It was a total salsa experience last week when the much anticipated West African Afro-Cuban Salsa Congress also dubbed El Partido 21 took place with diverse programs in Accra and Tema.
The five (5) day event which saw the gathering of some West African top salsa dancers and/or instructors from Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin was held in high esteem.
As part of the activities, Robert Klah taught a new line dance to Gasmilla's Telemo song, Shon Homenya taught advance salsa steps while Ebo and Nana treated all to some Kizomba demonstration.
By Thursday, salsa representatives from Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale had come to the capital to join in the fun with Accra and Tema. Kynet and Blessing of Dance and Art Alive taught Argentine Tango, Lilian Yeri a professional dancer also from Nigeria taught ladies styling. Robert Klah taught a new Cuban Salsa line dance, and DJ Cosby carried the night away with great salsa tunes till very late.
It was a full house on Friday as all our guests from Nigeria, Benin and Togo had arrived ahead of the big show (The Showdown) on Saturday night. This injected some fresh energy and even more excitement to the Friday Salsa on the Street Experience. Many passers by were awe struck to witness an exciting crowd of salsa lovers moving to the beat on the streets. The night featured the teaching of the line dance by Usher, and then it continued with a long night of dance into saturday with DJ Samson playing the best of tunes.
The five (5) day event which saw the gathering of some West African top salsa dancers and/or instructors from Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin was held in high esteem.
As part of the activities, Robert Klah taught a new line dance to Gasmilla's Telemo song, Shon Homenya taught advance salsa steps while Ebo and Nana treated all to some Kizomba demonstration.
By Thursday, salsa representatives from Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale had come to the capital to join in the fun with Accra and Tema. Kynet and Blessing of Dance and Art Alive taught Argentine Tango, Lilian Yeri a professional dancer also from Nigeria taught ladies styling. Robert Klah taught a new Cuban Salsa line dance, and DJ Cosby carried the night away with great salsa tunes till very late.
It was a full house on Friday as all our guests from Nigeria, Benin and Togo had arrived ahead of the big show (The Showdown) on Saturday night. This injected some fresh energy and even more excitement to the Friday Salsa on the Street Experience. Many passers by were awe struck to witness an exciting crowd of salsa lovers moving to the beat on the streets. The night featured the teaching of the line dance by Usher, and then it continued with a long night of dance into saturday with DJ Samson playing the best of tunes.
Saturday's event was in 3 phases - the workshops of Tango, Ladies Styling, New Cuban Line Dance as well as New Urban Line Dance; a continuation from previous lessons held. Sani Ozwald also taught the Pachanga Steps to complete the workshops for the night.
There was also the open dance floor, where people danced their hearts out, with guests and with friends they hadn't seen in ages.
Then came the final phase of performances from the following: Buddy and Lilian from Nigeria, Kynet and Blessing from Nigeria, Sani and Carmen in a Ghana-Togo collaborative performance, Most Valuable Dancers from Tema, Ghana, Gbeke and Andy from Ghana, Steve from Benin, Theo and Rose from Takoradi, Ghana and Amantse De La Salsa from Ghana. Collaborative performances from Luumva and Kynet representing Nigeria and Ghana, and finally an all female performance featuring Megan, Beatrice, Rose, Tina, Blessing and Lilian repressing Ghana and Nigeria.
The climax of the experience was the Havana Night which also saw Tango teaching and a few notable performances such as the Most Valuable Dance Crew, T Havana Dance crew who did a new line dance, Robert Klah and team who performed the new salsa line dance, and then another line dance led by Shon Homenya and a mix of Ghanaian and Nigeria dancers, amongst other performances.
After a buffet dinner for guests by T Havana Park, Buddy Agedah from Nigeria manned the sound, playing Cuban tracks till shutdown.
The congress ended with great networking, great workshops, and exciting social dances. The relationship along the coast has been brought closer with our guest countries already placing invitation to Ghanaians to come participate in their workshops. For a first edition, it had great patronage. All regions that had active salsa participated. Nigeria, Togo ans Benin also gave their best in workshops and performance.
Organisers have since stated they look forward to an event better program next year as most Salsaros who live abroad are meant to be a part of the fun.
However on Saturday, the second Burn-out Dance Aerobics session was held on the Aburi Mountains with a walk which started from Ayimensah.
The West African Afro-Cuban Salsa Congress was an event of the Ghana Dance Festival (GDF), powered by CA-IM.
For updates, please join our social media pages: Facebook.com/GhanaDanceFest, Twitter.com/GhanaDanceFest, Ghana Dance Festival on YouTube and with the hashtags #GhanaDanceFestival #MoveToTheBeat. For more information call 0244-611 808, 0242-948 455 or 020-461 1180.
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