Puerto Rico congress roll call

[thespina13]

Well dudes, I'm leaving for Puerto Rico on SATURDAY. Yikes!!! Here it is! I finally feel more like myself, my pregnancy has entered the oh so joyful and energetic second trimester so I'm feel quite capable, and the only thing I have to really worry about while I'm there is not going totally broke and having enough money to be able to eat properly. Anyone want to send me some cash?

Anyhow, wish me luck and I hope some DFers are coming!! Anyone?

[Beto]

Vin's already there :D My gf and I will be arriving on Wednesday and a bunch of other DC folks will be in attendance as well. Looking forward to meeting up and dancing! :D

[Vin]

See you all here soon.

[tj]

Have a fun time! Wish I could be there with all of you! :)

[thespina13]

HUrray! Just tidying up the last few things I gots to do, and off I go! Can't wait to meet you guys :-)

[mayanempire]

See you guys (and gal) there. Beto--don't forget, you owe me a dance after that snub in DC. ;)

[Beto]

Good to see that you're not still bitter about that even though you totally could've stopped me as I cluelessly walked by. ;) We're definitely on for some dancing in PR! :D

[Vin]

So what did you all think?????

My biggest complaint was the HUGE "VIP" section. They could have and should have used that area as a dance area.

My next complaint would be a complaint about these events in PR generally, I get sick of hearing the MC give a shout out to everyone every 10 minutes. The time spent between songs/sets should be minimized.

My third mini-complaint was the amount of cha cha played. I love cha cha don't get me wrong but I like maybe 10% Cha Cha, it seemed to be at least 30-40% Cha Cha some nights, a bit too much for my tastes.

Otherwise I had a great time. Alot of great dance partners throughout the whole week. Last year I had trouble getting dances at this congress but this year the vibe was much friendlier. (My dancing has not changed significantly since last year)

I love how people dress up more for this congress as opposed to other congresses. This congress is more of a social event locally than other congresses.

THE WOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!! I know this is piggish and male of me, but WOW, I do not remember ever seeing that many BEAUTIFUL women in one place at one time. I am picky but every night I remember seeing at least 4-5 girls that otherwise would have been the most attractive woman I had seen all year.

[tj]

Did you see Beto, dance with Thespina and/or Maya?

[Vin]

You can't miss Beto, didn't see Maya or ThaSpina unfortunately

[Beto]

Yeah I ran into Vin a bunch of times so it was good to see him again. Also saw Maya and got my dance on with her (always a pleasure!)

Didn't see Thespina :( and on the whole, it was sort of hard to find people given how freakin' crowded the ballroom was! I do agree with Vin that the VIP section could've been smaller, or, at the least, cut in half to free up some more dance space. At the same time, however, I do realize that the PR congress isn't strictly a congress for the dancers. For the past few years now, at least going back to 2005 (I didn't go in 04 and my last time there was in 03), this is a congress for dancers AND non-dancers that happen to love salsa music. So that VIP section has to be there and those of us that love the music and love to dance have to settle for whatever space Eli and the organizers gave to us.

Another complaint: The ending time between the Salsa Open/Performances and the start of the Band of the Evening/Social Dancing was TOO far apart. Performances or the Salsa Open Semi-Finals/Finals would end around 8:15-8:30. The Band and social dancing would start at 10pm. Depending on what you wanted to do, you either socialized for those 2+ hours, got a late dinner, powernapped or killed time another way. I guess I'm so used to performances ending, the ballroom being cleared of chairs and the social dancing starting within 30-45 minutes of that.

This isn't to say that I had a bad time. I LOVED my stay in Puerto Rico (my 4th time now, woohoo!) and had some great social dances at the congress with people from Europe, the US and PR. Also liked the Salsa Open (saw the semis and the finale) and for once, I agreed with the outcome. Spain really brought it and replaced my early favorite, a PR couple, in the free style finale.:D

[mayanempire]

Had a great time in PR. Lots of sun, surf, drinks, and dancing. Good seeing and dancing with you again, Beto (and finally meeting that lovely lady of yours). Also caught up with mambochino, but unfortunately did not meet or see any other DFers.

