Tanya J Smith Washington DC Salsa Mambo Bachata Latin
Pint-Sized Recap of Sawa Sawa DC Kizomba Festival Preparty 2014. I checked out the Pre-Party of the 2ND Annual DC Sawa Sawa Kizomba Festival and it was jumping! The venue was a swanky restuarant/bar/rooftop cafe named Dunya DC in the U St Corridor and Kizomba Crowd occupied the 2nd floor Bar Area. Beautiful Hardwood floors were honestly making my mind wonder and salivate for some Salsa but I digress. Wonderful ambiance, the people very friendly with huge smiles, the dancing smooth and slick, and the music was a slamming mix of Kizomba/Semba/Afro House courtesy of DC’s Kizomba Ambassador Oscar B.A., who was doing double duty as Host/Organizer of this Festival and DJ.
I was desperately trying to be in low-key observational research mode and threw up my Mambo Shield to deflect any and all dances but a persistent guy named Eugene, who turned out to be an EXTRA FUN Experienced Kizomba Dancer, wouldn’t take No for an answer. Good thing because I actually had a blast dancing with him. I guess he took pity on me and I was all too happy he did. After that first dance, I was running to him to dance again and again. Some of the Featured Kizomba Pros/Stars started filtering in and I was pleasantly surprised to see a few of them consciously go around and dance with the regular people. Good stuff. Later in the night, a spirited animation was led to some banging Afro-House. I left relatively early since there are 3 more Days/Nights of this festival and I decided to save my energy for the weekend. Videos to come. You can still get your passes online at http://sawasawafestival.com/passes/
