Review Holland Summer Salsa Congress Sunday August 29, 2010

This is the last article in which OnlineSalsa.com reviews the second Holland Salsa Congress  in Vianen, The Netherlands. You can read the Saturday review here. The tears of joy and the crazy dancing on the dance floor marked the ending of a highly successful Salsa congress.

 

Detoxing from a “4 x 4 Beat Addiction” with Tango

My body was still aching after Saturday's workshops & party, so I decided to make myself useful by helping the Salsa Royale's volunteers. I also talked with participants and interviewed some of the Salsa stars on the last day of the congress. My dance partner Evie told me after she had followed the Ladies Styling class of Melissa Fernandez that the power Melissa put in her dance moves, her “diva” personality and her subtlety whilst executing her styling made her a very unique dancer. Melissa is also a great teacher, and there were some girls still practicing her Ladies Styling routine long after they had finished the workshop. Another girl was demonstrating the Kizomba dance she had learned from Johnny Flor and I saw that it was not done in a 4/4 beat. Until then, I have had a real aversion towards partnering dance forms which are not done “in” the music. I decided to broaden up my mind by following Eider & Luisa's Tango workshop. They work with a “Counting System” as opposed to the “regular” Tango dance instruction. I learned the Tango Basic and many variations in one hour flat.  

I fell in love with Tango between 16:20 and 17:20 p.m. on Sunday, August 29, 2010. And, all of the other “Tango Novices” on the fully packed dance floor also shared my new love. After that, I had a refreshment and a nice conversation with Mambata Dance from the U.K.

Sick Neeraj MC of an Emotional Showcase

International Salsa dance star Neeraj Maskara was in a lot of pain after his performance on Saturday. He was scheduled to give a workshop and to MC the Sunday showcase. Neeraj - being a good sport - decided to go on and do his job while he was feeling ill.

This is an intermediate level workshop of Neeraj and Gosia.

Neeraj had to MC with Luis Vazquez and Melissa Fernandez -whom had done a fantastic job MC-ing on Friday - sitting right in front of him on the floor. He did a fantastic job by not only overcoming these “handicaps”, but also by getting the crowd in a “highly spirited” mood from start to finish. The ecstatic attendees were shouting to all of the eleven dance acts, but the crowd's favorites were:

• 13 year old Leah from Marseilles, France, with her “Charlie Chaplin” routine,
• Israel's Alex & Anna and Dvir & Dori's Mambo on2 dance routines with spectacular dips, tricks and lifts,
• Monica & Mitchel from Germany with their Funky Boogaloo routine,
• Alexis Style from Norway with his one man show. I have to admit that I personally do not like one man shows that I have to pay to watch, but Alexis' show is a rare exception to this rule.
• Terry & Cecile from France with their incredible “Scream” show,
• and Eider & Luisa from Dubai with another heart-warming Tango dance routine.

Special mention: the three dance couples of the student team “Sala Royale Holland” did a great job by opening the Salsa showcase with a neatly executed dance routine.

At the end, Randolph & Lilly were summoned on stage. They got a very loud and long standing ovation from the crowd. Lilly - who had the microphone first – could not utter a coherent sentence because of her crying. She said that she was honored and very happy to have hosted the congress for  her real family and for all her Salsa friends whom she considers as one big family.  Randolph took over and thanked everyone for making the congress such a wonderful event. He also asked the crowd to give a big hand to the two couples who were recently married. Many people in the public – including myself – could not keep it in any more and started crying and hugging each other.

The party was phenomenal. At a certain point - I was interviewing Luis Vazquez - I heard Michael Jackson's “Beat It” and a lot of noise coming from the dance room. I rushed towards it and was just in time to do the Moonwalk section of the song in the middle of the big circle. I did interesting interviews with many stars. Their open heart-ed stories will all be published during the month of September 2010 on OnlineSala.com.

Last but not least: I would like to thank Randolph & Lilly of SalsaRoyale.nl for making this one of the best weekends I have had in a very long time.