Need a Salsa Festival? Do it Yourself!

The weekend of February 20-22, 2009 was a rainy, gloomy one for most of the San Francisco Bay Area. But on the corner of Market and 8th streets, Hotel Whitcomb was a warm, glowing oasis of music, dance and family love. The family I am talking about is the US and global familia of Cuban salsa dancers: this was the 1st Annual San Francisco Salsa Rueda Festival, one of the only four festivals of this style of salsa in the United States, and the very first one in the San Francisco Bay Area. For three days, over 500 people participated in some 45 classes, watched 25 performances from groups from over the world, partied, shared moves and, most importantly, shared the love for this very particular style of dancing.

The Festival was organized by veteran instructors and dancers of Cuban salsa, Nick Van Eyck and Serena Wong of Salsa Vale Todo. So what motivates one to go through all the hard work and logistical challenges of creating an entire festival from scratch? For Nick and Serena, it was realizing what a spectacular Cuban salsa scene the Bay Area had. After 10 years of dancing all over the United States and the world, they certainly have the authority to claim this. So instead of going elsewhere to dance with friends from other communities, they thought it might be a good idea to bring them over here and showcase SF Bay Area’s amazing local talent.

And what a job they did. The only difficult thing for participants was trying to pick classes. The variety and quality of instruction was fascinating: rueda, rumba, reggaeton, suelta, Afro-Cuban, son, cha-cha-cha (Nick is particularly proud of bringing Afro-Cuban and rumba classes to a salsa festival - and of the success they had with the participants).

For those of you who want to attempt an organizational feat like this, beware. It is a lot of work, and challenges (such as Nick’s Saturday morning injury, or a massive turn up of unregistered attendees) will come your way. But joy and enthusiasm shall prevail. Not only did things look smooth from the outside, but Nick and Serena reaped great satisfaction from many special moments: from Friday night when they watched the familia from all over the world roll in, to the Sunday night mega-rueda of over 100 couples on the dance floor. They don’t get to sit on their laurels, however: as soon as the curtains closed, brain-storming and planning for next year began. The 2010 Salsa Rueda Festival will be held February 18th-21st. So, my friends, mark your calendars, pack those dancing shoes and come on over. Even if you have never danced casino/rueda before, you will learn the roots and native tongues of our favorite dance and make friends in one of the most beautiful cities and most amazing salsa communities in the world.

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About the author:

Hailing from messed up yet lovely former Yugo-lands, Ivana Ivanovic now survives and thrives in beautiful San Francisco. In her daily life, she tries to reconcile the efficient American, the leisurely Balkanite, the culture-obsessed Euro and the honorary Latina. She indulges in best of those worlds and more: reading, travel, food; all things athletic and all kinds of music & dance (with salsa holding a special place). And now she is writing, too.