It was 11 a.m. and the sun was shining down with a vengeance at Covelong beach. Thankfully, there was a multi-coloured shamiana to provide a little bit of shelter, even though it was dwarfed by the expanse of sand that surrounded it. Over the next hour, 30 dancers gathered under the shamiana to kickstart the four-day Surf and Salsa festival. They took their places, found their partners, and as the music played, the bachata began.
Arun Srinivasan, founder and director of Salsa Madras, and organiser of the festival, said, “I wanted to introduce salsa dancers to surfing.” A student of surfing himself, Arun decided to tie up with the Covelong point surfing school and conduct the first two days of the salsa festival by the beach. The idea was to get everyone to dance and interact for the first two days. The main event, featuring 25 workshops, 10 international artistes and 60 participants, was held over the weekend at Taj Gateway.
The event was attended not just by local dancers, but also by those from different parts of the country who wanted to spend their weekend learning kizomba, bachata and salsa. Komal Degwakaz from Pune tried her hand at bachata for the first time and said, “It is laid-back, sensual and soothing because of the non-spicy music it goes with, making it perfect for the seaside.”
The local surf instructors got their hips moving during the dance workshops while the dancers got a taste of riding the waves post the beginner’s bachata bootcamp. “When you paddle into the water and stand on your board for the first time, you feel like you’re floating. It’s an amazing feeling,” said Krishna Ganapathi, one of the dancers who took part in the workshop, after his first surf lesson that lasted 20 minutes.
The dancers managed to gather a small crowd of onlookers who enjoyed watching them move gracefully to the music. However, it would have been a far more pleasant experience to have had the event in the evening, when it wasn’t as hot and humid. The event, where surf instructors met salsa dancers, was a first of its kind initiative.
(With inputs from Wong Pei Ting)
