SVG Salsa Club to launch at Roy’s Inn

St. Vincent’s newest and most exciting dance workshops, hosted by the SVG Salsa Club, will be officially launched today at 6:00 p.m. at the Roy’s Inn, which has become the new hot location for Latin dancing in St. Vincent over the last few months.

Since the late 1990s, the love for the glamour and sensuality of Latin music and dancing has seeped across the borders of our Spanish-speaking neighbours like Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Cuba, fueled by movies such as “Dirty Dancing” and “Dance With Me”.{{more}}

Also, the growing popularity of Spanish-American pop singers have added fuel to the flame, with mega-stars such as Selena, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, Mark Anthony, Shakira and Daddy Yankee, just to name a few, becoming more than house-hold names hot on the lips of Latin music lovers.

It is no wonder, then, that Latin music and Salsa dancing have become firmly rooted in the entertainment scene of many English-Speaking Caribbean nations. As a result, islands like Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and St. Lucia have in recent years developed thriving communities of Salsa Clubs and dancers, with weekly and monthly workshops, club nights, parties and dance-sessions dedicated to both the old and new Latin sounds.

These dance-sessions not only offer a great introduction to the new-comers who desire to learn the dance or just want to watch, but also allow “salsa-dance-junkies” to get their weekly “salsa-fix”, as well as provide a venue for Latinos to celebrate their cultures and the music of their homelands, while away from home.

Vincentians, too, seem to have recently been “bitten by the Salsa bug”, as more and more dance-enthusiasts turn up every week at the Roy’s Inn to join in the dance workshops, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. According to dance instructor Richard “Frenzy” Beadle, Salsa-dancing is growing more quickly in St. Vincent than it did in Jamaica, a few years ago.

“When we just started there was a call for more men to get involved, but now, with our new location at the Roy’s Inn, more and more couples are dancing!” he says.

Beadle, who is a Jamaican dance instructor and performer with the SalsaJamaica dance troupe, attributes this positive response of both men and women in St. Vincent to Latin music and dancing, to the similarities between St. Vincent and many Latino countries, where “dancing is deep-rooted and celebrated in the culture of the nations, and men and women dancing together is lauded, supported and encouraged”.

Since the beginning of August, Salsa Dance Workshops for Preteens, Teens and adults have been held weekly at the Roy’s Inn, which has met with impressive success. This has led to the formation of the SVG Salsa Club. Patrons will experience first-hand the growth of Latin Dancing in St. Vincent, as the evening will feature a Workshop Graduation exercise and dance performances by the students, both teens and adult groups.