2nd
Annual Salsa Congress Luxembourg
16 & 17th of March, 2007
Organizer: CLAE & Movimiento Latino
By
Jacira Castro, Honorary Member of Movimiento Latino, asbl
and President of SalsaPower.com
Ragga Jam & Salsabor (Paris)
On March
14th I left behind the spring warmth of Florida and climbed on a plane
headed for Luxembourg with a stop over in Frankfurt, Germany. The trip
is long and that was why I left early for the 2nd Annual International
Salsa Congress in Luxembourg – to get over the jet lag
before starting the rumba! I was invited to give a conference regarding,
"Salsa, its roots, the reason for the Latino Craze and it's push
for social integration". It appears that someone found out I was
the former President of my local group of Toastmasters
International! If you are afraid to speak in public, this international
organization will help you and give you the confidence to stand up in
front of an audience.
One
of the congress organizers, Luis Alcala, originally
from México, picked me up at the Luxembourg airport and
took me to the Novotel, a modern hotel in the modern part of the
city, not far from the Convention Center where the next day thousands
of salseros from all over the world would come to dance. To my
complete shock, Luis had managed to (how did he know?) have a
surprise waiting for me in my hotel room! The love of my life
was waiting there! Anthony LaPaglia! ¡Ay!
Be still, my heart!
OK...
it was really only the TV guide magazine with his picture on the
cover, but I had no idea he was as popular in Luxembourg as he
is in the United States! Now, back to salsa...
I
barely had time to take a shower and change clothes. Off we went
to have a bite to eat and then got on the road toward Hahn, Germany
where another conferencee, Diego Berea, was arriving
with his lovely partner, Carla Amorim. The problem
was the highway was under construction and the detours were not
very well marked, which made us about an hour late to pick them
up, but in the end, we all headed back to Luxembourg.
That
night, Luis took all three of us to the old part
of the city of Luxembourg and he turned out to be a great tourist
guide. He knows a lot about history, intrigue, commerce and politics,
not to mention diplomacy!
We
had dinner in a Spanish restaurant called Chez Rafael.
It is a family owned restaurant that makes the best paella for
miles around and we tested it accompanied by several jugs of sangría.
There we met some of the event organizers and the interpreter
who would be translating our speeches into French.
Clockwise from the left: Rachel, Mari-Carmen (Interpreter),
Géraldine, Nicole, Carla, Diego, Delphine (Conference Moderator).
At the
end of the meal we were all tired and ready for a bit of rest
in preparation for all the activities planned for Friday.
Friday
morning, taking advantage of a beautiful sunny day that wasn't
so cold, Carla and I headed out of the hotel in search of the
old part of town.
The
first challenge was to find the bus stop. After several trys,
we finally found it. It appears that deer or moose also ride the
buses in Luxembourg!
We
went across a tall bridge with a view of the river below and then
we began to meander through the old part of town. Finally I found
a store where I could buy a gift for my son Pablo, who will be 18
years old in a couple of days (how time flies!).
We
also visited the Cathedral where Carla put on her innocent face!
An
interior patio in the old part of the city of Luxembourg
The fruit outside the small markets was like a
work of art!
We
got back to the hotel in the afternoon and later took the shuttle
to the event to hook up with the other artists to eat and dance
a bit before the shows started. That was where, finally, I met our
Local Correspondent, César de Diego Díez in person
(after years of writing to each other by e-mail!)!
The
festivities began with a series of shows that allowed the local
schools to strut their stuff and some of the newer salseros to
gain a bit of stage experience. After were the shows from the
internationally renowned artists.
JR
Team (Rovigo, Italy)
Tanssi,
a group of women who dance rumba (Luxembourg)
Sambrasil (Luxembourg)
Yambú
Dance Company (Paris)
There
were several ruedas de casino,
including some set to music other than Cuban salsa!
Mebasa Rueda de Casino (Luxembourg)
There
was also a phenomenal Tango show by Graciana Romeo and Juan Capriotti
from Rosario, Argentina! Check out their website here.
Graciana Romeo &
Juan Capriotti
(Rosario, Argentina)
The
first night crowd was fascinated!
The
next day, on Saturday, there were workshops with many of the international
artists present at the congress.
Mid-afternoon,
we held a Conference where three international experts spoke regarding
different aspects of salsa. The Conference was titled: Salsa
of Today: Social and Cultural Phenomena
Diego
Berea, founder and President of Salsorro.com,
spoke about the, "Salsa Congresses, their history, their
different cultural aspects and their projected future."
I
spoke about "Salsa: The Contribution of Latin America,
the factors behind the Latino Craze and its push for cultural
integration."
Kahlid
Jalli, a famous photographer from Brussels spoke, but I
have no idea what he said! They didn't translate his speech for
us. Supposedly it was about "Salsa: visual enjoyment, means
of communication - full of imagery, writing of an immediate reality."
During his speech they showed some of his photographs, but
at the moment his website is currently disabled.
Mebasa Kids
Mebasa Kids
The
show the second night opened with a group of young female salseras
from a local Luxembourg group, Mebasa.
They already have stage presence and can dance with rhythm and
saoco at this early age! This is the future of salsa,
folks! We must teach our children to dance so as to carry on
the tradition!
Alberto
González, followed the children on stage.
He was trained in Havana, Cuba and danced with the Cuban
National Folkloric group (Conjunto Folclórico Nacional).
Currently he resides in Paris. He interpreted the traditional
Santería dance of Yemayá, one of the Orishas
from the Yoruba tradition.
Ahí-Namá,
the local Cuban salsa group in Luxembourg, shows us how to do
the figure in Rueda de Casino
known as "La Flor". Check out their
website here.
See a short video of them dancing a Ruedahere.
(You'll need Quicktime to view it)
A
second Tango show, equally sensual and emotional by Graciana Romeo
& Juan Capriotti! You can see videos of them dancing on their
website.
Graciana Romeo & Juan Capriotti
(Rosario, Argentina)
Salsaphoria (Bucharest)
There
were even vampires direct from Bucharest!
Everyone
danced, learned a lot and saw quite a few top quality shows! I hope
to return to Luxembourg soon to visit my new friends there, such
as Luis, César de Diego, Susana, Jean-Luc and their family,
and all the people from other countries who come to Luxembourg to
enjoy a truly international congress!
A
special thank you to Susana and Jean-Luc (and their children and
Elliot!) for sharing their home with me!
The
early morning when Susana took me to the airport, it had begun
to snow heavily - big snowflakes! It hadn't snowed all winter.
Next
year I'll bring my salsa dogs, Frisco & Scoobie to play with
Elliot! They've never seen snow!
Hee, hee, hee! ;-)
This report
was written in March, 2007
Esta página
fue actualizada el día / this page was last updated on
13-Apr-2007
We
got back to the hotel in the afternoon and later took the shuttle
to the event to hook up with the other artists to eat and dance
a bit before the shows started. That was where, finally, I met our
Local Correspondent, César de Diego Díez in person
(after years of writing to each other by e-mail!)!
