Are you looking for private lessons? Need help with a move? Got a question for either of us? Let us know here: 
Check for a Confirmation Email...
Katie and I offer privates lessons all over the East Coast (Perhaps beyond). If you are interested in individualized private lessons, partner lessons, or group lessons, please 
Salsa Nights at Penn State are held at SOZO on Beaver Ave every Wednesday from 8pm-12am. Lesson starts at 8pm. Join our 
DC Salsa Congress 2009 Review
Katie and I had the pleasure of going to the 2009 DC Salsa Congress hosted by Shaka Brown of ClaveKazi and iMambo.tv. This was our second appearance at the DC Congress and it was even better than we remembered. There was an abundance of talent (y sabor!) in every room, from instructors, performers, students and vendors. If you didn’t have the salsa bug before, you did after this congress.
Highlights from the DC Salsa Congress 2009
The performances, the workshops, the teachers, the dancers, the vendors, Everything was great at the DC Salsa Congress this year. The video below shows highlights from all the performances plus interviews with Shaka Brown, Betto Herrera, and Darlin Garcia. Enjoy!
Friday started off like most beginnings to a congress: Everyone running on the adrenaline of being at a congress and the anticipation of a full night of dancing coupled with the relief after a long day at work.
The night began with a welcome from Shaka, then straight into a solid 2 hours of performances. There was a great showing of talent, dedication, skill, and some cool tricks, too.
I couldn’t wait to get out on that dance floor. To be honest I was dancing in my seat through out all the performances. I was excited when Shaka finally said those five beautiful words “Get up and Get out” because you know that means; It’s time to set up the dance floor!
The open dance started out slow, but picked up shortly after. Actually it was a good night to dance since there weren’t a BILLION people on the dance floor there was some breathing room to try out some new moves and get in a dance with your favorite YouTube salsa star! We couldn’t quite make it till 3am but we stayed till about 2. That’s pretty good, right? We had a bit of a drive since we didn’t get a hotel this year. Although I HIGHLY recommend getting a hotel room to anyone on the fence; it is great when you want to take a break and chill out.
Shaka Brown, coordinator of the DC Salsa Congress and Katie. Click it for a funny pic!
Saturday morning, after our obligatory Starbucks run 
, we dragged ourselves to our first workshop and prayed that the caffeine would hurry up and kick in.
We started out in Sean and Lisa’s Class Int. Turn Patterns On 2 and were working on a move that was pretty impressive. Sean and Lisa are really fun teachers. Not only was the move interesting but they livened up the class, which is not easy to do with salseros y salseras who are still half asleep from dancing the night before. It got us ready for the rest of the day and back into dance-dance-dance mode.
The second class we went to was Ismael and Shani’s class Int./Adv. On2 Partnerwork. Like the rest of us, they were a little groggy from the previous night of dancing and had a no-nonsense demeanor when teaching the move. Which honestly, we liked ‘cause people tend to talk too much during workshops. The move was really cool, actually they taught two really cool moves and just like his philosophy states it was a simple move that just looks complicated.
We didn’t change partners this class and for me it’s a toss up ( …) “to rotate or not to rotate”. Since Katie and I both went to the class (and we were partners…of course) I was happy not switching partners but I could see how frustrating that would be for “incompatible” partners.
Darlin Garcia of Art in Motion Latin Dancers and Ian. Click it for a funny pic!
The next class was Casino Rueda with Ernesto Reyes of the group Saoco. Now I am a big fan of Rueda. I think it’s such a cool group dance especially the complex stuff. So, I flashed Katie my baby blu… hazels and she begrudgingly agreed. Our instructor was obviously well versed in Rueda and did some cool moves that I had never seen/heard before. (Not complex but fun ones.)
Unfortunately most people there had never taken rueda before and the room was packed which made it hard to hear Ernesto call out the moves. The ‘circle’ was actually more like a rectangle which required us to pay fast attention to the caller (Ernesto) yet since so many people had never done this before there was often a lag in comprehension and execution. Either way it was fun.
