Let’s dance: Join the Indian Afro-Latin festival in Mumbai

Fusion dance is very popular in the world of dance, but of late, fusion Afro Latin dancing is on top of the charts for the beauty of its movements and its techniques. Afro-Latin dancing combines both African and Latin dance styles.

For the first time in Mumbai ‘Pure Latin Fever’ is bringing the ‘Indian Afro-Latin Sensation 2019’, an Afro-Latin dance festival to be held from October 10-14. This festival is designed for participants from different walks of life and will feature famous dance forms like Salsa, Bachata, Mambo, Bachata Dominican, Bachata Sensual, Kizomba, Semba, Tarraxinha, UrbanKiz and more. These dances will be performed by some of the leading artistes across the globe.

In an interaction with YS Weekender, Shital Joshi, Latin dance enthusiast, founder of Pure Latin Fever and host of the India Afro Latin Sensation, in Mumbai this year talked about the festival and the participants…

Can you tell us about the Afro- Latin Dance Festival? What are its highlights?

The Indian Afro-Latin Sensation 2019, 1st Edition will be first of its kind Afro-Latin festival in India, which will help people understand more about different Latin dance forms, other than salsa. It is a three-day festival with globally acclaimed artistes who will be performing and conducting workshops.

Some of the key highlights of the festival is the Boat party, which is a pre-party on a cruise to mark the start of the event, progressive workshops later in the afternoons, open air dancing, a Pool-and-foam party and a live performance by P Lowea, a well-known saxophone player.

What kind of dance forms will be featured in the festival and who will be doing these dances?

Some of the well-known Afro-Latin dances like Salsa, Bachata, Mambo, Bachata Dominican, Bachata Sensual, Kizomba, Semba, Tarraxinha, UrbanKiz, and Afro-house will feature in the dance festival, besides which, we have nine International artistes, five national artistes, six International DJs, four National DJs and a live music concert.

Luis Vasquez, one the creators of LA style Salsa will be in India after two decades and he will be teaching the dance movements and will also host a Salsa Townhall.

The renowned artiste of UrbanKiz world and organizer of Paris Kizomba Congress, Fred Maestro will be taking UrbanKiz workshop and will be the DJ in the Afro Room. There will also be workshops by Morgane Lucia, from France.

Who are some of the celebrities taking part in the festival?

Afro Latin festival — The Afro-Latin Dance Festival will feature many international artistes

Some of the world renowned national and international artistes are going to be part of this festival like Luis Vazquez, the King of Salsa Style. He is an instructor and choreographer from Guadalajara, Mexico. Luis moved to Los Angeles and began dancing in 1992 and is one of the pioneers of the popular LA salsa style.

He trained under Korke, the creator of Bachata Sensual. He is a well-known choreographer in Urban and Latin rhythms from Cádiz, Spain. Besides these celebrities, there are many celebrities and well-known artistes who will be attending the festival.

What exactly is Afro-Latin dance?

Afro Latin dance is basically the combination of African and Latin dances and a combination of two or more dance styles. It involves dancing with salsa and bachata forms with perfectly coordinated moves and switching to various dances forms in between.

Afro-Latin dance starts with slow movements and soon gets into foot thumping steps. Towards the end of the dance, the dancers gradually slow down.

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Can you tell us about your organisation, Pure Latin Fever?

I moved to Mumbai in 1986 and started my travel business in 1992. I continued doing business till 2004, achieved top line ranking amongst various airlines. However, post 9/11 attacks, I had to shut the travel business and ventured into security and facilities management and started working for auto ancillary companies like Orex Auto, Avis India, G4S security services solutions. As I am a born entrepreneur, I started another company in 2014.

I now run a Facility Management business under the name of Pronto Facility Services Pvt Ltd and started Pure Latin Fever in 2017, which is a subsidiary of the Pronto Group. Under this company we have hosted Latin dancing events / shows / Afro Latin Socials in Mumbai and India and I have conducted more than 100 Social dancing nights across various cities of India.

How did you get into Afro Latin dancing?

I first learnt about Afro-Latin dancing in 2011 when, we were out for a corporate dinner. There I saw a live Latin dance performance and was truly mesmerised by it. I Immediately wanted to know more about the dance and approached one of the dance instructors. I started training under Raoul D’Souza, the founder and director of RaSa Dance academy, and for the past 8 years I have been dancing around the world in most of the festivals and a part of the global Afro Latin dance community.

Can you tell us about some of the Latin dance events you have attended?

There aren’t many Afro Latin dance festivals happening in India. Since 2015 I started attending international Latin dance festivals. Till date I have participated at various festivals like Istanbul Salsa Congress in 2015, Berlin Salsa Congress in 2016, Singapore Latin Extravaganza 2016, ALIA (Afro-Latin invention Asia 2017) and the Paris Kizomba Congress in 2018.