It’s difficult not to fall in love with Bachata. There’s something so addictive about the music that without quite realising it, you are swaying in time to it. Lucky for Goa, Bachata dancing has been taking over the dance floor of late with some event venues even having Bachata nights which are almost always jam packed.
One of the dance instructors who has been pretty active in promoting this absolutely lovely dance form is Snaden D’Souza who has been into Bachata for the last couple years after getting his certification in Bachata as a performer. Apart from training dance enthusiasts in Bachata, Snaden has also been having Bachata socials in a couple of places including the popular Cohiba which was started recently.
And now he is all set to take this love for Bachata a step further with the first edition of the Bachata Fiesta, an all Goa Bachata Dance Competition, which will be held over three consecutive Fridays beginning May 4 at Cohiba.
“While other cities in India like Bangalore and Mumbai have big Latin dance communities, in Goa, this is still small but Bachata is definitely taking over. With Bachata you are more involved with your partner and you just fall in love with the music,” explains Snaden, adding that his Bachata classes receive more admissions as compared to the rest. “There various instructors in Goa that promote this dance style but apart from just learning I want to give students a little more motivation and initiative to take it up professionally with this competiton,” he says.
What’s interesting about this competition however is there is no creating of choreography involved. “When there is a creating of choreography involved, amateurs are a little hesitant about being able to come up with one in a limited time span. Plus it also involves having a dance teacher around. This way you just have to be a good listener and know your music well. The more music sense you have in Bachata, the better you will be able to guide your partner and co-ordinate,” says Snaden.
The competition which is open to amateurs and semi-pros will consist of two rounds. While the first round will be held on May 4, on May 11, those who were not able to make it the first time around will be given a chance to perform. The finals will be held on May 18 with trophies and certificates up for grabs. So far dancers Darryl D’Souza and Racquel Fernandes are on board as judges and the competition has already received about 25 entries.
And Gregg Furtado of Cohiba is also all enthusiastic about promoting Latin music and dance. “We were among the first to start promoting Latin music in Goa. In fact we have an entire Friday devoted to just Latin social dancing where we have an in house dance trainer who teaches the basic in Latin dancing in different styles,” he says. But apart from just having workshops, he says, they also believe in creating a platform to showcase what has been learnt by organising dance competitions. In fact a few months ago, Cohiba held the first edition of Just Jive. “Through these initiatives, we want to bring back social dancing which has taken a backseat with the new age genre of music like EDM which is all the vogue at the moment,” he adds.
