KL Dance Fair 2010 | Euveng.com

Salsa : How I got hooked, and how you can join the dark side.

- euveng

Posted by euveng on Jan 25, 2010 in Dance, Events, Featured, KL Dance Fair 2010, Photography, Salsa | 49 comments

In November, I had one of the most fun photography assignments I ever had since I started shooting.

The Salsa Cruise involved people, it involved a lot of females (definitely), and it involved a lot of body movement. None of which I was too interested in initially, so as I told many people, I ventured into it purely as a photographer. According to TimLow, he was looking for someone who was good at capturing emotions.

I think that maybe I should have warned him beforehand that the emotion that I capture the most was that of MY OWN. I don’t think he would’ve complained though. Camwhoring, after all, is an art ma *crazy laugh*

So, after Day #1 of the Salsa Cruise show at Singapore, came the most exciting part of the journey.

Jordan Frisbee of Jordan & Tatiana.

Kadu Pires & Larissa from Brazil.

It was sail-off day on the Legend of the Seas! Ain’t it grand?

I would have looooved to get a shot while on the pier standing next to the ship for a typical China-man shot but they simply wouldn’t let me get off the boarding passageway. What’s wrong with these security guards? So I could only take a photo of the tugboat instead. Damn.

And this is what you’d see on board. Feast your eyes, people…..

Actually, this is what you get if you board this ship as a regular cruise member.

But what you’re gona see next is what brought the whole thing to life. The Salsa part of the Cruise. Where over 300 guests from all over the world gathered…they came from different origins, practised different cultures, ate different food, but they all spoke one language : Dance.

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Honestly, it all came as a shock to me. Here I was, standing with a camera, watching couples who barely knew each other, grinding each others bonbon dancing to music that I can only describe as songs that you hear in the movies. Like the very South American type, eg when James Bond visits Morocco.

I shot and shot like Rambo with an M-16 machinegun. And the more I shot, the happier the faces I got.

IMG_9927a IMG_9940a

This artist Magna Gopal was originally also very happy, until I took such a LOW shot that she thought I was doing an upskirt. Oops..too artistic maybe.

Damn happy right these people! While wondering why…I put some facts together.

I don’t Salsa / Ballroom dance, but I do club. That’s technically dancing right? So because I do not smile as happily as these Salsa people while clubbing, I did some thinking and made this table to see a comparison between Salsa and Clubbing.

	Salsa	Clubbing
Sobreity	100% Sober or 100% drunk	Must be at least 50% drunk, or body cannot move.
Lighting	Any	Must be dark, preferably with laser lights shooting around.
Comfort Zone	If you can dance, you can dance with anyone in the club	The moment you speak to that hot chick on the table next door, she’ll think you wana take her home.
Skill Required?	Yes. Even basic will do.	None at all. It’s so dark, noone can see even if you dance like Barney the Dinosaur. Everyone else is drunk anyway.

And get this. A regular Friday night Salsa party in KL costs me RM10 (including a Coke / mineral water). A regular Friday night Clubbing session costs me RM60 at least (assuming I don’t dun run into road blocks that I need to bribe).

Group shot after dinner aboard the ship

Tony Lara & Jaime Jesus

Ulysses McLaren and Lidia McMahon

The directors of the cruise were, not surprisingly, awesome people themselves.

TimLow, Audrey, James, Tamie.

Even though I was on board as a photographer, I was allowed to join the dance workshops, as long as I had done my share of shooting.

AT THIS POINT I TENSION LOR.

Part of me wanted to try. And part of me knew that if I did, I would look completely like a fool. And sure enough, I did, when I joined the Bachata workshop under Tony and Daniella.

Had I simply partnered with anyone, it wouldn’t be so bad. But guess who dragged me out to dance with.

It’s Zher from 8TV. And it was caught on tape also! *faints*

The only real consolation was that she was a noob like me. So it was a potato dancing with a potato, and that was still OK. Hehe. The best part is, no one laughed. So FAIL on the dancefloor is allowed! *yes*

The incredible Lidia McMahon that exists only in guys’ wildest dreams.

Salsa, Bachata and Zouk are considered street dances, and are the only dance (as far as I know) that can be brought to parties in clubs. You can’t do that with dances like Tango, Rhumba, Ballroom etc. Salsa is a social dance; a universal language that brings people together.

I must admit that after all these, I found myself very drawn in, and wanted to get involved if I could.

So I’ll share with you on how YOU can get right in. I got this invite from TimLow a few day ago, that I wanna share with y’all:

If you think that you dance like Barney, then this event will be perfect for you. It caters for newbies and experienced dancers alike. Organized by the same people who pulled off the successful Salsa Cruise 2009.

There’s food, dance workshops, games, performances, holidays, up for grabs. For free. And if you’re worried that you don’t know people there, that’s what I’m there for. I’ll make sure you get acquainted in no time