The 36th Annual New Mexico Dance Fiesta took place from September 24–27, 2026, at its new venue, the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North. The fully sanctioned UCWDC World’s Qualifying Event featured over 40 workshops, extensive ballroom competitions, and the ever-popular Saturday Night Dinner Show — under the direction of Chad Graber, Noelle Cope, Crystal Thompson and Karen O’Leary, and for the first time in the Fiesta’s 30-plus year history, The Average Nomad was there to live-stream the entire weekend.
That livestream turned out to be a very nice surprise for dance fans around the world. Viewers tuned in from the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, Latvia, Austria, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Italy, Serbia, and Iceland — a genuinely global audience for a Rocky Mountain Albuquerque tradition.
An added bonus of the stream: event director Noelle Cope was caring for a loved one and was unable to attend the Fiesta in person this year, but thanks to the broadcast she was able to tune in occasionally from the hospital and from home — never fully missing the event she’s poured so many years into.
This year also marked a homecoming of sorts for the Fiesta, which returned to the Marriott Pyramid — the event’s original home back in the 1990s. It was a major upgrade in venue and accommodations all around, and guests enjoyed some, shall we say, refreshing and invigorating morning showers. If you were there, then you know. 😉
The ballroom itself was massive, the bar was great, and the food didn’t disappoint. Fiesta staff were treated to excellent food and beverages throughout the weekend, with the added treat of old Dance Fiesta footage from the 1990s playing on the television — footage that can be found today on The Average Nomad Dance Videos YouTube channel.
Between heats, dancers browsed the vendor tables for custom ladies’ costuming from Santos Designs, men’s competition wear tailored by The Dance Tailor, and sparkle from Laurie James Jewelry. A special thanks goes to Colorado Dancesport, which helped sponsor part of the cost of the live stream.
The New Mexico Dance Fiesta remains the state’s longest-running multi-day country, swing, and ballroom dance extravaganza, and this year’s edition showed exactly why. The volunteer staff was world-class, the social dancing never let up, and there were workshops on top of workshops for dancers of every level to choose from, all backed by the greatest deejays on the dance circuit keeping the energy high. A number of professional dancers also came out to dance with anyone generous enough to donate to the Dollar Dance — one of the weekend’s most heartwarming traditions.
The Average Nomad was once again honored to be part of Fiesta history this year, and to help bring it to dancers who couldn’t be there in person. Click here to go to The Average Nomad YouTube channel and relive the weekend with over ROUTE66 hours of video, find your heats, your friends’ heats, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next event on The Average Nomad’s busy schedule!