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Mumbai Salsa Try some crazy grooves this season as the salsa ups the tempereature in the city.
With workshops and a grand festival just around the corner, amost everyone around seems to be fascinated by this art form. In Mumbai, salsa was introduced seven years ago; back then the classes were few and far between. Today one can easily enroll for a salsa session as it’s spread out all over the city. If you are a salsa enthusiast here’s a festival you should check out. Salsa fest: Mumbai is all geared up to host the first of its kind salsa festival in the city. The 4th annual Salsa India festival will commence on April 3 and will witness participation of about 5000 salsa enthusiasts from cities including Bangalore, Kolkata, and Delhi. A few dancers are also expected to come down from Australia to attend this three day long festival. Says Santosh from Salsa India, “Along with salsa we will also conduct workshops for other dances like mambo, bachata, jive and Bollywood and Afro-Cuban dances among others.” He adds, “Instructors will fly down from Dubai, USA, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Holland, Singapore, Poland and France.” This festival will take place at Joss in Kalaghoda and those interested can sway to the beats of for Rs 6000. There’s an option for those who don’t find time for the entire session. Just pick and choose from the workshops and parties that the festival offers. Hot and in demand: According to the promoters, there is a boost in demand for this dance in Mumbai. Sandip Soparrkar who has been teaching salsa for the past seven years runs nine branches across the city now.. He has recently set up branches in smaller cities such as Surat, Pune, Hyderabad and Jaipur as well. He says, “Television dance reality shows and movies have made salsa even more popular. Whatever the celebrities do their fans want to follow.” He adds, “The salsa that you see in films is commercial and fused with other forms of dance thus diluting the original from. People usually want to learn what they have seen on the screen and it is difficult to make them understand that it’s not the true style.” Choreographer Terence Lewis points out the city night clubs spinning exclusive salsa nights as a mark of its growing popularity. Says Terence, “Many salsa classes in the city have tie ups with clubs such as Zenzi where salsa students hang out, parctising demos on exclusive nights.” He also feels that because salsa is a aocial dance the demand is more. “I also see a lot of people enrolling for salsa because it’s a space where you meet a new people.” Salsa gets more acceptance: When Sandip initially started teaching salsa, he had to convince people that one doesn’t need to be married or have a girlfriend or a boyfriend to learn it. “Back then the perception was that salsa is meant only for couples. But things are changing now and many kids are coming forward. It only goes to show that salsa is getting popular with people of all the age groups.” Some places that offer salsa classes Arts in Motion (Sion) - 98201 83231 Expression (Dadar) - 6730 5031 Brians Academy (Chembur) - 98191 77771 Terence Lewis - 3251 4108 Quick Step (Bandra, Andheri) - 2496 8339
Source : DNA
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