Alaska Salsa Festival
Anchorage, Alaska
Feb. 9 – 11, 2024
The presence of a Latin dance festival in Anchorage, Alaska, might come as a surprise to many, but this year’s edition marked over a decade of Alaska Dance Promotions hosting the event in their south side studio. Festival organizer and studio owner Michelle Holland is synonymous with salsa in Alaska: She has built a name for her studio and traveled with her performance teams over the last 16 years.
Although Holland says the festival is still recovering from the blow dealt by Covid to the social dance scene, this year’s congress boasted a fair number of students in attendance for three days and nights of classes, performances, and themed dance parties led by a mix of favorite local instructors and out-of-state guest talent.
Despite having attended a handful of classes and my fair share of the “Friday Night Dance Lounge” at ADP over the years, I was unsure of what to expect attending Alaska Salsa Festival for the first time. Alaskan culture is somewhat at odds with the glam and spectacle I associate with a typical convention — generally more boots and flannel than heels and sequins. While chatting with Holland on the edge of the dance floor at Saturday night’s social, I mentioned to her “I’m just so grateful that there is something up here.” This is a common sentiment for Alaskans: being far away from the rest of the country we know our options are often to build our own version, or take what we can get when it comes to so many things.
However, the weekend was far from being a consolation. Anchorage’s salseros showed up and showed out, delivering all the hallmarks of a classic dance festival you’d find anywhere else, albeit on a small scale. There was a marathon of classes each day in a variety of styles beyond salsa, including bachata, zouk, and kizomba, followed by evening performances and full dance floors.
Alaska should be proud of its dancers, too. There were some good ones up there alongside enthusiastic beginners — many of whom came dressed to the nines in the line with party themes, and stayed until the last song, heckling the DJ for one more song. In fact, I’d argue that the relatively small size of ASF has its benefits for attendees, who don’t have to fight their way to the front of the room or leave questions for instructors unanswered, lost to the crowd.
I left the Alaska Salsa Festival covered in sweat and remotivated to get back into classes. I drove home through the snow at 1 a.m. dancing in my seat to El Noro, reinspired by the warmth of community that comes with every festival experience after the faces you train and play with in classes become familiar partners on the dance floor. Not least of all I felt another wave of gratitude to reap the benefit of what Holland has built in and around ASF, and I look forward to seeing the scene continue to grow.
