Bay Area Salsa Competitions Guide

Have you ever wanted to watch a live dance competition? Or are you the competitive type that likes to compete? If so, you’re in luck, because there are a number of salsa competitions coming up in the following weeks.

Here’s a quick guide to the competitions that are coming up in the Bay Area if you are interested in competing, or just watching. The rules for each competition are slightly different, so here’s what to watch for:

So You Think You Can Dance Jack & Jill Competition

Hosted By:	Michelle Castro
Date(s):	Qualifying rounds – April 6, April 20, May 4, May 18; Finals – June 1st
Costumes:	No
Partner:	No
Prizes:	$5000 in trophies, cash, and prizes
Format:	The SYTYCD Jack & Jill is a freestyle dance competition where couples are paired up with a random partner. Couples dance to salsa, bachata, chachacha, and merrengue, with the DJ picking a random song. There are 4 qualifying rounds, with the winners of each round competing in the finals in June.

Latin Fever Fridays Annual Footwork Competition

Hosted By:	Afinkao
Date(s):	Friday, May 10th 2013
Costumes:	Recommended
Partner:	No
Prizes:	$400 in cash and prizes
Format:	The annual footwork competition hosted by Afinkao is a solo dance competition, where dancers compete against each other by putting together 1 minute solo routines to salsa music of their choice

MamboNova Salsa Competition

Hosted By:	MamboNova
Date(s):	Qualifiers – April 13, May 11, June 8; Finals – June 22
Costumes:	Recommended
Partner:	Yes
Prizes:	$900 in cash + prizes including congress passes
Format:	The Mambonova Salsa Competition is an amateur salsa competition open to dancers who are not professional coaches or competitors. For the qualifying rounds, couples must dance freestyle to random music, and on the finals held on June 22nd couples are expected to compete with a prepared routine

Hopefully that has clarified the rules for some of the salsa competitions that are coming up. All of the competitions are free to enter, so I would recommend checking them out if you are at all interested in competing! Feel free to post a comment if you have any questions.