Social Skills is a monthly column featuring community groups where you can meet new people through exercise or other enjoyable activities.
Fancy flaunting your sexy figure in public? Taking a salsa class is a great way to shave off extra pounds and shape your bod with constant hip action that’ll help prevent a slipped disc down the road.
Believed to originate in the 1970s in New York City, salsa combines elements from a handful of dances popular in Latin America, including the Cuban son montuno, guaracha, chachacha and mambo.
Intimidating as it is, the benefits reaped from this sensual dance are well worth any initial pangs of inhibition. Salsa dancers can expect to keep in shape, maintain a positive mood, overcome difficulties communicating with the opposite sex, release pressure and enlarge their social circle, as is written in Salsa Cubana’s online course description.
The Guangzhou-based club sees salsa novices and experts twirl together every week in a studio on Machang Lu, a stone’s throw from Liede area. Owner and coach Joy Zuo, who defines salsa as a social activity, says that as long as one can move to the rhythm of salsa music, no fundamental skills are needed. Enjoying the process, she says, is the most important part, and one doesn’t need to be in perfect shape to be a good salsa dancer.
Classes are categorized by level and include beginner, elementary, intermediate and advanced, with 10 classes for each level. Other types of dances – bachata, contemporary dance, kizomba and Zumba – are also offered at the studio, and are taught by an international team of professional dancers.
Sign up for an experimental class this winter or break the ice at the daytime salsa party held every Sunday afternoon from 3.30pm to 6pm at Sleeping Flower Restaurant and Bar. It’s time to shake that thang!
RMB50 for experimental classes, RMB1,250 for 10 classes, RMB2,050 for 20 classes, RMB4,550 for 50 classes.
Click here for the listing of Guangzhou Salsa Cubana.
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