SalsaCrazy.com visits the Reno Dance Sensation, and Learns How To West Coast Swing, A Dancers Review of the Reno Salsa and Swing Congress
The Reno Dance Sensation is in its second year, and operates as a West Coast Swing and Salsa Dance event, with a large emphasis on competition, with plenty of workshop and dancing thrown in. It takes place each year in Reno, Nevada and for the last two years SalsaCrazy.com has supported it. It was a nice four hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to Reno, and by the time I arrived, I was ready to dance!
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Being a salsa dancer, this was walking into uncharted dance territory. The first thing I did was take a West Coast Swing class, and try to learn the basics. Unfortunately, it's not that easy! The basics of West Coast Swing are rather complicated (at least compared to salsa), so it was going to take more than one class (and quite possibly a few months), to get fairly passible at this dance. Now, that's probably true of any dance, so I'm ready to give it the effort, because . . . it's fun! I mean, really fun. And the music is a big mix of everything from swing to hip hop, to pop. Lots of fun music to dance to and lots of partners!
Did I mention, lots of dance partners? Yes, the Reno Dance Sensation had a lot of women; a lot of women and not nearly as many men. This means -- appreciative women, even if your dance skills were not entirely where they needed to be. With the help of a few classes, and a few gracious followers, I had a blast on both the swing and salsa floors.
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Now, there is definitely plenty of salsa there too, and the salsa component is growing rapidly (soon, hopefully, to be as large as the swing component), but right now, it's still growing. I enjoyed dancing salsa in between my struggling with learning swing. It provided the perfect mix of dance styles.
The venue is huge, and can easily accommodate the crowd, with room to grow. The Reno Hilton is a great venue for this event, and the dance floors were large and welcoming, with multiple rooms going on at the same time. This is a very well run event, with each room having sound and mics, and each performance and show starting perfectly on time. Compared to most dance events I've been to, it definitely operates at a different level.
Now, the show is really a highlight of this event. On Saturday night, there is a professional show, on a huge Las Vegas style show stage that is massive. Big lights, big sounds, and amazing dancing make this a highlight every year. I really enjoy this show, and the salsa and swing performers going crazy. It's a lot of fun, and makes for a great Saturday night. The swing dancing is amazing! How one couple can fill an entire stage like that is mind blowing. It's a site to see!
The dancing -- the social dancing goes on until 8am. Did I mention, the dancing goes on until 8 AM?! That's amazing - and I thought the salsa dancers were hardcore, but the swing dancers -- wow, they really have some stamina. The social dancing just goes on and on, all night long. It's a sight to see. The dance workshops go on all day, and every hour there are up to four workshops to choose from in salsa or swing (and others, like Hustle).
It happens next year again, and there's even rumor of having a Hawaii version of it too! From one salsa dancer to another ... let's swing!
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Evan Margolin, President and Founder of SalsaCrazy.com has been sponsoring the Reno Dance Sensation for the past two years. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Evan founded SalsaCrazy.com
9 years ago, a company that has revolutionized the salsa scene in San Francisco.
