Held in New York City at the Holiday Inn Midtown from Sep 26-28 this
year, the 3rd Hustle USA attracted some of the best hustle dancers in
the world.
Due to visiting family on Saturday and having to catch an early
afternoon flight on Sunday, I didn't get to see the Jack and Jills, the
Pros, or the awards ceremony and I still haven't found out who
won...well, you probably wouldn't know them anyway. Otherwise, I
noticed that there were fewer amateur entries this year but more
pro-am. Last year's trophy cleanup artists, Brian and Sylvanna
Galagher turned pro this year, giving other promising amateurs a
chance. Noticable by his absence, Barry Douglas did not show up this
year, likely due to his not placing last year.
While this is billed as a contest with a side order of workshops, I
think most people (me included) come for the generous portion of
general dancing. 30 minute contest heats were interspersed with 30
minute general dancing sessions and the "party" started at 10:30 and
went until 2 or 3 AM both Friday and Saturday nights. The music was
old, old, old 70's at no more than 115 BPM. The New Yorkers seem to
love this stuff. I thought I wouldn't be able to stand it (I like the
music these days much better) but after a while it didn't matter.
There was one 10 minute salsa session on Friday, but the rest of the
general dancing and the parties were non-stop hustle, hustle, hustle.
The atmosphere was always congenial and it was rare to be turned down
for a dance.
The level of hustle dance was awesome. Top teachers like Maria Torres,
David Sarul, Debra Hampton, Angel Figueroa, and others held people
spellbound with both planned demos and impromptu floor dancing. Even
among the general population, the "average" dancer was great. The
video cameraman, the cameraman's assistant, the DJs, the ticket takers,
door watchers, the lady selling dance supplies, her children, and one
of the organizer's kids playing computer games in the corner on a
laptop, *ALL* danced hustle!! And all very well too!
The styling and variety of steps defies description. You could see and
dance with people from LA, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia,
Washington DC, New Orleans, Houston, and Dallas. Sometimes you could
tell where someone was from by the way they danced. To my surprise,
Houston had fairly large contingent, led by teacher Tony Pace. I wasn't
aware that there was much hustle in Texas but there is quite a bit in at
least Dallas and Houston.
There was a lot of partner swapping going on too. Guys walking right
in and grabbing a girl already dancing with someone else, without
missing a beat. I tried it a few times myself with pretty good
success...even though I didn't even know the girls. This might ordinarily
be considered rude, but at this event it was Standard Operating Procedure.
Even though people were having the time of their lives, there were the
inevitable problems. On Friday, the hotel's removable dance floor was
beaten apart over and over again by our fervid feet; a problem fixed by
Saturday night. (I guess that particular floor is usually used for
wedding receptions.) There were plenty of feet stepped on by high heels
and someone even got a bloody nose. It's brutal out there on the
floor...you better stay on your own slot!
As for me, I danced on a high the whole time. I hit the floor at the
start of the first general dancing and danced hard for an hour until the
first heat, wearing out 3 girls in the process (or maybe they didn't
like dancing with me...I can always pretend :-) I never even found out
the names of a lot of the girls I danced with. The remainder of the
weekend, I danced every chance I could get, making the most of it. I
saw and danced with old friends and acquaintances that I had not seen in
15 or 20 years. It's been years since I've experienced anything like
this and I'm ready to do it again right now.
If you really like hustle, then make your plans now. Start saving your
money to go. You'll need it in NYC. Plan to get at least 4 people to a
room ($160/night...and that's the special rate).
New York, by the way, is really a great city. Outside the hotel, just
about any kind of necessity was no more than 5 minutes' walk. Buses are
frequent and easy to take and the cabs are not too expensive. It is
true, though, that you worry whether or not your cab driver speaks much
English.
And that's my trip report.
Paul Jones