The 2007 Chicago International Salsa Congress
February 15-18, 2007 @ The Westin O'Hare
By
Shirley Fastner
Amazingly, we
have made it to year SIX already with our
wonderful annual Chicago International Salsa
Congress. Those of us who would never even
consider missing this event (and who know
better), went into training long beforehand
for this marathon of 3 days and 4 nights!
With events spanning daily from 9:30 a.m.
until 3 a.m., you need to be in your best
form if you expect to last the full stretch!
The best part is that a Congress is like a
family reunion with the global family of salsa!
For those who
did not attend, the format here is the following:
an opening night evening show, followed by
a live band and dancing, then workshops all
the next day, a 5 p.m. early show, evening
show somewhere around 9 p.m. and the band
and dancing around midnight continuing until
about 3 a.m. Then you get up and do it all
over again the next day. And the next day.
Yes, you are living salsa round the clock.
It is very difficult to get to classes first
thing in the morning with the bands and dancing
continuing until 3 a.m. You have to pick one
end or the other as the weekend progresses,
I guess.
As usual, the
quality of the international workshop instructors
was wonderful. Even if you can't remember
all that you learn here, or you already know
everything, I believe that your overall style,
improves if it is only from a few pointers
to fine tune your dancing. The effect lingers,
even if you don't videotape. With five class
sessions a day and often around five different
workshops to choose from in a given time slot,
it was like being a kid in a candy store.
Sometimes your selections were limited depending
on your choice of on 1 or 2. The 15 minute
break between classes is just right. The lectures
were excellent as well. If Carlos Latalladi,
who held one of these, does not know the answer
to any question about any Latin musical artist,
no one does. I was amazed to learn that he
also still spins vinyl at times for its fuller
quality. Mike Bello's lecture on the clave
is always a must. He explains the music specifically
for dancers. Mike does say that dancing on
2 would be more true to the music, but also
that the real key is to work harder on your
follow regardless of what your partner is
dancing, that is if you are a follow (and
your lead is not dancing on, say, 10!)
Jayson Molina's
class was only on 2 (instead of on 1 & 2 as
was written). Sometimes instructors just start
dancing in front of the class and, I suppose,
expect everyone to follow them without teaching
or saying anything. Even though it is often
said that the solution is to dance on both
1 and 2, in reality most people seem to need
to focus on one or the other and will learn
their moves on their preferred beat. Therefore,
if you take a class on the opposite style,
you may spend all of your time working to
get that beat instead of on the actual styling
or shine being taught. I have so much fun
in Juan Calderon's classes and always pick
up some tip regarding an area I could improve
upon. And he ALWAYS breaks everything down
for everyone - on 1, on 2 and PR 2. My first
class with Troy and Jorget was excellent as
well.
Miguel Mendez
smoothly emceed the 5 p.m. shows which lasted
about an hour and were entertaining and creative.
Rumba Brava, consisting of 24 kids from Ponce,
Puerto Rico, was truly one of the major standouts
of the entire Congress complete with some
of the tiniest performers of all and incredible
professionalism and finesse. They never left
character even to the point of performing
"good-bye" in unison and dance-walking
down the aisle for their exit from the ballroom.
This same group also had one fantastic couple
after another performing in the big Sunday
Youth Showcase which was composed of 15 acts
in all! Brandon and Selena are reliably top
notch and fabulous to watch and I never tire
of watching their wonderful choreography and
execution.
I was surprised
to learn that Jimmy Bosch, whom I consider
an integral member, was not with the Grammy
winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra for Thursday
night's opening musical act. Jimmy does perform
on his own as well, so maybe he was busy but
he did grace the picture on the Congress promo
card. Perhaps he was worn out from last year's
Congress when he sat in with every band!
On Friday night
vocalist Azuquita, Julito Alvarado & Alfredo
de la Fe (who sat in on violin with a few
of the bands and seems to like our Congress)
played with the Chicago Salsa Congress All
Stars, who are all local musicians. Azuquita
(A/K/A Luis Camilo Argumedes Rodriguez of
Panama) has been performing for over 40 years.
Although CISC are all professional musicians,
the cohesion is not the same as the headliner
playing with his own band. Inevitably, this
makes for a bit of unevenness, but expenses
are a factor.
