Source

Last July 29-31, 2022, our local dancing community Baile Latino Cebu celebrated its first-ever mini Afro-Latin Festival! This was a fruitful event where dancers from all over the country - Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Cebu gathered to showcase their talent and passion for dancing and share them with everyone who participated! It was a 3 -day event filled with workshops, social dancing, and a performance night! If you haven't seen the teaser yet, you can check it out here.

These types of events do costs some money. The early bird promo was Php 3,990 or $71.25 which lasted until July 15, 2022, and the regular rate was priced at Php 4,500 or $80.35. They said these rates were already affordable compared to the ones held abroad and I certainly agree. With this fee, one can already access the 12 hours of workshops or that's an equivalent of 8 classes already and 3 nights of social dancing and performances!

The 8 classes included bachata, kizomba, salsa, argentine tango, and zouk! These workshops were held at Asmara Urban Resort & Lifestyle Village Inc. and the social dancing was held at Golden Prince Hotel. Since it was my first time attending an event where classes and social dancing were held for the next consecutive days, I can say that although it was fun and amazing it was also tiring and exhausting at the same time!

The teachers of these workshops were all professional dancers in their field and that was one thing I was excited of this event - to learn from the best! Salsa, Argentine Tango, and Zuok were not my thing but I opened myself to learning these dances too! I shall share some insights on that as well.

Source

---

First Day

On our first day of workshops, the first class was Intro To Argentine Tango This was taught by teachers Danilo and Hiromi for an hour and thirty minutes. We were taught about counting and timing with the music, connection with our partners, and basic patterns and figures like Promenade, Rueda, and Scissors. I was just so glad to be paired up with Richard who was already a professional tango dancer and one of my lead partners for most dances in the past so it wasn't so hard to connect and learn. I usually get frustrated if I don't get it the first time around but Richard made sure that I was able to get the moves.

Source

Source

This was then followed by 2nd class which was Bachata Fusion Partner work. This was taught by my first ever Bachata teachers - Christian and Tracy. I've been dancing Bachata for a year now and this class was easy and quite fun. Learning some new techniques and styling to our basic bachata steps added some flavor to our dancing. The gentlemen were taught some tips and tricks to bring out some suave and smoothness to their moves and the ladies were given the chance to flaunt their sexy lady styling as well.

Source

The last class was Intermediate Salsa on 2 Shines which was taught by the Cachimbo Dance Company. I was just glad to have my first formal class with them as they were able to teach and show Salsa on 2 as something easy to do! Most of the time, I kind of turn down male leads when they ask me to dance salsa during our social dancing as I just can't quite get the counting, and the dance itself kind of lasts 3-5 minutes, and my sprained knee wouldn't last that much. But after joining the class, I am more confident dancing salsa on 2 even just by doing the basic moves! I have to say though that the instructors were great with what they do so kudos!

Source

Our class on the first day ended at 5.30 pm! More than four hours and I were already worried that my knee would kind of give in that night as I was looking forward to attending the first night of our social dancing! It was already 9:00 pm when I arrived at the venue and oh boy! The place was small and packed with dancers. Most of the people were already sweating and the air-conditioning wasn't enough for the number of people that came. 😅 Unfortunately, the organizers had an issue with the original place they booked so they had to make changes at the very last minute. Regardless, a lot of people came to support and dance! The theme was white and denim and everyone wore their best.

Source

Source

I had to sit down during the first 30 minutes to let everything sink in then finally I brave the dance floor asking male leads I don't know to dance with me. Well, that's how one can learn more. The male leads I danced with that night (mostly from Manila) all had their unique way of leading. As a follower, we should be able to adapt and follow their lead. I had to let go of the self-doubt, connect with them and just dance my heart away! The first night of social dancing was indeed fun!

I made new friends on the dance floor, learned a lot by dancing with different male leads, and truly enjoyed dancing! I was happy that day!

To be continued...