Chinese Character - Living La Vida Salsa

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CITYLIFE / Weekend & Holiday






Living La Vida Salsa


(btm)
Updated: 2007-07-18 12:57



For many Beijingers salsa is no longer an unfamiliar word. In the past,
people may have thought of a Mexican cold tomato sauce flavoured with
cilantro, chillies and onions when salsa was mentioned. No more. It now
has a completely different meaning, representing a new trend in salsa
dancing, a branch of Latin dance that has become a vigorous, exotic and
fashionable sport.

More elegant than disco or hip hop, with more freedom of movement than
waltz or tango, salsa has conquered the world's dance scene with
astonishing speed. This magical dance arrived in Japan and Korea at the
end of last century. When it came to China in 2002, it immediately became
a fashionable pastime for white-collar professionals and young people in
Beijing and Shanghai.

Salsa is not easily defined; it is a distillation of many Latin and
Afro-Caribbean dances, with each playing a large part in its evolution.
The dance is similar to tango, a more commonly accepted dance in China,
in that both have patterns of six steps danced over eight counts of
music. The dances share many of the same moves. In salsa, however, turns
are an important feature, so the overall look and feel is quite different
from that of tango. Tango generally moves forward and backward, while
salsa has more of a side to side feel.

This definition may make salsa appear a bit hard to comprehend, but
according to Liu Zimeng, general manager of the Bailando Dancing Club,
one of Beijing's most professional dance schools, anyone who has a desire
to dance the salsa can do it, regardless of age, physical status or
agility.

Liu said, "You don't especially have to be an expert in dancing to learn
salsa. You can dance salsa even if you're rhythmically challenged and
suffer from the 'two-left-feet' syndrome." Among the first to introduce
salsa to Beijing, Liu thinks its ease of mastery might be one of the
reasons for salsa's worldwide popularity. One only has to take six
1.5-hour classes to get the skills needed to step onto a Latin dance club
floor and dance the night away.

Without question, salsa has many benefits.

It is one of the best forms of exercise that will help you achieve goals
such as weight reduction and muscle gain. As you learn more salsa moves,
practicing will boost your physical endurance and range of motion. It is
an ideal way to strengthen one's cardiovascular system, and it
contributes to a good posture and body alignment. In addition, it
increases your flexibility and stamina encouraging a total body stretch.




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