Begrudgingly is right. It’s not that I don’t like rueda, but being tossed around at light speed by 100 guys dancing to 100 different beats is not my cup of tea. Rueda needs to be danced ALL TOGETHER otherwise it’s just follower abuse.
After our lunch break I made a quick stop to pick up some new dance shoes from Jose Botta. I got the Silver and Red shoes which are awesome! I can’t stop wearing them. They are perfect if you dance on all types of floors. Like traditional hard wood, concrete, or even brick! I highly recommend them. Click for a picture of Ian, Katie, and Jose Botta.
After getting the shoes we went to Musicality in Open Footwork with Betto from Mambo Dinamico. The workshop included a music lesson on the rhythms in salsa PLUS how certain steps and dances relate to one another. The routine was on point (No, not en pointe balleteros). It was just a great class. There were instruments, a history lesson and even some “singing” involved as well. Chagachoie chagachewy chagachooee um bop.
Betto from Mambo Dinamico with Ian. Click it for a funny pic!
I went to Shani Talmor’s Ladies Styling Class and learned another of her one of a kind shines. It was fun and a little difficult but definitely worth it. I am always forced to move my body in ways that I am not used to when I do her shines and that is the best part.
So while Kaite was off shaking like a Polaroid picture, I went to Born To Salsa’s On1 Partnerwork. Now I am primarily an on1 dancer but having just danced on2 for the last couple hours my brain was defunct to processing on1. Eventually I made it over the hurdle and learned a pretty cool pattern. The best move personally was when we did an open break with left to left, brought her left arm under his left armpit to spin her into a CBL free spin. In the video he holds onto the hand and does a spin – both are cool.
Then the night came – performances. It was the big one – Saturday night. This is when everyone comes out. All the single day passers, the family members, and the Salseros waiting for open dance. Check out the videos under DC Salsa Congress 2009 Performances. They are fantastic.
Social dance time –We were exhausted! We went to just about every event that day; the workshops, the performances, and the open dance. There were a lot of great dancers with their individual style and flair. This is what makes each dance unique and not only fun to do, but watch and admire as well. By the end of the night, the excitement of the open dance was slowly being hindered by our need for sleep. That is a lot of salsa (and not enough chips…hahhaha 
…sorry). We ended up leaving a little early, it was 2am! This is considered early in the salsa world.
Our question of the day -- “If you could dance with one person, who would it be?” Watch their responses!
Sunday OK WAKE UP! It’s late, 9am we gotta run to Starbucks get some caffeine and boogie to the Hilton. We decide that we’ve had enough turn patterns and instead we took Latin Jazz with Descarga Caribe, not knowing what to expect. Fortunately it was cha cha cha and it was pretty awesome. A lot of expressive hand motion, footwork, and body movements. We really enjoyed it.
Staying with that theme the next class was with Cha Cha Cha Shines with Shaka. The class was huge; obviously, everyone wanted to take a class with Shaka. He had two lovely assistants who made their way through the big crowd and demonstrated the move on the floor so that everyone could see the footwork he was teaching. This was very much appreciated. Although we rotated the lines, it was sometimes hard to see him from all the way in the back.
The move was pretty cool and I got it all, up until we had to turn 90°. That screwed me up. It’s funny how comfortable I was facing the stage and doing the steps but as soon as I changed directions my confidence and ability must have jumped out the window and was plummeting towards the ground. I couldn’t remember most of the moves I had done seconds ago. Either way, I think I love chachacha and I need to learn more.
Next we split up: Katie to On1 Styling with Vianette Silva and I went to Mambo Dinamico’s On2 Turn Patterns with Betto.
Vianette is just about the cutest little thing. Her class was late in the day on Sunday and we were all a little tired, but she was so peppy and smiley throughout the class that she brought our spirits up and made learning the shine fun. Vianette was also wearing super cute hot pink shoes, and anyone who knows me, knows that is my favorite color and that alone was enough of a reason to go to her class 
In Mambo Dinamico’s On2 Turn Patterns workshop, Betto taught a great pattern including body rolls (Oh yea….I like), ronde, and other fun stuff. Here it is below.
