On Sunday evening, December 13, a mixed crowd of teenagers and professionals gathered at the Moksh Auditorium at Jhamsikhel in Lalitpur for an hour-long session on Merengue, a dance originally from the Dominican Republic, but popular over all Latin America.
“One, two, three, five, six, seven,” directs Binayak Das Shrestha, one of the cofounders of the Academy along with Katia Verrault. “We’ve registered 25 participants this time,” he informs, taking a break from instructing.
Literally translating to ‘Week of Dance’, Salsa Dance Academy’s five-day workshop began on Saturday, December 12 and will go on till Wednesday. For a minimum fee of Rs. 1,000 per person, the workshop offers an opportunity to attend more than 30 hours of dancing. The rate is highly subsidized in comparison to the single-time drop in fee of Rs. 300 per class for their regular sessions held in their studios located in Bhatbhateni, Kathmandu.
The average age of most of the dancers this time around ranges between 22-30 years.
“I just finished Grade 12 and had nothing to do. So I decided to take this workshop,” says a cheerful 19-year-old Ankit Lamichhane, one of the few teenagers present.
“My cousin and I went to the Salsa Dance Academy, and they told us to join the workshop so that we could learn the basics,” adds 17-year-old Anish Lamichhane. The two have been spending their entire day at Moksh since the beginning of the workshop.
After their successful winter dance workshop held last year for children, the Academy is set to hold their second children special (ages 6-13) session starting January 7. The willingness of Ankit and Anish to go all the way to Bhatbhateni from their homes in Bhani Mandal and Baneshwor respectively is firm evidence of the growing interest of people in dances besides Bollywood.
“Salsa is a dance of pairs and involves a lot of coordination,” says Binayak, surrounded by his students. He adds, “I think that people not only learn an internationally renowned and respected dance but also build up their own personalities while learning these dances.”
While discipline is important, the dancers present at the Merengue session on Monday afternoon were having fun grooving to fast tunes, regardless of whether they got their footwork and turns wrong or right. And yes, partnering with total strangers seemed to bother no one.
For more information on the workshop and schedules, go to www.salsanepal.com
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