Latin Nights

17 August 2006. Where do international students go in the evening?

You've had a hard day working or studying, and you need somewhere to go in the evening to meet friends and get rid of stress. In your hometown, you can probably think of several places to do just that, but what if you are studying or working abroad in the UK? Where do international students go?

 

Well, a popular choice is to go to one of the many Latin nights that are cropping up around the country. With the worldwide chart success of artists such as Ricky Martin, Enrique Inglesias and Shakira, Latin music has been reaching a wide audience, and it's the kind of music that's great to party to.

 

 

Home from home

I ask Maria Delaluz from Spain, who runs a weekly Latin party at the Que Pasa bar in Southampton, if she is surprised to see so many Latin nights in the area.

 

"Not really," she answers. "There are a lot of Spanish people here. They need music, and need a place... the same place, to see other people, because we are alone here and miss Spain. We are a community."

 

Her friend Amalia adds her enthusiasm. "One thing that I like....they put the not just the music you can listen in Spain now, they put music you can listen so many years ago." Inevitably, a discussion of classic songs and singers follows. I have to admit I'm not very familiar with Spanish music, but I catch the names "Paquito" and "Bisbal" so I will try to look out for them.

 

 

An international party

But Latin nights are not only popular with Latin people. You can see people from all over Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Far East.

 

Natsumi from Japan recalls how she used to go regularly when she was a student in England. "What I like about Latin nights is that the music is passionate and rhythmical. It's not hard to remember phrases and the dance. And the unification of dance makes everyone (or me?) feel 'Latino'. People are, I thought, optimistic and high (in a good way!)... and to join them, we've got to be like them."

 

Salsa lessons

It's certainly true that the music and the atmosphere pull you to the dance floor like a magnet. Of course, you don't have to learn any special dances to have fun, but often you find yourself admiring the skills of others and think, "I wish I could dance like that."

As a result, before the Latin party begins at Que Pasa, there is the chance to learn to dance salsa, with free classes for both beginners and the more advanced. As I also need some tuition, I went along to see the dance instructors Will and Sophie to find out more. Will from Cuba and Sofie from Norway are a charming couple who run Latin dance classes in the local area. I can't help asking if it was dancing that first brought them together. "Yeah. That's salsa!" replies Will, laughing.

 

I ask Sofie a bit more about salsa. "It's got a lot of rhythm, it's really fun and it's very dynamic. We specialise in something called 'rueda de casino', which basically means dancing salsa in a circle. It's very Cuban."

 

The idea sounds fun - a small number of couples make a circle, someone calls out the name of a step and everyone has to dance that step. Then your partner changes and the step changes too. "We take people through all the basic steps first, so people are confident," explains Sofie. "Then we practise with music. We use slow music to start with, because proper Cuban salsa is very fast. We make sure that people are confident... that they don't feel lost!"

 

"Most of our students start from zero. Now they know everything!" adds Will.

 

I think I know what I'm going to do next week...