For its second year running, The Original Latin Dance Congress brought together over 1,000 people from over 40 different countries to the AVANI Riverside hotel in Bangkok, Thailand from 6-10 June 2018, for what is now one of the biggest Latin dance festivals in Asia. Here are my top six highlights:
This man doesn’t need any introduction, but as he humbly introduces himself, the class erupts into a round of applause. One of the most important salsa musicians and composers, Jimmy Bosch has been playing the trombone for 45 years and released over 100 records. He gets the class to sit in a circle, and asks us to start clapping the “clave” meaning “key” with our hands. Picking up his trombone, he explains how he’s guided by the clave, the rhythmic pattern which forms the basis of all Afro-Cuban music, and improvises a melody. The first time it doesn’t feel right, because the melody doesn’t fit, so he goes for another round. Understanding the clave, and musicality, which requires a sensitivity or understanding of the music, isn’t just essential for musicians, but also for dancers. One of the most important breakthroughs for beginners, as it was for me, is to understand the clave and the rhythm until your steps naturally fall in the right place to the music. Just by listening to salsa music, you can actually improve your steps without even dancing. When someone raises their hand to ask if the music is different when dancing “On 1” or “On 2”, he says that it’s exactly the same. “Music isn’t written for On 1 or On 2,” he says. It’s the dancing that’s an interpretation of the music, and not the other way around.
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Something that stood out to me was the prominence of the all-male salsa group. Two groups at the Congress – Grupo Alafia and the Full Project– both from Italy, offered classes with fancy footwork (danced alone rather than with a partner) in various styles ranging from Salsa On 2, Pachanga and Cha Cha. Not only did their classes give me happy feet, but they were extremely well-taught and broken down in a way that was easy to follow. Seeing these all-male groups seemed to me to signal a shift away from the stereotype that dance, especially group dance, is a female thing, and instead showing a masculine side with edge and style, but that women can also be part of as well.
This promising couple from Romania/USA took us through Bachata Sensual workshops with so many body waves, shoulder rolls and swaying movements that I felt we were almost floating. I enjoyed Arnold and Wandaisha’s beginner class so much that I joined them again for their intermediate class!
Taught by the Congress’ entertaining MC Roshan Brown, his Rueda de Casino workshop was probably one of the most fun, and the only Cuban-style class on offer. Meaning “wheel”, Rueda comes from 1950s Cuban social dance where couples dance in a circle, and swap partners as the “caller” shouts out the moves, creating a beautiful circular visual effect.
In a tribute to his mentor “Mambo King” Eddie Torres, Adolfo Indacochea and the Latin Soul Dancers put on a show that was smooth, elegant and timeless. When asked what he thinks about their style, Adolfo said that they may not be doing dramatic lifts and twirls, but instead they focus on keeping the style classic. It got me thinking that in salsa performances we see more and more never-ending spins, sometimes on just one leg, and with the female dancer often flying in the air from one sequence to the next. It’s definitely impressive and puts on a show, but it’s also far from the reality of the dance floor and what an amateur dancer can aspire to. What I liked about their style is that it made me travel to another time and feel a sense of nostalgia for a more traditional mambo style, but with elements of modern jazz, flamenco and ballroom that give it a modern twist.
As the final performance on the last day of the Congress, Grupo Alafia and those who had joined their Pachanga challenge bootcamp closed the show in celebration of the group’s 10thanniversary this year. But as they took to the stage and reached their arms out towards the audience, the stars of the Congress, led by Jimmy Bosch, surprised everyone by making their way to join them on stage in a bouncy routine to James Brown’s 1971 Funk hit “Get on up”.
The Original Latin Dance Congress will be back in 2019 for its third edition! Click here to get your discounted tickets.
Behind every dance, there is a story. This book will take you dancing from New York to Buenos Aires, immersing you in the local culture, history, and happiness with every dance step. Aliénor Salmon is represented by Gregory Messina of the Linwood Messina Literary Agency.
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