Albuquerque Latin Dance Festival

Dance, music and culture are displayed at the Albuquerque Latin Dance Festival.   The main event starts on August 25th with dancing, music, and food at the Plaza Mayor at the National Hispanic Culture Center.  There will also be dance workshops and dance parties so you can participate in the dancing.

This event showcases performances, social dancing to live salsa bands, weekend dance workshops and films and lectures on the subject of Latin music, dance and culture.


 
ABQ LDF 2012 has something for everyone! This 3rd annual Latin dance festival is bigger and better than ever & offers every subset of salsa and Latin dance style for the absolute beginner to advanced dancer during the four night/ three day festival last week in August.

The not-to-miss dance party is the Main Event Saturday night August 25! It is the pinnacle of outdoor events with dancing under the stars on the biggest outdoor dance floor in town. The National Hispanic Cultural Center is host to ABQ LDF 2012 during this Saturday night dance and concert with performances along with food and beverages on their Plaza Mayor at the NHCC. They are host to all three days of workshops and the final two evening dance parties among the many beautiful buildings and plazas on their gorgeous campus.

Timbalive is the featured live music group for Saturday August 25th at NHCC. Full of energy, life and musical brilliance this band and its musicians represent the best of the best. What sets Timbalive apart is not just that this group is one of the most popular Timba/Cuban Salsa bands anywhere in the world... but also the caliber of the music they play. Based in Miami, the group is made up of Cuban musicians who received unsurpassed training in the national Cuban music schools. Timbalive's recent album was nominated for CubaDisco, (the Cuban Grammy Awards) representing the first time a group based outside of Cuba has ever been nominated for such an award!

In order to appreciate Timbalive fully you must see them perform. Their two CDs, “From Miami A La Habana,” and “La Timba pa’to el Mundo” are great in their own right. Indeed tracks from these two recordings can be heard regularly in top salsa clubs from Chicago to Paris and Rome. But while some groups might not sound as good as their recordings, Timbalive outplays their CDs anytime they perform. There is something about the energy of the singers, the flash of the horn line, the syncopation of the percussion, the groove of the bass that is impossible to fully capture until you have seen and heard it for yourself.

The third annual ABQ Latin Dance Festival offers over forty Latin dance workshops such as Salsa, Bachata, Cumbia , Cha Cha, Folklorico, Flamenco, Rueda de Casino, Tango, Samba, and Afro-Cuban dance classes. Classes run from Friday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. each day. These are generally one hour classes geared toward the casual dancer on up through the most challenging curriculum for advanced dancers. There Is something for everyone. Again this year we are offering a three-hour Salsa Boot Camps for ultra beginners who want to learn and get dancing same day.