So we broke for lunch and we ran to Chipotle which Katie objected to but we had to ’cause we wanted to get back for the brownbag lunch with Shaka and Friends. The meeting was great, informative, we got to stick our face in there like “hi, can we be best friends now?”
Any guesses about the last class we took… very good to those who answered… it was ChaChaCha with Bernardo de la Vega -- we were on a cha-cha roll!
Bernardo De La Vega’s Cha Cha Cha Class was weird at first, him, talking about how dancing causes him to make animals noises because he gets so excited. But, it actually was kind of fun and we learned a great little cha cha cha shine that was easy to remember and that we could repeat that night during open dance. I love when I can remember the shine well enough to practice that night. There is so much information, that it is easy to get a total mental block.
We saw his performance the night before. It was pretty awesome. The class was great, definitely an amicable instructor. He stressed that perfection and subtlety in technique is much more beneficial than learning a bunch of moves back to back.
Sunday night performances – lots of great acts, a magic trick, shiny costumes and more. The crowd was sparser than the previous night, mostly populated by those who bought full passes and those performing/teaching. Still a decent crowd though. Check out the videos in the performance section below -- they are awesome!
Social dancing was pretty cool. I got a couple dances in but unfortunately we had to go early again. Katie had work in DC the next morning and I had to drive back home for work, too. Boring!
Bottom Line!
Overall it was an amazing event. Better 10 fold then last year. Shaka and his team deserve all the praise and admiration for hosting another successful congress. We can’t wait till next year!
Notable Salseros
Norbetto “Betto” Herrera – Mambo Dinamico
Betto with Joy Manning started Mambo Dinamico in 2002 to fill the void of On2 Instructors in North Carolina. Betto has a long history of dance instilled from childhood. He has continued to improve and expand his craft through the envelopment of various dance styles like mambo, salsa, cumbia, quebradito, ballroom, tango, ballet, and jazz. Prior to his creation of Mambo Dinamico, Betto studied under some great teachers like Ismael Otero of Caribbean Soul before joining the military in 2000. While in the military he even taught beginner classes to his fellow marines. You can learn more about Betto and Mambo Dinamico at his website http://www.mambodinamico.com.
Darlin Garcia – Art In Motion Latin Dancers
Darlin Garcia… creative dancer, performer and instructor and with a love for salsa that is evident in his sizzling and fast paced choreographies. He has participated in dance competitions in Puerto Rico’s salsa open, World Salsa Federation 2002, Montreal Salsa Open. After placing 1st in the On2 division at the 2006 Philadelphia Salsa Congress, he went on to place 3rd at the ESPN Vegas World Salsa Championships 2006 (On1 Division). Darlin is one of the original members of Salseros Unidos, and former dancer of Cultural Explosion Dance Company. He is now part of Art in Motion Latin Dancers, of which he is one of the original founding member, and lead choreographer (http://www.aimlatindancers.com). He is also the choreographer for Mas Estilo, a Philadelphia-based youth dance group, which has performed both locally and nationally.
DC Salsa Congress 2009 Performances
DC Salsa Congress 2009 Workshops
*The functionality of theses galleries is such that when you click the next page on one it will change on both. Therefore by page 3 of the Performances you will not see any Workshops. You will have to go back to page 1 or 2. We’re working on fixing this problem. Thanks for you patience.
Photos from the DC Salsa Congress 2009
Check out Nuevotec’s photos from the congress. Nuevotec will also be putting together a gallery of social dances. We will keep you updated when they go online.
DC Salsa Congress 2009 Social Dances
Check out more social videos recorded by Nuevotec -- Social Dances DC Salsa Congress 2009
DC Salsa Congress 2009 Instructors
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
Good Luck!
Subscribe to I Live Salsa
