Salsorro Congress in Spain 2009

Some congresses are fun, some are hard work, getting to know a new region of the world or learning how to teach lifts and tricks in different languages and cultures. Salsorro Congress was special because Paradizo Dance was commissioned to develop a new acrobatic dance work that would be choreographed to the local music of the Galacia region of Spain.

We chose a song that would be most compatible to our style of acrobatic dance. This song is a song by Paloma Suanzes, a young local artist known for her talented voice and her preservation of the local language through her singing. We had no idea that when arriving in Spain on Wednesday, we would be swept upon a journey we would never forget.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Dave & Zoe excited to have met the Swing Sextet Salsa band from NYC. Great music, all night long!

Louis Novo & Dave

A very welcoming people here at Salsorro: This guy is responsible for our fastest drive to the airport!

Dave and his "long lost Spanish brother."

Just kidding!

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral:

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A quick visit to center of town with our friends from Baila Society where photos were not allowed inside unfortunately, but we stole a few outside this ornate, beautiful and ancient structure.

A few acrobatic poses of course!

Salsorro producer Diego Berea Cabaleiro was thrilled with our song choice, and immediately began making phone calls with the hopes that Paloma would be able to perform live for the event. But the ideas didn’t stop there. Diego and his associates Lourdes and Alfonso suggested the possibility of Paradizo Dance inviting another salsa company to add background dancing. They suggested Baila Society, a salsa company from NYC who Paradizo Dance had already been teaching lifts and tricks to for the past few months. But would the company agree to perform a third show in a weekend without prior rehearsals or preparation? .....

Many Thanks to Diego, Alfonso, and Lourdes, and Ahtoy & Daniel with Baila Society, and of course Paloma and your musicians. Cheers!

~ by Zoë

Paradizo, Baila Society, and Paloma Souanzes pose after a successful show together.

Saturday night, opening show. Paloma’s voice resonated clear to the heart as the voice in a cathedral. A dance was born from the notes of a harp and cello, and a voice that sang sweet and soulful. In the moment, we embodied this song and hoped our visual painting would give our viewers a sensation of flight, hope, and pride in the roots of their culture.

After teaching classes and tech rehearsals for our own pieces on Thursday and Friday, Paradizo Dance and Baila Society met over delicious spanish hot chocolate and coffee, while listening to the music and talking over our staging with drawings on paper napkins. There were long rehearsals to coordinate musical cues and lighting cues for tricks and entrances, as well as how to achieve polished timings of the lifts in order to make everything look elegant and graceful. It is one thing to learn choreography that is 80% lifts, but to also have to stay in exact timing with 3 other couples is either a great skill or just luck.