If the cliched candlelight dinner, walk by the beach and red roses have tired you out, heat up the Valentine's week with some sensuous salsa moves. Spread the love and joy with swivel and spins as Salsa takes centre stage throughout the week. The city will be witness to almost six special salsa nights in different venues from Wednesday through Sunday to celebrate love.
Hosted by a slew of salsa enthusiasts and dance schools, the week will see salsa aficionados from across the city get together and bask in romance, in true Latino style, with or without a date. "The idea is to have a good time.
We will have women dressed in red and men in formals, dancing away for over three hours. We have rustled up some special Latino tracks dedicated to the occasion as well," said Mary Lobo, host of 'Latin Twist' by Mary and Derek that organises Salsa nights every Wednesday at 'Shiro' in Worli. Being a special night this Wednesday, apart from salsa tracks, DJ Derek Spencer will spin out other Latin extensions like the sensual Bachata and Kizomba as well to heat up the mush factor.
The salsa community in the city boasts of over 500 Latin dancers, who come from all walks of live and get together every week to dance and socialise in clubs that partners with individuals and salsa schools to host salsa nights on a given day of the week.
"Right from 18 to 50, we have people across all age groups in the close-knit salsa community. It's a partner dance form with holds, spins and lift where the man leads and the woman follows. It's all about the chemistry between the two on the dance floor — what better occasion to celebrate the dance form than have the entire Valentine week dedicated to it," said Raoul D'Souza who, along with his wife Sangeeta Mehta runs RaSa, a dance school. This week, the duo is hosting Valentine salsa night at 'Sancho's' in Bandra on Thursday between 10pm and 1am. The night will kick start with a 30-minute Bachata workshop, followed by unlimited Latin dancing.
"We will have special offers on drinks and some lucky surprises through the night. We also look forward to expanding the community by encouraging more people to be part of the dance form," added Sangeeta, who is planning to have a salsa night at Sancho's every month. The duo already hosts nights at 'Hard Rock Cafe' in Andheri on Tuesdays and 'Ren' in Bandra on Sundays.
On Friday, the 13th, breaking away from the Valentine stereotype is the Anti Valentine Black and White Salsa night at 'Cafe Nemo' in Worli. Hosted by Francesca Saldanha and Vishal Salsero, the night will be a wee bit different but as exciting as the rest. "We just want to give the salseros a break from all the mush. There will be salsa, mambo, bachata and cha cha playing throughout the night. The dress code will be black and white," said Francesca.
On the day of Valentine's, February 14, will be a scintillating night for salsa lovers at 'Tote on the Turf' in Mahalaxmi, hosted by Chaiti Narula and Vineet Bangera. Red and White will be the theme. "I will be spinning a lot of old classics and modern Latin music. There will be salsa, bachata, cha cha, rueda, zouk, kizomba, jive and commercial," said Vineet, DJ for the night. The night also have special prizes for couples who weave magic on the floor and also special performances by dance schools.
If that's not all, if you are not yet exhausted, after Valentine's will have salsa on Sunday as well, at both Ren and Gangta's in Bandra. "This dance form is all about partnership and chemistry. It's a way to spread the joy of social dancing and we welcome more people to be part of it," added Vineet.
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