As for the experience--first off, Isla Verde beach is very nice. I spent a large part of my time just sunning, swimming, and relaxing with a nice frozen drink from the El San Juan's outdoor bar (Kiwi Colada was my favorite!).
There were water activities, too--some friends and I went out in the banana boat (good times), and parasailing was another option (next year). Also went to visit some other areas of the island, like Old San Juan and Loiza, where I enjoyed some great food (who knew they would make alcapurrias sin carne, for this little ole vegetarian? :) )

The congress itself was fun. I wasn't a big fan of the huge VIP area with the tables, either, though I understand why it was there. However, the tables could have been condensed some to allow for extra room on the dancefloor. There were a couple of moments where it was just too packed in the ballroom for my tastes (and too hot). In fact, I talked to several people that didn't even go into the actual congress ballroom at all, and spent their time enjoying the hotel lobby's band and djs. Saturday night, in particular, I spent most of the evening dancing in the hotel lobby. However, the little bit of El Gran Combo's set that I did see was quite good.
I only caught one night of the shows. Highlights for me included Jayson Molina's team of international dancers (never seen that many couples onstage move so fast and stay so perfectly in sync--impressive!); Jhesus Aponte and partner (sure wish they had announced HER name, too), who performed a nice latin hustle and mambo piece with a bachata intro; Tito and Tamara, Eddie and Maria Torres; and the respect that the crowd had for the pioneers and legends.
As for dancing, it seemed that the first couple of nights were light on intermediate dancers. A lot of the guys I danced with were either beginner level or really advanced. Fortunately, there was a more even mix for the last two nights. I had some fantastic dances with people from all over the US, Europe, South America, Australia, and of course, some awesome locals. Meeting a lot of new faces is really r e f r e s h i n g. I was also pretty happy with the music mix and enjoyed the large amount of chacha. I got my bachata fix at the various afterparties (that went until 6), and/or with a boombox on the beach. Ah...the beach....

Aside from a mishap with the people at the door one night, I had a great experience. The positives certainly outweighed the negatives for me, so I will probably attend this congress again.

[thespina13]

Lots to write, and I'll catch up with you guys soon. I'm so tired now that I can't get into too much detail, I'm in Miami getting ready for our performance here, and man I'm wiped!!

Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't run into you guys while I was there, although I swear I thought I saw you, Beto. hard to know who anyone is when I've never met any of you and don' tknow what you look like in person. We shoul dhave arranged a rendezvous. it was also unlikely that you'd have run into me too much social dancing, since the pregnancy was making especially susceptible to overheating and fatigue. I think I danced about 10 social dances the whole time I was there.

We performed on Friday afternoon, and got a really nice reception! The routine looked pretty good. There were a lot of us on stage, and here in Miami there will only be four couples, so i'm a bit nervous about my increased visibility! I'm sure it'l go ok though. It's a little cooler and slightly less humid here so I thik I'll fare a lot better.

Did anyone think the daqnce floor really sucked? The springiness was really hard to deal with and I found it really sticky. Hard to have a good fast floor in that kind of humidity though.

All in al I'm looking forward to the different atmosphere here. I just finished swimming in the pool with Alessandra and Jayson Molina and the rest of the crazy Italians, and I hope this congress is one I can weather a littl ebtter. UNfortunately I was so tired and wiped out most of the time in PR that i didn't get as much as I could have out of it. I also wish there were more workshops.... with so many days to fill it would have been nice to have a bigger and broader selection. ON the other hand, if there were more I probably wouldn't have taken them anyhow, given my current state.

Oh...and brief whine: Being just a little pregnant SUCKS! nothing fits right and I didn't get any looks from cute boys. Sigh. I can't wait until I'm MORE pregnant so I can actually look it!

[tj]

Good luck and best wishes on your performance in Miami, thespina!

[thespina13]

Thanks!! I'm feeling much better today and i think things will go well this weekend :) Always takes a few days to dig in and feel groovy.