It’s that time again. To get ready for my favorite pastime-salsa dancing.
When I’m not here at The Malibu Times, I’m out on the dance floor, doing the 1-2-3, spinning and turning, sweating off the doughnuts some unthinking soul has brought to our offices.
The 5th Annual West Coast Salsa Congress begins next Wednesday, starting with Latin Madness, a new musical comedy that guides one through the journey of Latin dance in America.
According to a press release from Albert Torres Productions, “Latin dance
was born on the shores of Africa, was cultivated in the Caribbean, and landed in the heart of New York where a generation of Latinos reinvented it and made it their own.”
Following this introduction to the dance, an opening party takes place Thursday at Santa Monica Beach in the afternoon, with volleyball and dancing (spinning on sand will be a new challenge), and then followed by an evening party at the LAX Hilton with all-time favorite local band Johnny Polanco Y Su Conjunto Amistad and special guests Herman Olivera & Jimmy Bosch from New York.
After a dance contest on Friday afternoon, opening band Freddie Crespo & His Mambo Revue and Ray Barretto & Adalberto Santiago from New York and Puerto Rico will perform. Dancing goes, literally, until 4 a.m. each night at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood.
The West Coast Congress is the most popular and largest in the world, with performers and dancers coming from Paris, Germany, Austria, Australia, Italy even The Netherlands, as well as many more. Torres said, unfortunately, the dance teams from Korea and Japan are not allowed to travel out of their countries due to the SARS epidemic. (The team members do not have SARS.) However, he is working on setting up a satellite transmission, so the teams can be seen performing in their home countries at the congress in L.A. Torres estimates the crowd to be 5,000 this year. This may please those salsa lovers who were dismayed recently by an L.A. Times article that stated salsa is dying.
The rest of the Memorial Day Weekend will feature dance workshops, spectacular shows (the acrobatic feats and themes each year become more fantastically outrageous), dance contests and an incredible roster of performers from around the world.
Also featured during the congress are Oscar D’ Leon; Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz from Miami & Puerto Rico; and another favorite local band, Orquesta Son Mayor.
More information can be obtained by calling 310.445.9705 or visiting the Web site www.alberttorresevents.com.