The Pretty Big Dance

I'm not going to make a decisive statement on the Big Dance. It's the type of event to which the Detroit Salsa scene should aspire - a frilly, high profile, dress up event. While not nearly as big as it could be, with the Big Dance, MSDA attempts to do a very difficult thing - bring ballroom, swing, tango and salsa together and in that effort was somewhat successful.

Big Dance Photo Gallery...

Personally, I was pretty happy with the Big Dance. I enjoyed the workshops during the day and the event at night was fun from a social aspect if not a dance till you drop perspective. I wish the workshops had better attendance because I think they had some quality instructors and set up an interesting schedule with 3 consecutive classes on a particular topic.

Starting off the day, the workshops were divided into three or four sessions of three – one hour long lessons. My choice was tango lessons with Lori Burton of Argentine Tango Detroit. Tango has been on my list for quite some time, and after my first lesson at the Tango in the Park I was ready for a bit more in depth training. After wandering around the Masonic for a short while, I eventually found the class in a room that feels like you are buried deep inside the building. I'm willing to bet money that I could secretly live in the Masonic for a year without being discovered.

We covered some of the basics and quickly moved on to more of the intermediate concepts and movements of the dance and even though it was a group class, Lori and Andreas were more than happy to address our specific questions which is always nice. It will take me a few more sessions before I feel confident to join in a milonga, but overall, it was a pretty good start.

After the lessons we headed out to a dinner by the Opera House at Detroit Brewing Company. Our ride revealed one of the major hurdles faced by the Big Dance – the location. As I stated before, the Masonic is huge and has some amazing rooms, but it is in a pretty rough neighborhood and you pretty much have to drive to eat. The parking is secure and the door has an attendant but the location probably deters a number of people.

After a little sustenance and a beer for energy I had to head back home and take a nap -- meaning, I missed the performances -- but I heard they were very nice. This is another bit of an issue. Since many events like this happen in hotels, it makes it possible for people to do the daytime activities, rest up and then head out for the evening. At the Masonic, most likely a good distance from most people’s homes, they don’t have that option, so that may also deter some people from doing the daytime activities. My hat is off to the instructors and the students who worked through the day, gave performances and participated in the social dancing.

On to the evening… Arriving back at the Big Dance and walking to the entrance, I immediately started to see some of the familiar salsa crowd which was reassuring. After registering, my first stop was naturally the Colonade room for salsa. It’s a big room with half carpet and half linoleum and it takes a lot of people to fill it up. Unfortunately, not that many salseros hit the event so it looked pretty sparse. Probably the $40 price tag without a guarantee that they would be catered to by the event – meaning a live band, lots of salsa music, professional performances by top performers lots of other salsa dancers and wood floors deterred the salsa crowd. Of the salsa dancers who did attend, most probably were also interested in ballroom dancing and so they probably were more attracted to the very elegant and grand Crystal Ballroom and Fountain ballrooms than the more utilitarian and sparsely populated Colonade room.

The big salsa events of the night were the Jack & Jill contest and Energetic Soul performance team. The Jack & Jill included 16 couples due largely to the ever persistent duo of salsa evangelists, DJs and contest judges - Shekyla & Jamin. The Jack & Jill and dance with the Pro’s activities were part of a community and inclusiveness theme that I think really added to the good vibes at the event.

I finished out the evening in the Colonade room with a few more salsas and a quick rueda de casino. Reflecting on the evening, I know that some salseros were a disappointed with the salsa venue. The Colonade clearly paled in comparison to the Fountain Room with its big band, and the the spectacular Crystal ballroom, while costing the same amount for admission. But I can’t help but feel that if we want more opportunities in these events in the future, we as a whole need to really show up to them or at least communicate what we want. Or we can simply build our own.

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Average: 5 (2 votes)