El Dos Tres Salsa Festival

The name will mislead anyone who knows the counts: el dos tres is how the on2 break is spoken, so you would expect mambo. The programme is timba, rueda de casino, Afro-Cuban, rumba, son and reparto, with styling and body movement alongside. Nothing linear, and no bachata room. More than thirty workshops across three rooms, from first steps to master level. Five parties across four days, but the one the festival is built around runs in daylight: the Grand Pool Party on the Sunday afternoon, with a live band by the water, followed by a separate closing night the same evening. That Sunday is a long day by design. Everything happens in the same hotel, which in Dubai means you never leave air conditioning between a workshop and a bed.