Latin Passion SVG hosts special class to mark first anniversary

A local latin dance group has celebrated its first anniversary with a special class held on Wednesday, September 10, at the Lion’s Den Kingstown.

Latin Passion SVG, which was founded in September 2013, caters to beginners, intermediates and experienced {{more}}dancers – tutoring them in Salsa, Cha Cha, Bachata and Kizomba dancing.

Founders Kimya Glasgow and Anton Jardine expressed their delight at having reached this milestone, and were very pleased that the turnout at the special anniversary event surpassed their expectations.

“We were quite surprised!” said Glasgow, who is also a local clothing and accessories designer.

Glasgow said that although the group’s journey thus far has had a few bumps along the way, it has mostly been a rewarding experience.

Having started with just 10 students, Latin Passion SVG now has approximately 40 registered students.

Glasgow said that she is very proud of the progress that the group has made, especially the beginner students. She noted that a visit from a St Lucian Latin dance group earlier this year provided a much needed boost to Latin Passion SVG’s members.

“The excitement that they [St Lucian dance group] brought, and when you see the level that they’re at… it was inspiring… it was a beautiful experience,” she enthused.

Jardine said that he hopes to take the group forward by partnering with tourism authorities to make latin dancing a part of what St Vincent and the Grenadines offers to its visitors.

“We want to sell it as a tourism product,” he explained. “We are hoping to collaborate with the different ministries on that.”

Jardine also mentioned that he and Glasgow want to market Latin dancing as an alternative way of keeping fit and healthy.

He pointed out that latin dancing is a low impact form of exercise that doesn’t wreak as much havoc on the body as running or gym workouts do.

Glasgow added: “You really don’t feel like you’re working out, because there is so much fun to it… you’re doing a lot of cardiovascular.”

One challenge that the group is hoping to overcome is the lack of male participants – most of Latin Passion SVG’s more experienced dancers are female.

“You can’t do Latin dancing without a strong male partner,” said Glasgow.

“People have a lot of preconceived notions about what Latin dancing is like – that prevents them from… trying or even seeing what it’s like. Once people get past a particular age, we tend to not want to try new things… we’ve lost that child-like fun… it doesn’t allow us to jump in and try something new.”

Both Jardine and Glasgow are encouraging the public to attend beginner classes, which take place at the Lion’s Den on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 p.m. onward.(JSV)