Cali is in full swing this week for its 9th annual World Salsa Festival, where more than 5,000 dancers have been participating in workshops and arduous competitions, according to Colombia’s official tourism website.
Until Sunday July 27, visitors to Cali and local Caleños alike can feast their eyes on free salsa performances in various sites throughout the city.
Attendees are able to participate in dance workshops, listen to panel discussions about the captivating dance style and its more recent variations such as salsa choque, as well as witness the most talented dancers go head-to-head (or toe-to-toe?) in various competitions in the world capital of salsa.
The World Salsa Festival brings together all the official salsa schools in Cali as well as dance schools from afar, reported Colombia’s El Pais newspaper.
There are more than 100 formal salsa schools in Cali and each one has at least 100 students, according to Colombia’s official tourism website.
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The World Salsa Festival offers a range of dance workshops, from learning basic salsa steps, to mastering more elaborate moves, and even a workshop entitled “Biomechanics of Salsa,” which explains in-depth research that enables participants to visualize, moment-to-moment, where and how to move, and how to become more flexible without damaging one’s body, reported El Pais.
The workshops have been so popular that organizers are considering expanding to include more and bigger venues as 345 people had already registered for the first workshop by 9:30AM on Monday, with people aging from 10 years right through to 70 taking part.
People from all over the world participate in the dance workshops at Cali’s World Salsa Festival, with dance students coming from as far away as Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, the US, and even two students from Thailand and one from Japan.
Romance blossoms at the festival, where “many couples meet in the workshops,” according to Carlos Alberto Estacio, workshop co-ordinator for the festival, reported El Pais.
You can find the complete event program here.
Sources
- ¿Ya tomó clases de baile?, no se pierda el Festival Mundial de Salsa (El Pais)
- Culture: Flower Fair and World Salsa Festival (Colombia.travel)
- Escuelas de salsa en Cali (Colombia.travel)