Salsa and the City Kolkata, India

Article written by Lourd Vijay for OnlineSalsa.com

The salsa scene in Kolkata has been a fairly recent addition to the city’s culture and is ingrained with the presence of Aditya Upadhaya who moved there in October, 2005. Prior to that, few individuals taught moves to Hindi songs and called it Salsa. There was no concept of the salsa rhythm “quick-quick-slow” or the count “1,2,3,- 5,6,7”
 
My meeting with Aditya happened in Delhi in 2005 approximately at the same time he had moved to Kolkata. On December 9, 2005, Aditya organized the city's first salsa party ever, which he called “Vive la Salsa Night at Roxy, The Park”. When asked about it, he confesses that it was only him dancing on the floor and luckily a friend from Delhi was visiting so he had someone to dance with.
 
Slowly over the years the level of dancing has risen, and currently Salsa parties of the “Vive la Salsa Nights” at Venom is usually packed with budding salseras and salseros.

Salsa in the Conservative Kolkota
 
Salsa nights are organized twice a month at Venom on Wednesdays, and once a month on Sunday at Plush. These parties attract teachers from other schools, but somehow they do not attract their students. One major problem cited about students in Kolkata is that the majority of them are not locals but are in the city for a few months and have to leave soon. These non-locals usually are the ones who stay on longer at the parties and seem to enjoy salsa more.
 
Kolkata being more conservative may seem different from Delhi, Bombay or Bangalore as far as the comfort level between partners is involved - especially Bachata - and many girls do not join because they feel awkward dancing with strangers, even just Salsa. In spite of this, most students who have stuck on for more than 3 months tend to stay on for long. The largest batches are the intermediate level Salsa dancers. It is observed that Bollywood is what makes the people have fun, which is why most English movies are not released in Kolkata even though they would have in other parts of India.
 
So today all Kolkata residents are welcome to the world where you can ‘Live Salsa’!

A Growing Salsa Community
 
The Salsa community in Kolkata has been growing steadily since its inception and the sessions even bring together entire families. They assure genuine and detailed instruction coupled with plenty of opportunities to enhance social life, physical and mental wellness and make new friends while learning how to dance. Students have also had opportunities to perform at, and attend Salsa parties and festivals around the country.
 
Casa de la Salsa (House of Salsa) was formed in May 2005 and operated through workshops in and around Eastern India. After the success of these initial workshops, the company’s name was changed to Vive la Salsa, ‘Live Salsa’, to better embody the organization’s aim of building a community. Salsa enthusiasts in Kolkata have taken Salsa to new lengths. Some of them have gone all the way to win the first place of the salsa championships at the International Salsa India Fiesta 2005, held in New Delhi, and placed second at the India International Salsa Congress in Bangalore in August 2007.

This is Vive La Salsa's newest dance routine performed at the Hong Kong Salsa Festival 2010.

List of Salsa Schools

·       Vive la Salsa
·       Vishal Kanoi
·       Salsa India Dance Company
·       Twist n Turns
·       Mambocity
·       Dew drops
·       Tito Dey
·       Suman Mukehrjee
·       Sudipto Kumar
 
 

 
About the Author

Lourd Vijay is the principal Promoter of Latin culture, music and dance in the Asian Region. He recently stood 10th at the “most Popular Entrepreneur of the year 2009” amongst 180 nominees from across the country. An innovative choreographer and a very able instructor, he is the director of the Lourd Vijay’s Dance Studios (www.lvds.in | www.indiasalsa.com ) in India.
 
Lourd holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Management. He has just launched a project called the Street Kids Street Dance Initiative – a project to impart dance as a vocation to socio-economically challenged individuals. Lourd is also the organiser of The India International Salsa Congress, the All India Salsa Championships, the Chennai Salsa Festival, the Goa Salsa Festival, the Winter Dance Festival, The Spirit of dance festival, Free Spirit Street Arts Festival as well as the Ambassador of the Hong Kong Salsa Festival.