As someone learning latin dancing in the 2000s, there were always two top events I dreamt of attending – the LA Salsa Congress and New York Salsa Congress (NYSC). Together they represented the peak levels of salsa and latin dancing, and were famous for gathering top instructors from around the world in one place for a single weekend of workshops, parties and general awesomeness!
I never anticipated it’d take me almost 20 years to make one of these ‘dance pilgrimages’, but living in Perth AUS meant that it wasn’t an easy trip and life got in the way somehow.
I’d initially planned to visit NYSC in 2020, but with pandemic halting that, 2023 was finally the year to go and experience it for myself!
New York Salsa Congress origins
First created in 2001, NY Salsa Congress is one of the longest running salsa festivals in the world today (though the Puerto Rican Salsa Congress from 1997 pre-dated it). It has been re-born twice under different owners – first organised by David Melendez with only 500 people, and then by John (Choco) Knight from 2007-2015. Although many may claim that the current congress is far from what it was at peak 10 years ago, it’s amazing to see it continuing and evolving after 20+ years.
Attendance for this year would have been over a thousand people at a guess, but dominated by locals from NY State and the US Northeast. Most instructors and performers were NY locals, but if you’re like me that’s not an issue. There’s so much talent there that rarely travels overseas! Expect to see big names such as:
- Eddie Torres Sr, along with Maria, Jr and family
- Karel Flores
- Frankie Martinez
- Adriano and Samantha
- Ismael Otero
Event logistics
NYSC is currently held on Labor Day weekend (1st Sunday in Sept), in the heart of Manhattan NYC.
The event happens at the Marriott Marquis, which sits on the busiest intersection in Times Square (opposite the TKTS booth).
This impacts a few things:
- The area gets seriously busy – for a small-town Perth boy it took a moment to adapt to the continual crowd crush at any time of day. Luckily the hotel itself is calm and cool; a must on a hot Sept day!
- Accommodation nearby doesn’t come cheap (up to $500 USD for a tiny hotel room) – but subway stations are close, so consider staying out of Midtown and commuting in as I did.
- On the plus side, the location makes for a great sightseeing base if you’re new to NYC and have time for other attractions!
The event follows a typical format – workshops and main parties Fri through Sun, with pre-party Thu and after-party Mon (although neither seemed to draw much crowd). The main 3 days are ‘all in one’, meaning all workshops, socials, and performances happen across the same 2 floors in the Marriott.
One thing this congress is not short on is performances – they ran 5 different multi-hour showcases, featuring mostly local teams and instructors plus a dedicated youth showcase. Production level in the ballroom was great and the Tito Puente tribute featuring the entire Torres family was a real highlight!
Live music
One of the biggest draws of the New York Salsa Congress is the live music schedule. For most of us living overseas, getting to see world class latin bands is a rare occurrence! This year featured 4 main artists:
- La Excelencia
- Tito Puente Jr
- Charlie Aponte (lead singer from El Gran Combo)
- Luis Figueroa
All 4 were amazing to watch, but seeing Charlie rock out on stage at 72 yrs young was impressive – he may’ve had more energy at 1am then I did to be honest!
Like most Salsa concerts you do get lengthy versions of songs, with some clocking nearly 10min… that’s a long time to keep energy up as a dancer. In between sets the DJs were spinning old-school and salsa dura tracks, so I missed my salsa romantica at times. The Bachata room upstairs had a mix of modern and dominican tracks, but no pro-level dancers. It was clear that Salsa in the big ballroom is the main draw of this event!
Is everyone really dancing On2 (Mambo)?
For the most part – yes. The classes were taught in On2 style with only a few exceptions, and the level of steps/patterns taught was some of the highest I’d seen at a festival. Even the ‘beginners’ classes were what I’d call intermediate, and Karel Flores and Eddie Torres Jr ran classes so advanced I wanted to cry at times (but zero regrets as I came all this way to push my limits!).
On the social side, the level of dancing was as broad as it gets. Some looked to be absolute beginners, but later in night clusters of some incredible pro dancers started to form. By then the dancefloor started to overload so even getting close to the best dancers proved challenging, but with some persistance you can find some amazing social dancing opportunities there.
Final thoughts
Who would I recommend the event to?
Anyone who has been dancing NY-style (On2) salsa for a few years and looking to learn and meet some of the best in the game. If you’re in Australia or other places that rarely see these artists, it’s such an honor to go learn from them in person. The scale of the event was massive, but never overwhelming with plenty of chances to meet artists or other dancers.
Several NY locals have recommended visiting in a normal week too, as many local instructors offer ‘drop in’ classes and social events rotate around so there’s something big happening every weekend. Visit Salsa New York Calendar for the latest list of what’s coming up.
