8.21.2005 Miami Salsa Congress - by Barb Bernstein I am soon going to participate in something quite imaginative myself. I’ve been asked to perform in a Gala presentation at a D. C. area event that will feature simulations from scenes of movies about dance. It will essentially be a celebration of famous dance scenes in movies.

The event where this will be performed covers all types of partnership dancing from Salsa and Rueda to ballroom and swing. So the movie segments will include the Waltz scene from the Richard Gere/Jennifer Lopez movie “Shall We Dance,” a tango scene from “Scent of a Woman,” a disco scene from the John Travolta film “Saturday Night Fever,” etc. In all cases, people with expertise in the dance are creating a presentation to mimick the movie scene. They’ll use the original music, similar costumes, etc. I was asked to prepare a routine similar to the Rueda scene from the movie “Dance With Me.”

I think the variety show director, Joyce Szili who came up with this idea deserves a lot of credit. It’s a very original concept for a show, and I’m delighted that I’ll be part of such a cool presentation! At every dance event and Congress I attend, I am half surprised that there are still more new and creative ideas that I haven’t seen before. It appears that imagination is really limitless.