 PY Salsa Blog
Geneva Lion Congress - October 06
First up was Geneva at the Lion Congress organised and run by US Salsa Force (United Swiss not United States). I had heard many good things about this oddly named event, and yet I still hadn’t discovered why they called it the “Lion” Congress …names and branding is very important to me especially with the ever-increasing number of Congresses in the world.
Anyway no matter, this Congress in many ways lived up to its name as a Lion of an event. The venue was a 4 star Hotel adjacent to the airport, with well-designed rooms and ample space for workshops and parties. Marc and Natascha from US Salsa Force had worked very hard to bring a host of international teachers/dancers from all over the world to what is after all, a small country.
I could tell from the presentation of the evening shows, that the organisers had worked exceptionally hard and that in the main, the workshops and shows were of a very high standard. The highlight of the shows was the Sunday production, a 30 – 40 minute continuous show that featured most of the artists and was put together in under two days. It was a great effort and thoroughly enjoyable. What I particularly enjoyed about the shows was the way the screens were used to present and enhance the performances. What I didn’t like were the male and female presenters that spoke far too long between performances with not a word in English throughout the night. This meant my Spanish was sorely tested…and failed! Actually the Cuban male presenters were quite funny up to a point but they just didn’t know when to stop and I felt this seriously detracted from the shows.
However the downer that marred this very pleasant event was the absence of any wooden dance floors in the parties. This was a bit of a drawback to the event to say the least. In the defense of the organisers I have to say that putting on a Congress is no mean feat. Congresses can take up to one year to organise, they are fraught with financial risks and you will never please everyone. Therefore with scarce resources you have to make very difficulty choices between what you spend your limited budget on, and you don’t always get it right. It is very easy to be critical and although anyone who pays good money to attend a Congress has every right to voice the opinions good and bad as a fellow promoter I tend to choose my words a little more carefully and only criticise publicly when absolutely necessary and I hope, in a constructive manner.
So in this case even though I believe the wrong choices were made I can still forgive the organisers for this major oversight regarding the dance floor. However, I am not so convinced that in this respect the majority of dancers who attended the parties expecting a decent dance surface will be so forgiving. Which to mind was a great shame since Mark and Natasha have spent three years building this event with little or no return, so it would be a terrible shame if this is all people remember about the Lion Congress…I sincerely hope it isn’t.
I am really glad I attended this event, it was a lovely weekend and Marc and Natasha are lovely people. With the important addition of the dance floor and tinkering with the party venues I believe this event could be once again, a very important Swiss Congress.
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