Photos & article by Joe Contreras, Latin Life Denver Media…(see photo galleries below)
The word Congress may be misleading when it comes to what really amounts to a celebration that highlights the beauty, creativity, and culture of Latin dance and music with featured performing artists and musical artists. These salsa & bachata dance congresses are held throughout the world including Canada, Europe, South & Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and in U.S. in cites like Las Vegas, Miami, Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Latin Life Denver was proud to be the exclusive media sponsor for this year’s 4th Annual Salsa & Bachata Congress held at the Hilton Double Tree Hotel held earlier this month.
Among the definitions of the word congress is “An association, especially one consisting of other associations or representatives of interest groups” and that’s just what the 4th Annual Salsa & Bachata Congress was. The festival brought together more than 600 dancers from around the world for three days of non-stop shows, 40 hours of workshops and several dance parties that went on till five and six in the morning. This year’s congress included 25 instructors, international DJs, a live concert and dance with the Son Mayor Band from Los Angeles, more than 70 performers, separate dedicated ballrooms for Salsa, Bachata, and Zook/Kizomba.
Organizer and local dance instructor Joseph Snowhawk acknowledged that the word “congress” does throw some people off but that is the term that is used for these dance festivals. Snowhawk said he was pleased to see the salsa & bachata congress continue to grow in popularity in Denver. “We had to move it to a larger venue this year to accommodate everyone who wanted to take part. There was so much fun, excitement, entertainment and learning over the three days that it was incredible to witness” he said.
See videos of several of the performances on the Latin Life Denver Facebook page and look for our Television Special on Comcast coming soon.
Day 3, October, 9, 2016
Day 2, October 8, 2016
Day 1, October 7, 2016