The Ugly Truth about Salsa Dancing on OnlineSalsa!

Luis & Joby Vazquez had a divorce after 10 years of Salsa Brava Dance Company making LA Style Salsa ‘On1’ the number one Western Salsa Dance Style worldwide. Edie the Salsa Freak & Al ‘Liquid Silver’ Espinoza also had a divorce after years of publicly advocating their deep Christian way of life everywhere they could. 

The main reason for the divorces lies in the cheating habit of these men. These divorces are common knowledge in the international Salsa Dance community. So is Alex DaSilva’s alledged raping of four of his students. These men continue to get invitations from International Congress organizers to instruct and perform together with their (new) dance partners and/or girlfriends in spite of their misbehavior, and no one seems to confront or punish them because of their iconic status. And speaking of misconduct: Frankie Martinez and Francisco Vazquez both have a reputation of making fun of - or insulting - their student groups while instructing dance workshops at these congresses. Some international teachers use more than half of the time people pay lots of money for to talk instead of instructing Salsa/Mambo dance. A small group of international Salsa Stars is notorious in small circles for their expats during private Salsa After-Party’s in hotel rooms. Drug abuse and cheating are things congress organizers clearly choose to ignore, and the quote ‘What happens at the Salsa Congress stays at the Salsa Congress’ has become a very popular saying.

Congress organizers are not only responsible for condoning and indirectly rewarding this illicit conduct, but they themselves also have many ‘Salsa Skeletons’ in their closets. Club Asi (Haarlem, The Netherlands) organized the first European Salsa Congress (1998). In 1999, Robert Charlemagne (U.K.) was the top Salsa Dance Instructor teaching Advanced Salsa Dance Workshops. He brought the upcoming stars Super Mario and Leon Rose with him as part of his group. However, in 2000 Robert was ‘demoted’ to teaching Beginners and Intermediate dance workshops at this congress: the growing popularity and demand of Leon and Mario elevated them to the Advanced Dance Instructors replacing Robert. Is this back stabbing, or is this just regular Salsa Dance Business? The fact is that no one seemed to care in this period of growing competition between the upcoming European Salsa Congresses.

Some Salsa Congress Organizers seem to take the difficult task of putting a successful congress together too lightly. Many organizing persons and institutions with failed Salsa Congresses had approached Albert Torres to help them organize their next editions after they messed up. This failure is part of the reason why Albert became the real ‘Salsa King’ he is today. An example: the organization of this year’s Paris Mambo Festival, originally intended between June 4 and 6, made the following announcement on their website: “Nonetheless, and in spite of all our efforts, we were unable to find a venue to host our event this year. Indeed, the venues’ prices in and around Paris have become unreasonably expensive!” 

One would think the organization would arrange and secure a venue before promoting the congress. The venues being so expensive in times of international financial crisis does not make much sense either. The organizing committee also announced of them trying again in 2011. Let us see if we will find Albert Torres Productions on Yambu-and-friends.com as co-promoter of the Paris Mambo Festival’s fourth edition. Many congress organizers promote their next editions without telling the public that their former editions flopped. This is completely understandable from their point of view. The real question is why people are so reluctant to ‘out’ their former mistakes. Another common mistake of these organizers is to invite new Salsa Stars to perform their tantalizing shows and having them instruct (Advanced) dance workshops. Not all good dancers are good teachers, but it is cheaper to have both roles in one person. People complain among themselves, but they do not address these problems in plain public. The gossip circuit is growing larger by the minute. But posting these mishaps on the World Wide Web is ‘not done’, except when it concerns 'larger-than-life' Salseros and Salseras.     

The answer could lie in the phenomenon I call ‘Salsa Politics’. The fine art of ‘kissing butts’ to get higher in the ranks is a strong phenomenon driving the whole Salsa Dance Industry from top to bottom. Exposing these people and organizations for what they really are is commonly perceived as committing ‘Salsa Suicide’. OnlineSalsa.com and OnlineSalsa.nl calls all Salsa Dancers worldwide to give us the dirt and expose the wrongdoings and injustice committed by national and international Salsa Stars. We guarantee total anonymity under the international laws & by-laws of the Freedom of Press and Source Protection. 

Self witnessed accounts, or information which is verifiable by more than one source, can all be e-mailed to sederick@onlinesalsa.com