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METROWORKOUT

Steps and swirls

Swirl time Sisters Pooja and Reema believe that Salsa is a complete stress buster

So Salsa it is. If it was L.A. Salsa earlier, we cruise to the Bay to attempt swirls of the San Francisco or Bay Area style Salsa. The classes are on at the swish health club of Intercontinental Eros. Pooja warns me to be on time. Careful not to rub my trainer for the day the wrong way, I am there 10 minutes before time. As it turns out, I have not one, but two trainers. Pooja and Reema are the Salsa sisters who train about 35 students.

My dalliance with Salsa is limited to glimpses of gravity-defying, feathery movements in “Dance with Me.” With meagre expectations, I follow the sisters, amply warning them against giving me any knockout steps. “We have not put on weight after we started doing Salsa regularly,” Reema says encouragingly. A tempting proposition, but I don’t budge. As we wait for the students, the sisters drill in the virtues of Salsa dancing.

“San Francisco Salsa is more stylised. Unlike, the L.A. or the N.Y. style, this is fairly new to India,” explains Pooja. The sisters’ enterprise is called Danzamor and they teach a variety of popular dances. They are in India after acquiring instructors’ training from the United States. The students, mostly office-goers, trickle in and the music comes alive. The atmosphere makes me a little nervous. I cajole Reema to show me a few “basic” steps before it’s full quorum at the health club. She obliges. The thought of not embarrassing myself before a dozen dancers makes me feel better.

“Salsa is a complete stress buster. It is one of the most free dances,” says Reema, putting on her heels. I grunt. “It is the ball of the foot that is concentrated upon in Salsa,” she says. She puts her right foot forward, gently pushes down the ball of the foot and begins the count: one, two, three, four. The weight gently shifts from the right foot to the left with the count. At the count of four, one begins the same movement with the left foot. I follow Reema studiously. This is by no means hard. “This is called the front and back basics,” she educates me. Similar steps follow with the feet stepping sideways and back. These are the side, back to back and forward basics. I manage them without much fuss. However, Reema and I were doing it in super slow motion. In the regular class, they go through these steps in double quick time. The instructor gently heightens the speed. I end up with a flurry of wrong moves. I give up and let her whiz around.

She introduces the hand movement. “The hand is held at 45 degrees, between the chest and navel. The middle finger leans towards the thumb,” says Reema as she expertly co-ordinates the hands and feet and effortlessly slips from one foot to the other. She introduces a slithery belly movement too. I opt for the spectator act. The students fill in and the class gathers steam. Pooja and Reema lead like true pros while the wannabes slip a little and try hard to catch up. I am glad not to be in their shoes.

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