The World Salsa Summit (WSS), one of the world’s premiere international salsa competitions, has been cancelled according to the organizers. The competition, first held in 2013, was supposed to mark its 10-year anniversary this year from August 24th – 29th, 2022 in Miami.
However, a post on their website as well as their social media cited “Force Majeure” (unforeseeable, uncontrollable circumstances) leading to the cancellation of this year’s event. All attendees who purchased a ticket will be refunded their purchases.
The cancellation of the event seems to stem from a fallout between the event organizers Katie Marlow, Nelson Flores, and Billy Fajardo. Late last year, Katie announced that she was involved in litigation with her former partners over the event, although no further details were provided.
Billy Fajardo and Nelson Flores, meanwhile, announced a new Latin dance competition called the “Global Salsa Summit”, at exactly the same venue as the WSS had been held, with many of the same former judges. The event was held from January 17-23rd 2022 and new dates have been announced for next year.
Updates on the WSS website suggest the organizers of the Global Salsa Summit were forced to rename their competition due to its similarity to the WSS (it is now called “The Summit Championship”, which is still pretty similar).
The future of the World Salsa Summit is now in question, with no new dates announced for next year. It’s sad to see the breakup of longtime partners Billy & Katie and the seeming end of one of the most well organized internal Latin dance competitions.
Hopefully The Summit Championship can grow to what the WSS once was, as we start to emerge into the post-pandemic era of salsa competitions, and Katie and Billy can resolve their differences.
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