BROTHERHOOD AND COMMUNITY AT THE FIRST D.C. SALSA CONGRESS

By Barb Bernstein of DanceInTime.com

There is much that could be said about the First Annual D.C. Salsa Congress, produced by David Melendez of NYC and Shaka Brown of Washington D.C. The workshops were numerous and varied, and the performances sharp and imaginative. But since many people may write about these matters which are the "standard fare" of any Congress, this article will focus on the audience and their sense of community.

I want to start with a comment on a remarkable display of helpfulness during one of the Friday night performances. A New Jersey group gave an excellent performance. (I apologize that I don't recall the name of the group.) Their costumes and elaborate choreography showed a great deal of work, and the material was skillfully executed. But as they were dancing, their music became fuzzy and crackly. It got gradually worse until there was no music at all. It was a large group, but literally no one missed a beat.

To their credit, they continued dancing through their routine without hesitation. But what was really exciting is that the crowd instinctively assisted them by starting to clap the clave rhythm. This was kept up for the remainder of that dance. It was wonderful to see them continue these elaborate formations, essentially "dancing to air" (no music)---all kept in sharp synchrony by the audience's clapping.

But then it got better. They were dancing to a well known song. So soon after the music gave out totally, the audience began to help by also singing the song!! It was a fabulous display of help and support from the audience, as well as professionalism on the part of the dancers. And the audience then rewarded the dancers with resounding applause.

Dave Melendez then offered to bring them back to perform again after their music was tested. Every group was required to bring two copies of their CD. I assume that they switched to their other CD, and on the second go-round, the music was fine. But I suspect that those who saw the show will never forget how, with the entire audience assisting first on percussion and then on vocal/melody, this group moved smoothly through their routine.

By the way, another community-spirited dimension of the Congress was the great photo gallery that was established by Great Dance/Stuck on Salsa. In no time (I think under 24 hours), many photos were up on the web and the community was buzzing about the pictures. They got zillions of photos of both the shows and the open dancing, and it is always fun for people to look through these, and see themselves and their friends "at play."

I was kindly given permission to put one of these on my website (with proper credit). That meant a lot to me because they caught a wonderful moment in my group's performance that I had no picture of otherwise. In my group's routine, we had an ending sequence where one of the ladies does a moonwalk across the front of the stage (and makes a few Michael Jackson gestures) while another woman follows her downstage, ticking the rhythm with hip shimmies. At the end, they lean on each other for an instant. The cameraman captured that instantaneous pose (see below). And he got many nice photos of what seemed to be every single performance at the Congress!

Last of all, Shaka spoke a little between performances during the evening show about the helpfulness of members of the Salsa community. He commented on how people had given him a hand as he was getting ready for this Congress, and how his friends had become a family.

All I know is, if my music ever messes up during a show, I hope I am performing for the people who were there at the DC Congress on Friday night!!