Las Vegas Weekly

Salsa by the numbers

Las Vegas Salsa Congress’ Nate Strager breaks down three days of workshops and performances

If only the regular congress in Washington had this much fun.

70 “This year we’re bringing in about 70 dance teams from around the world,” Strager says of this year’s edition, Las Vegas’ sixth annual. “A congress is when you bring people from different states or different countries together. They had one on the Great Wall of China last year.”

186 “There are 186 salsa congresses around the world. Greece, Dubai, Switzerland, Sweden, Prague. They’re everywhere.”

4 million “We figure there’s probably about 4 million people that attend salsa congresses. The first salsa congress was started back in Puerto Rico, and then a guy named Alberto Torres did one in LA. The reason we did one here? Even though there’s a lot of Latinos in Vegas, there’s not a lot of Latin culture. We’re trying to start it and keep it going and make salsa grow here.”

8 “Everybody you dance with will have a different style. I mean, you’ll dance with the music, ’cause there’s eight counts of music. It doesn’t matter if you listen to heavy metal or opera, there’s eight counts in every piece of music. As long as you’re dancing with the music, you’re good.”