Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Chachacha with Charlotte

Roger is organising regular Monday night workshops on different dances (eg bachata, lambada zouk, Cuban salsa). Last night's was on Latin chachacha with Charlotte, who's back teaching again after a two year break. I was a bit ambivalent about chachacha - done badly it can look a bit stiff and formulaic. A while ago I went to a Cuban chachacha class which was contratiempo, and I couldn't get my head around that at all. But I saw a couple dancing chachacha in Paris a couple of years ago and they made it look like a seriously stylish street dance with loads of hip movement and attitude. What Charlotte was teaching was on2 Latin chachacha and she put a lot of emphasis on technique: how to step to get the right hip movement, keeping it smooth and grounded. It was the best workshop I've been to for a long time and I learnt loads. Everyone else in the class was impressed too. Looking forward to the next one.