There probably is usually a unbalanced ratio because I think generally, more girls dance than guys, but I always ask and I'm always dancing so follows see that and I think it reduces the tension of asking me to dance and also if I make eye contact with you, I'll ask.. I assume everyone is there to dance... ( sometimes your friends aren't too happy that you were dancing with everyone else..) . Also some of it is remaining flexible, not everyone wants to be locked up in partner work and not everyone wants to shine a ton, part of the dance is picking up on that and making your partner comfortable in that space in that dance, with you. That experience is remembered and also observed leading to more dances... I think I'm veering off topic..
 
This is for Smejmoon: After all these years of reading your posts, I am still trying to figure out if you like dancing On2 or not. I am getting the impression that you think it's overrated. Puzzled!!
 
MAMBO_CEC said:
This is for Smejmoon: After all these years of reading your posts, I am still trying to figure out if you like dancing On2 or not. I am getting the impression that you think it's overrated. Puzzled!!
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Depends with whom. ;) It's obviously overrated. But my favorite style is freestyle. In these events I dance mostly on2. But I always ask people I don't know. And people I know sometimes say - I want to try on1 or on2. The Dude abides.
 
So what is the review of Vienna? From pictures it looks like Riga, but a bit smaller. And quite a few imported good dancers. So it could be great place to dance after all, is money is not the problem.
 
Smejmoon said:
So what is the review of Vienna? From pictures it looks like Riga, but a bit smaller. And quite a few imported good dancers. So it could be great place to dance after all, is money is not the problem.
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Here is my incomplete review, but I am a staple in the Vienna scene so I can compare it to the previous 2 years and also to the local scene. IMO, this year was a disaster.

I only attended 1 party - The Saturday Gala party.

They refused to sell individual tickets, so if you came from out of town and didn't already have a pass, you were out of luck.

I got in because I swapped wristbands with a friend who didn't want to attend Saturday's party. I know many others who did the same.

On Friday (from hearsay since I didn't attend), the sound system didn't work properly and you couldn't hear the music unless you were standing right at the front of the stage/DJ area. The police were also called because of complaints from the neighbors who demanded to keep the volume down. From what I heard, the volume got better around 2am or so, so half the night was wasted from a dancing standpoint.

On Saturday (the party I did attend), the volume was also way too low. The music and volume picked up again around 2am (how they didn't manage to solve the problem from the previous night remains a mystery). Dancing was so-so, but I didn't dance a lot. I felt that it was a typical party for me since I know most of the Austrian/Slovak dancers already. The venue wasn't even close to full. It was about 60% filled to capacity.

Didn't attend Sunday\s party, and I have no idea how the party went. Don't really care either.

Also, I heard that the Bachata dancers felt cheated because they advertised a separate Bachata room, but they didn't have one. Instead, they had a Kizomba room playing (obviously) mostly Kizomba. The funny thing is that KIzomba isn't that big in Vienna, and so I have no idea why they decided to opt for a Kizomba only room.

Basically, if you want to spend your hard earned money for this event, go right ahead. But if you have the option of going to other festivals around Europe, skip Vienna.

The technical problems were inexcusable for an international event of this magnitude. I really can't think of many positives this year. Last year in the old venue was much much better despite the smaller capacity. They didn't even utilize the larger capacity this year, and not being able to purchase individual party tickets was a horrible organizational decision.

Correction: they did sell individual tickets for Sunday's party. It was announced on their facebook page a few hours before the party itself. Again, too little too late.

It you are going to make a business decision (albeit a horrible one), stick to it!
 
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thepresenceon2 said:
Satellites, dude you're hilarious.. Re the stealing, I think that was the first time I saw you on the floor and the dancer I was dancing with is awesome and I trusted your lead so it was all in good fun.. Rewarded by more dances between you guys. I'm curious as to who you were scared of... Lol, you can pm the answer if you'd like.
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The funny thing is that now I think it's another girl who made me nervous when dancing with Danie, lol. Same red hair, freckles, awesome dancer, and I met them both in SOS. But connection/communication difference in dance is huge. This girl still makes me nervous, thanks gods she asks me to dance sometimes. Friend brought me to her and said we should dance. Then she said that she has already danced with me, even though it was approximately 3 years ago and we've never talked.

Whatever, it's 2018 and world is still full of wonders!
 
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