Saturday night
began with a tribute to Lisa Montes (the mother
of Chicagoan Samantha Montes, who together
with partner, Chino performs so admirably).
Pink ribbons were passed out for the fight
against breast cancer which, unfortunately,
Lisa lost this past year. The creativity and
costumes of so many of these groups from all
over the world was too abundant to mention
all here. Andy Cruz, with his innovative choreography
and various groups, always stands out as he
is involved with so many young performers.
The evening showcases
were hosted by the entertaining Ray Rubio
who was as hilarious as ever. I hope he graces
the stage for all of the years to come. (By
the way, he is on the air on Saturdays at
1 p.m. on AM 1240.) Progress was made in scheduling
the evening shows at 8 p.m. instead of 9,
with the idea that the bands could get in
earlier to do their sound check, but even
on the nights we got in close to 8 p.m., the
actual show didn't usually start till at least
9 p.m. and the checks somehow pushed the written
start time of 10:30 p.m. to midnight or later,
which is tough after a full day already. I
know this congress is a labor of love, but
maybe the bands could be listed as performing
at 11:30 or 12, so we do not all stand around
thinking the doors will open at 10:30.
On Saturday night
Sammy Garcia and Sabor de Puerto Rico, who
have only been together for six months, were
super high energy all the way through, especially
with the typical salsa choreography of the
3 vocalists. Wilfredo, Joselito & Jesus looked
like they were having so much fun, that it
was definitely contagious. Sammy, who has
played congas with everyone, was great and
his band clearly plays for salseros!
As the Congress
is as much about cultural diversity as it
is anything else, having the Chinese New Year
dance spectacle was a fabulous surprise, as
after all, Sunday actually was the Chinese
New Year. This performance was truly a beautiful
touch to be highly commended and a crowd pleaser.
The Sunday show
stretched us to our limits waiting for Puerto
Rican Power, having heard so much about them.
It was a shame to have a newcomer opening
act start at around midnight on a Sunday night,
which meant PRP did not come on until almost
1 a.m.! (This brought on deja vu from the
last night of 2006 with the same late start.)
As Carmen Latus, the opening act, is from
Milwaukee, I am sure we would have the opportunity
to see her competent act locally unlike PRP.
Nonetheless, Puerto Rican Power was certainly
worth the wait and even Sammy Garcia sat in
on congas with them. This band, led by Luisito
Ayala on horns, has been around in one form
or another since the 70's, playing even for
the infamous Fania All-Stars label as well.
I am sure you recognized many of PRP's songs
as they do so much of their own material unlike
so many artists out there today.
Although, as
we were on year six in Chicago and a lot more
experience had been gained and certain issues
worked out, there were still the usual glitches
- some avoidable, some not. As we need to
be in the solution not the problem, one of
the standard rumblings that seems to come
up is the determination of whether a particular
workshop is on 1 or 2. Sometimes it is not
what is stated on the schedule or it is stated
that it will be on 1 AND 2, but that was not
always the case. Along those lines, sometimes
in one time slot of multiple classes there
were no classes on 1 at all. Although this
is an international congress and people come
from everywhere, the majority of people in
Chicago and environs dance on 1, so it would
be helpful if there were at least one class
per session on 1. The schedules seemed to
stay unchanged this year - no last minute
changes. I am forced to add that being able
to dance in a smoke free environment as it
is at the Congress is huge for Chicago. That
alone has me there already!
I still think
the Congress should be downtown so more people
who thought it too far could attend and it
would be more central so that our out of town
guests could step out the door and see some
of our fair city on a break. However, I have
to say that the Westin was a wonderful setting
and the staff went ABOVE AND BEYOND to be
accommodating at every step of the way. It
always seems to be the most freezing weekend,
but what better way to spend it than to be
dancing all day and night!
Despite the fact
that by Sunday night we were all dead, it
was like being at camp and we never wanted
it to end! When Monday morning rolled around,
I was still ready to wake up and pick out
my workshops! And all of us still have that
afterglow of a fabulous weekend and are already
looking forward to the 2008 Congress! If you
failed to attend this one, DO NOT miss 2008!
Pictures courtesy
of Miguel Mendez & SalsaChicago.com.
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