"BRIGHTON’S FIRST RUEDA CONGRESS, hosted by Cubashe Dance Promotions and SalsaNor had all us wheel geeks crying out for more Thursday 6th - Sunday 9th September 2007).
This was a no-brainer; right on the sea front, easily get at-able from London and the South East, days of intensive workshops and partying over what turned out to be one of the sunniest weekends this year.
The recipe was hot enough to pull in 200+ aficionados of the Cuban Wheel. Rueda-eros travelled from across the UK, Eire and as far afield as Scotland while the Congress also netted a 70-strong party of Norwegians.
As joint Congress hosts with Brighton's Cubashe Dance Promotions, Norwegian Salsa group SalsaNor landed in force, in party mood and with a good catch of their own Cuban, Latin and homegrown instructors.
To hook dancers, there were some juicy baits on offer, including a line up featuring some of the world’s best Cuban instructors; Rueda World Champion Osbanis Tejeda; Salsa Champion Rafael del Busto, UK Salsa Champion and Afro-Cuban dance expert Damarys Farres, Ariel Rios Roberts, Enrique Perez and Cubashe's own Leo Henriquez.
Making her UK debut at the Brighton Congress was Geldys Moralez. Originally from Havana Cuba, Geldys is one of Norway’s best-kept secrets, a quite exceptional talent and one salsa lovers need to see more of at international congresses.
La Rueda – or the Cuban Wheel – is Cuban-style circle dancing and started to roll in Havana in the 1950’s, growing out of traditional Cuban salsa. Usually, Rueda is carried out at break-neck speed by pairs of dancers in a circle, switching partners in response to moves called by a leader (cantante).
Mostly, calls are given in Spanish – for example, Dil que no, Enchufla, Sombrero - although some are in Spanglish - Un fly - others are international – Coca cola. Moves are carried out with the current dance partner and often, trigger a switch to the next partner in the circle.
One of big pluses of La Rueda is the blindingly obvious – people dance in a group.
“Because everybody dances together, Rueda is very sociable and friendly. A lot of the moves are quirky and cheeky and pure fun – this is the essence of Salsa. People can take LA style too seriously, whereas Rueda is down to earth and good fun,” Cubashe’s Claudine Baker explains.
Once you're hooked, there’s no turning back. There’s never enough time in weekly classes to get the hang of all the moves you want to know. It’s a bit like collecting cigarette cards, first you pick up the easy ones, getting loads of these time and time again and then you spend most of your time trying to get hold of the more difficult ones.
Over the weekend, I got into clandestine conversations with fellow dancers, promising to “trade” moves and there was definitely a cigarette card collector’s delight when one of the dancer’s got a move everybody else was finding difficult!
La Rueda seems to have sprung from nowhere on the UK Salsa scene. “A few years ago, there were hardly any Rueda classes on offer in clubs, now they’re everywhere,” says Claudine Baker.
There are good reasons for La Rueda’s growing popularity in the UK - and internationally. The Rueda crowd has got to be one of the friendliest on the dance circuit; it’s fun, there are dozens of moves to learn most of which are just as usable when dancing Cuban-style Salsa in couples and so plenty to interest all levels of ability.
By contrast, Salsa only arrived in Norway a decade ago but La Rueda caught on immediately. In 2002, the Norwegians held their first Rueda Congress. Currently, the Norwegians are developing their own Rueda standard, creating a
unified Norwegian-style Rueda, taught in all Norwegian Salsa clubs.
This contrasts sharply with UK practice where a range of Rueda styles are taught, including for instance, Street or Miami).
This means the same move could have different names or variations across different systems in the UK.
The Norwegian system has the clear advantage of eliminating a lot of confusion, especially for less experienced dancers.
To assist with instruction and learning, SalsaNor has created a very useful Rueda DVD, introducing the Norwegian Rueda standard - we’ll review this shortly.
Brighton Rueda Congress Hosts Cubashe's Leo Henriquez and Claudine Baker and SalsaNor's team led by Glen Lillehammer, Bjarte Langeland and Reidun Svabo pulled the event together in characteristically Norwegian and Cuban style.
The Norwegians were dead organised – Father Christmas even turned up at one of the evening parties – while the Cubans let it all hang out, leaving plenty of room for sabor and creative chaos, with the result that everybody enjoyed themselves.
The Brighton Rueda Congress ticks a lot of boxes and has real pulling power for us wheel geeks. Next year, I predict this event is going to be bigger and better. So many moves, so little time.... Ed."
Kjelde: londonsalsascene.info/html/rueda_07.html
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar