Gator By The Bay Festival: Dance Fever | sandiego.com

The festival is expected to draw more than 10,000 attendees, enjoying 70 performances on six stages, dance lessons, cooking demos, kid- and family-friendly activities, a plethora of food options including those succulent crawfish (a.k.a. mudbugs)and lots of dancing.

For those unacquainted with the genre, Cajun music stems from the traditions of the descendants of French Acadians (Cajuns), who settled southwest Louisiana in the mid-1700s. Zydeco, the wilder, looser sister to Cajun music, cranks it up a notch with more funk in the beat and more swivel in the dancers’ hips, taking the lively airs and soulful waltzes of the French-speaking Cajuns, and infusing them with African, Caribbean and even Native American influences.

It’s a rollicking, up-tempo, heavily syncopated sound, and both Cajun and zydeco music are literally made for dancing, for celebrating life, and having more fun than you ever thought you had energy for.

There are many who will argue that it’s impossible to listen to the highly infectious music and not want to dance for joy, and if you don’t know how, don’t worry—there’s a full schedule of dance instruction, from zydeco to West Coast swing to Zumba®, throughout the festival.