2002 Chicago World Salsa Congress

Scroll down for Pictures & digital video clips of the 2002 Chicago World Salsa Congress!

Monday, February 18, 2002, Chicago: Well, to all who did not attend the First Salsa Congress World Tour Chicago, you missed the biggest Salsa event in the history of this fair city. Thousands of dancers came out for all four days of this spectacular Salsa Convention complete with dance exhibitions, workshops and free style dancing every night until 2:00AM.

Thursday night was, not only, Valentine's Day but also the Salsa Congress kick off with such dignitaries and VIPs as Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, Alderman Billy Ocasio and many others present.

The night began with an awards ceremony to many of Chicago's elite Mambo/Salsa dancers for their contributions to the Chicago Latin dance scene over the years. Right after the award ceremony the exhibitions began with Los Caballeros de La Salsa kicking off the show with their high energy Mambo routine followed by one magnificent exhibition after another. The Thursday night show closed with a wonderfully demonic exhibition by Salsa Brava where the two male leads came out in dark capes and devil horns and their female partners in white pant outfits representative of lovely Angels. It was a wonderful routine and quite a show.

Friday during the day the workshops were so overwhelming that many found deciding which ones to attend at times difficult. In the evening the dance exhibition hall swelled with people wanting to see the show. And if there was one empty seat in the house it was a lot. Again the shows were incredible. There were Jai and Candy who did a very cute Wizard of OZ Routine, Sammy Irizarry and Stracy Diaz who did an impressive Mambo with lifts, body rolls, Frankie Martinez and Aisha who did their world famous Mime routine and many many more.

Saturday was even busier than Friday. The Chicago Hilton & Towers and the City of Chicago found out first hand that this Salsa Convention was a mega monster event with so much traffic going in and out of the hotel. The flow of traffic, because of the convention, just never ceased to stop. Saturday's exhibitions included performances by; Jose Heredia & Sue Koch, The Motor City Salseros, Clavekazi, Jamie Josephson Rhythm Divas, who were hot, hot, hot, and many more. After the performances everyone went upstairs into the grand ballroom for plenty of free style dancing to the great musical sounds of Andy Montanez and his Orchestra.

Sunday's performances included; Caribbean Soul Dancers, 2 x 4 Mambo, Arthur & Yolanda, Salsa Brava, Frankie Martinez and his group Abakua, and many more. When the evening's performances were over I was able to corner the organizers of the event Rosita Ragin and her husband Saladeen Aleman who were extremely tired but added "next year will be better."

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Photographer: Miguel Mendez

Pictures shot at Chicago's Hot House and the Chicago Hilton & Towers Hotel and have been posted courtesy of SalsaChicago.com & ChicagoSalsa.com.

Video clips below are from the Friday, Saturday & Sunday evening performances. We apologize to all the performers we missed and will do our best to cover all at the 2003 Chicago Salsa Congress. We also apologize for not getting all of the names of the performers and dance companies. 2x4 Mambo Argentina - Abakua The Matrix New York - Abakua The Matrix Cont. Arthur Chicago - Carribean Soul Dancers New York - Chicago Dance Dance Connection Rueda Chicago - Excel & Marcia Chicago - Frankie Aisha New York Ismael Otero New York - Jai & Candy New York & New Jersey - Jai & Candy Cont. Jamie Josephson - JLo & DLo Milwaukee - Jose & Sue Chicago Los Jovenes del Swing Chicago - Los Jovenes del Swing Chicago Cont. Julio Polanco Puerto Rico - Latin Rythms Chicago - Miami Couple Millys Group Chicago - Misc Couple 1 - Misc Couple 2 - Misc Couple 3 - Misc Group 1 Salsa Salvaje - Osvaldo & Linda Chicago - Palladium Mambo Dancers New York Saladeen Chicago - Salsa Brava Los Angeles - Salsa Brava Cont. Samantha Montes & Group Chicago - Sammy & Stracy New York - Sammy & Stracy Cont. San Francisco Group - San Francisco Group Cont. - Shaka Brown Washington, DC

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