Carneval de Salsa, Wroclaw 2005

Wednesday, June 22, Poland, Wroclaw. I arrived here after 13 hour long journey by bus 1 hour before it was planned. Wroclaw met me with a refreshing weather and I was going to spend my two days before the Carneval de Salsa like a regular tourist. My friends picked me up just after I arrived and the first half of the day I was sleeping in their apartment, while they were working. At the evening we met to have a dinner. Comparing to Bolzano (the place where I'm living in Italy), the food was amazing and very cheap. I made a promise not to eat any pizza or pasta while I'm in Poland. You should definitely try Warka Strong, when you are in Poland. It is a dark beer, but at the same time it is sweet and with a special flavour.

Next day I was doing shopping and walking around the city. At the evening I met my friends again and we went to the Carneval de Salsa unofficial opening party, that took place in a pub Espanola. There already were sitting, drinking and dancing some instructors and lots of polish salseros. I was impressed again how they dance rueda. I didn't know even a quarter of the figures they do.

We left Espanola, after watching a while how good everyone is. My friends made me a guided tour to all well-known Wroclaw pubs. In one of the pubs was playing latino-house music mostly with cha-cha rhythms, so we stayed a little bit longer at that place. I drank a lot and danced a lot that evening. I also learnt a new drink "Mad Dog", which was quite good (it is a shot mix of raspberry syrup, vodka and tobasco sauce - you can try it at home).

For the weekend my friends were leaving, so I was alone in the apartment and could do whatever I want. But I hadn't time anymore, because on Friday was the official opening of the carnival, the workshops and the party.

I asked Jose Torres if there any people from Latvia registered. He said there should be two people from Latvia and some people from Lithuania. I left my phone number at the carnivals office, for a case if somebody wants to meet me, but I nobody called. Going to workshops I was surprised to meet our friends from Croatia - Vlady, Daniela and Nadya. They was very important persons on the carnival, because they're organising the 1st Croatian Summer Salsa Festival in this August. I was very happy to meet them and I was following them all the way, so at the end they started to hide from me.

Workshops. I choose a group advanced 1. There was also advanced 2, but I didn't want to compete with these cool guys. Fortunately, in a contrast to Prague festival, there were more girls then guys, so I had no problem with a partner. "Hi! My name is Romans. I'm from Riga. You?" ... "You are cool dancer! For how long have you been dancing salsa?" ... "Only for six months?! Me?" ... "Well, almost three years, but I'm not very regular in it ..." :)

Instructors. Rafael from Mexico as always in a company of a nice blond girl. Little sophisticated footwork and non-trivial, but nice and short combination in puertorican style. Pedro Gomez from Rome in a company of Agnezka from Poland. Simple combination in european style. Jazzy from Guatemala & Anita from Norway. This pair is my favourite. Jazzy makes you work and enjoy it. "Advanced dancers are those, who're doing their basics well". Robert Charlemagne & Pamela Rene from U.K. They added lots of passion to our workshop. Some times we need to remember that salsa is a sexy dance :) Manuel Mascarell & Barbara Cano from Spain. This time Manuel came not only with Barbara, but with more two hot-blooded spanish girls. They gave easy and nice semi-choreographed combination with a footwork in the middle. Yanet & Rafael from Cuba. Very good dancers. Looking at them you can see that they are doing not only salsa, but had spent years of work towards the excellence in dance. Little combination of casino cubana. I made a stereotype that people from Cuba might be good dancers, but not good teachers. I caught this combination quickly, but others were not so fast. Israel Gutierez. Outstanding casino cubana and breakdance dancer. Not all people from our group caught casino very well. And at the end - Ian Salvador Lopez. Hip-hop. I enjoyed it a lot, because it is something totally new for me. Some people did not like it. However, in my opinion, you cannot be a good salsa dancer if you are doing just salsa.

Parties. After the workshops I went to do shopping and to have a dinner with Vladi and Daniela. Then we split to go home and to get ready for the party. The party started at 21:00. I came at 23:00. Very new club besides the centre of the city. Wardrobe. Lots of girls were changing shoes. Many people were already dancing. Some tables were free and reserved for instructors. Hot. I went for Cuba Libre and met a person I learnt in Prague. "I just came here, did I miss the shows?" "I came 1 hour ago, so I don't think so!" "Good!" I came here to dance, so I was using every single minute to learn and to enjoy dancing (always in full power, as says one of my friends). As usually, there were some people that came to watch salsa for the first time. Yes, carnival's party is the right place to get an impression. "Do you dance?" "No, no, I cant dance I just came to watch it" :) While danced my first dance I thought I'm totally bad - she was even watching at ceiling :) My next partner was exactly opposite. She was so easy to lead and so smiling. God, what a pleasure to dance with such girls! Dancing place was getting hotter and hotter. We even broke the floor. Elbow kicks from all sides. I met a very advanced dancer from Prague. Guys, you should be careful! Some girls distinguish very much cuban and crossbody styles. After some tries to produce a cool combination I gave up and started to make fun. This always works. Even for super-advanced girls :)

Shows. On the first day there were presentations of instructors and show programs mostly by salsa schools from Poland. On the second day - show programs by instructors. To say honestly I don't know what I liked more. On the first day they started with some new groups. During the last four shows I was all eyes. Chick suits, energy, professionalism, show. It was really cool, guys. On the next day I was as much enjoying Yanet and Rafael, Jazzy and Anita and Israel Gutierez doing a break dance.

After each salsa festival I'm always thinking whether to stop dancing salsa, whether to do something great in it. This time I wanted to do something great. I had to leave Wroclaw Sunday afternoon, so I missed the last party. I said goodbye to all people I learnt during those three days and went to the central bus station. I hope to see them again. My return trip was quite annoying, because it became hot and they late for two hours. Next time I should find some better connection. That's all folks! Romans, Italy, Bolzano.