SALSA CONGRESSES ARE DYING! — If you are reading this, you are probably wondering: "let's see what this guy has to say about this." Perhaps you are one of those people killing the congresses, or perhaps you are one of those people who are hoping that the truth gets out and maybe those killing the congresses will change their ways for the sake and love of salsa. 

I have a friend from the UK who tells me that the top things that you want to find at Salsa congresses are the: 1) pool parties, 2) good DJs (or bands...which in his opinion are not really necessary), and 3) top teachers. Admittedly, he also tells me that what is killing congresses is pretty much one thing: TOO MANY SHOWS!!!!!!!!!!!

The funny thing is, this goes precisely along the concensus amongst all my salsa friends in Los Angeles and anywhere else. 

So, who is addicted to the shows? The dancers who want to dance? The salsa lovers who want to hear good salsa music being played? Or the promoters who see each performer as a ($) dollar sign and, if they could, they would have 6 straight hours of performances every single night of a congress, allowing the people who paid to get in and have fun to only dance 1-2 hours. 

What people want to do is pay their money, go to the workshops, and then practice in the evening: show off their new moves on the dance floor. But they don't get a chance to do that. Instead, they have to sit for hours (if they choose to), watching ANYBODY who paid a fee to perform (very few performance acts in the world really get paid) get up on the stage and do their thing...regardless of how lame it possibly is. 

A funny story is that during one of the latest local congresses (I won't mention the name to not create conflict), we went up to the rooms to sleep during the shows, came back down to dance...but THE SHOWS WERE STILL GOING! True story. 

Now, who wants to waste their money doing that? And how do promoters think that they'll meet room quotas for hotels and venues, if nobody is going to their event?? Will they start forcing performers to stay at the hotel as a requesite of the performance? And who will the performers perform to if nobody, besides their family, is in the audience? And what will happen when because nobody is in the audience, the performers also stop paying their fee to perform at any congress?

This is not trickle-down economics like it happens in Washington. This is pretty common sense stuff. 

Why can't promoters understand that there's a global frustration with those events that used to be world caliber events in the past, and are not anymore. 

In Europe, the good congresses according to what I've stated in this article, seem to currently be, the Salsa Festival Switzerland (Zurich, Switzerland), the Berlin Salsa Congress (Germany), the Croatian Summer Salsa Festival (Rovinj, Croatia), and the Amsterdam Salsa & Zouk Festival (Netherlands). And in the Americas, Eli Irizarry seems to be doing an outstanding job as well with his Puerto Rico Salsa Congress. 

These events have top performers, the shows are a maximum of an hour and a half, when it comes to alternative dances to salsa...zouk instructors are world-class, and the attendees know that they can expect a lot of dancing until the wee hours of the morning. Also, the after-parties are usually very, very good. 

So, what is a better business model for Salsa as it stands today? I am just a writer on this salsa website; I guess this is to be decided by those organizing the events. But as long as the trickle-down economics of students paying to be trained and perform for free, and still paying to perform at major events, and then those paying to enjoy the events are forced to put up with the lengthly performances...the events will continue to struggle and never get back up to the height that they were less than a decade or so ago. 

In the past, you knew that you would see performances by top salsa dancers like Luis Vazquez, Tropical Gem, Frankie Martine, etc. Today, it is not what it used to be in the past. 

I understand that those performing love doing it and so long as they are addicted to it and feel that they belong to a troupe, they will pay their way for anything...training, performances, hotel fees, etc. But my goal with this article is NOT to put their enthuciasm down. Rather, to bring light to the reasons why Salsa may be suffering today.

This goes line in line with the fact that I started salsahook with no other motive than to PROMOTE salsa dancing and music. I realized that there was a need for people to know every event in their city, and I thought of a solution for it. So, I am not trying to attack anyone or put anyone down. I am simply pointing out observations that are not just mine, but of so many people out there. 

Thank you for reading.