COME DANCE WITH ME

Salsa dancers strutting their stuffs on the dance floor

I was invited for Simmone’s birthday bash at the Salsa Havana, Federal Hotel last night. I am not a dancer, so obviously, my only probable role there was to snap pictures or merely as an awed spectator. And, awed I was.

The people here are friendly. They said hi to you even if you don’t know any of them. A much friendlier club but, just as pretentious as other clubs – where people wear sunglasses in the dark rooms, or teeny party hoppers, or people trying to look cool to fit in. Everyone here shared the same passion though: Salsa.

When Kat and I reached the club, a special performance from students; graduated from Patricia’s class was almost over. Nevertheless, we did get to catch the final glimpse of the last performance, albeit needing to tip toed over towering crowd.

Compared to the Latino Club that I visited in Singapore last year, here, there were more spectators compared to dancers. Kuala Lumpur has a long way to catch up. The crowd is a mixture of the young and old. Not surprisingly, the salsa dance had caught up with the younger crowds. Most of Patricia’s students were very young and gorgeous too!

Looking over at the bar, Kat and I felt that this is also one of the pick up joints in Kuala Lumpur. I bet your luck gets better here – as long as you know how to salsa. You don’t have to use lame pick up lines (You look familiar? I have seen you before? Can I buy you a drink? You came alone?). You could just do the pick up by dancing with anybody you fancy as it is not nice to turn down an invitation.

Body contact is a must; and I wonder do guys get an erection by rubbing their groins onto the body of the women dancers? It is an erotic and sensual dance.

I just couldn’t figure out how those dancers could do the cross-body-lead-turn without getting knotted; and how those skirts flow! Everything seemed being choreographed effortlessly. Some seasoned dancers moved about with much fluidity and grace; while some obviously quite new, just stick to the basic movements. Nonetheless, they looked gorgeous.

Celebrating birthday here could be very memorable. The birthday girl would be dancing for about 5 minutes with numerous partners – I guess it depends on your popularity. As for my friend here, Simmone, there were endless people in the line queuing up to dance with her. She looked gorgeous and stunning.

I guess salsa is a good form of exercise as you could see everyone sweating profusely on the dance floor. I noticed most people seemed to be very health conscious. Most tables were filled with only mineral water – or were it because a bottle of beer costs about RM21? It is getting too exorbitant to go clubbing these days. Guess we can only go to Salsa Havana on Ladies Night (Thursdays).

Little Salsa Dancer in the Making