"With that accent you gotta be from the US..." - Congress de Salsa: Lima

Almost 2 weeks ago I went to Lima (the capital of Peru) for a salsa congress with a bunch of my friends from Cuzco. It was funny because the majority of them going were guys and I’d never seen guys so excited about something aside from football or something at home. Some people flew (1 hour by plane) and some of us took the bus. I took the bus on Friday night and it was 21 hours…but it actually was better than I thought. Our bus was about $20 bucks and was not great. I almost didn’t even go because I was so sick when I woke up on Friday. I was so stuffed up I could barely breathe and couldn’t stop coughing…but I pushed myself to go and I’m so glad I did. The busride to Lima was crazy with the roads. The roads twisted and turned all through the mountain range for about 10 hours (a bit tough to sleep because you are constantly rocking side to side) and we were so close to the cliffs that I thought we were going die. I give the busdriver so much credit for driving this route. About 12 hours into the ride, the roads evened out a bit, and we drove through the desert a bit, and then finally we reached the coast, and drove up the coast the rest of the way to Lima. So we pretty much saw every type of landscape on the way. We were a bit late reaching Lima (we are always running late so this wasn’t a surprise). We had to rush to shower and eat before the congress started. Luckily because it’s South America, the congress started an hour late.


One of the master classes

Let me just explain quick what this “congress” business is. Basically a salsa congress is when some of the best salsa dancers gather to give classes to the public, put on a performance, and then have a party afterwards. I’ve been to master ballet classes before, where famous people have come from Russia to teach in Boston, but I never in my life thought I’d go to a salsa master class. The first class we took was with Shaka Brown, who is actually from Miami. He was an incredible teacher! The boys (my salsa teachers) were all so excited to see him in person, it was like Christmas for them. They were all videotaping and stuff during the class and it was so funny because I wasn’t starstruck because I had never heard of him before. At the end of the class he was trying to fix his camera so I offered to help (we have the same crap camera that always breaks haha) and he goes “with that accent you gotta be American...where are you from?” So I told him I was from Mass and he said he could tell by my Boston accent. This made me laugh since I do not have a Boston accent compared to a bunch of my friends (Jen Nicosia haha) back home. He told me that he was glad I was there because he wasn’t the only American. I thought my guy friends were going to strangle me for having a conversation with their idol… it was hilarious.


Shaka Brown and I at the "afterparty"

That night, we all got dressed up in our best clothes and went to the show. The dancers were incredible! They also had some local salsa groups from Peru perform. We also saw an amazing 13 year old dance, Johan. I’ve never seen a kid move like that in my life! After the show, they opened up the dance floor and had a party until 3am. It was fun to meet other people from all over Peru who came together for the congress. I also met one of the managers of the congress, who’s from NYC. We got talking and he said that they are looking for interns to help with planning events and marketing if I ever want to do that (co op opportunity 2011?? That would be AWESOME) except I’m so pissed at myself because I lost his business card! So I’m going to try to look him up again so I can have another contact in the US for job opportunities.


Riwfka, Joyce and I dressed up for the showcase.

It was fun to spend the night dancing with all my salsa teachers, although it was a bit nerve wracking at first since there were so many advanced dancers. But whatever, gotta start somewhere I guess. After the party, we went to another club but I was exhausted since I had just arrived in Lima that afternoon after a day in a bus…

Sunday, we took another two master classes with Shaka Brown, one with partners and one without. There were only about 20 of us in the class, and 10 of us were from Cuzco so we got some more personal attention and corrections so that was really nice. Afterwards, we showered and got ready and went to the afterparty, which was smaller because it was a Sunday night. There was a live band though, and we still had a blast. Shaka Brown asked me to dance (he comes up to me and says “hey Boston girl, you wanna dance?”) We talked while we danced about his background in dance, and my background in ballet and stuff. I admitted to him that I didn’t know who he was before the congress and he told me it was better that way because he hated when people treated him different when they know that he’s a world famous salsa teacher. I also met Johan, the 13 year old dancer, who was trying to hit on me which was hysterical. He told me he was 15 (nice try buddy, when you’re famous everyone knows your age..) and he told me he thought I was 16 years old. Nice job stroking my ego and thinking I’m a sophomore in highschool… it was funny though. He danced with me also but he threw so much breakdancing into it that I looked like a retard compared to him…haha oh well. After the party, the dance floor cleared and Shaka Brown demanded that I show him some “ballet stuff”. So we had a turning contest which was funny…my friends took videos. I told him he’s gotta come up to Boston to teach a class and he said he’d look into it. I couldn’t believe how down to earth he was! It was refreshing..especially since most dancers get very cocky when they are professionals.


The girls and Shaka Brown

After the party, we got invited to an afterparty at a dance studio of Deklan, the best chorographer in Lima, who is good friends with my friend Franschesco. There was some stupid drama with our other guy friends and they didn’t want to go anywhere with the famous guys. They wouldn’t say why, but Franshesco said he thought it was because they were so used to being the “best dancers” (in Cuzco they are) but in Lima they were small fish in a big pond. Oh well, we went to the dance studio and danced more and I talked a bunch with Deklan, who told me the whole story of how he got his dance studio up and running (he’s only 25 and has one of the best studios around which is pretty impressive in the dance world). He taught me how to do a couple partner stunts too which was fun :) . We were there until 6am and then finally left. Life here is exhausting but it was worth it…


Deklan, Joyce and I in Deklan's studio

Monday was pretty uneventful, Frank and I had dinner at TGIFridays with Franschesco and Joyce before we caught our bus home. Lima was so different compared to Cuzco because it was so much more westernized. They had so many American restaurants and stores, and in Cuzco they don't have any commercialized stuff like that. Our bus home was 10 more soles then the bus to Lima and was a piece of crap. It smelled, my seat didn’t recline, and in general was just dirty. AND it took 23 hours to get home. I thought I was going to die..I was so uncomfortable the entire time. I was so happy to get back to Cuzco. Overall, the traveling was definitely worth it to have the experience of attending a congress. Hopefully I can keep up my networking for the future.


TGIFridays - a taste of the US in Lima

Chau <3