A Turbulent Salsa Dance Year 2010

The year 2010 has been – and still is – very turbulent with all its natural, political and social-economic disasters. Salsa dancers and Salsa dance organizations from all around the world have had to deal in one way or the other with the consequences of these factors causing havoc and misfortune.

But, there have also been great developments in the international Salsa year of 2010. This is the perfect time for a short review.

For starters, we have seen an exponential global growth of international Salsa Dance Congresses, Salsa Festivals, Salsa Workshops, Salsa Bootcamps, Salsa Schools and Salsa Classes worldwide in 2010 despite of (or caused by) the continuing economic & financial crises. This 'Big Boom' of the Salsa dance industry – which started around 1995  -  has been contra-productive for some “Salsa Congress/Festival Fortune Seekers” trying to emulate the success of their predecessors. A great examples of the latter can be found in the article series “Queen Salsa Festival Bremen had No Money to pay Artists” ending with the article “Give me the pincode right now!”. More Salsa congresses and festivals were organized in the same weekend and even in the same city. The two-part article “Confusion between the two Salsa Festivals of Paris” is a great example of the consequences of non collaboration between Salsa festival organizers.

Natural Disasters Affecting International Salsa Dancing
International Salsa event organizers had to brace themselves for the consequences of natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption in Iceland (April, 2010), the water floods in India (August 2010) and the heavy snowfall, which started at the beginning of December and is still going on today , December 24, 2010.

Sexy Dances Conquering the Global Salsa Scene
This year, sexy and sensual dancing has taken over the international Salsa scene by storm. Bachata dancing has had a constant growth, starting around 2005, and has had an explosive growth in 2010 with not only combined international Salsa and Bachata Festivals, but also with exclusive Bachata Dance weekends and websites. Brazilian Zouk dance is also starting to take a prominent place at several international Salsa events and Kizomba is the fastest growing dance craze taking huge leaps in 2010.

Watch this video clip of international Salsa artists Nuno and Vanda (Portugal) dancing a sensual Kizomba dance.

The Internet and Salsa Dance Apps
2010 has also seen a huge growth in online Salsa websites, magazines, dance tutorials and entertainment. The means for Salsa students to advance in Salsa dance level without the help of “real life” Salsa instruction has also taken a huge leap in this year. The most remarkable combinations of Salsa dance instruction, Musicality and the Internet of 2010 are the dance gadgets “Salsa Rhythm Machine Software” (January, 2010), “Salsa Grooves”  (March, 2010) and Edie the Salsa Freak's launch of her “Webinars” (April, 2010). The growing popularity of the so-called Smart phones such as the iPhone – and especially the apps – have also prompted a great invention launched in November 2010: the DanceTime Deluxe iPhone App.

OnlineSalsa.com has also grown in 2010, becoming one of the world's most popular Salsa and Latin news & entertainment websites.

You can comment below on what you think were the most important developments and events of the international Salsa dance scene in 2010. Should the arrest of Salsa master Alex Da Silva (August 2010) also be included in the long list of major event happening in 2010?