Dancing with the stars at the Salsa festival

But that’s exactly what is happening in Mumbai this weekend at the fourth annual Salsa Festival, which concludes on Sunday.

Spread over four days, the festival, which is happening at Joss (Kala Ghoda) in Mumbai, is the brainchild of Kaytee Namgyal, founder & managing director, Salsa India.

Started in 2004 as a way of bringing salsa lovers across the country together, the festival has now grown on to attract participants from countries like Dubai, Singapore and even Estonia.

Despite the somewhat misleading name, the festival hasn’t been restricted to teaching and showcasing salsa alone. The 45 workshops spread over three days cover various dance forms like the Mambo, Samba, Bachata and Cha-cha, along with sessions on styling and body movement.

For Ravi Choudhary, a Kolkata-based businessman who has been doing the salsa for about two years now, it is a welcome break from the regular work routine. “It’s my second year at the festival and it’s a completely different atmosphere once you are in here – almost like a carnival,” he says.

And it takes both enthusiasm and dedication to make it back to the workshops in the morning after dancing the night away at the post-performance salsa party the previous night.

Knzo, who has been a regular at the Salsa Festivals as well as the International Salsa Congress in Bangalore, says that the sessions in India have been a lot of fun and that he enjoys the energy levels he’s seen in his workshop. “I do plan to come down to India more often – perhaps every six months – and conduct more sessions here,” he says.

One reason why the festival has managed to attract so much international talent is that Namgyal himself is a regular on the international salsa circuit and has participated in and judged salsa events in various countries.

“The idea is to present some of the world’s best talent – both performers and Salsa DJ’s who have their own signature style and will share their expertise with the participants,” he says.

“We want to offer dance enthusiasts the opportunity to experience and learn world class dancing from international stars,” he sums up.

Apart from the workshops, the festival also had special performances on the different dance forms, followed by salsa parties. Namgyal also launched his range of clothing, Karma-Salsa at the festival.