In the words of Vineet Bangera Founder of The Dance Factory –

What is it?

• 3 nights and 4 days of non-stop partying – sleepless weekend guaranteed!
• Shows and workshops from the world’s most celebrated dance stars
• Participants from over 30 countries around the world
• The best Latin DJs mixing your favourite music from dusk till dawn
• Your only chance to enjoy the true spirit of Latin America in India
• A chance for you to dance your way to the most popular touristic sites in India
• 5 star accommodation at affordable prices – luxury spa and resort setting
• Venue: Sports complex with all facilities and amenities
• You just DON’T want to miss out!

Programme:

April 12th – Thursday

Pre-party in New Delhi

April 13th – Friday
16:00 onwards – Registrations and collection of passes
21:00 – 23:00 – Shows
23:00 – 03:00 – Party

April 14th – Saturday
11:00 – 18:00 – Workshops (5 halls)
18:00 – 20:00 – Dinner
21:00 – 23:00 – Shows
23:00 – 03:00 – Party

April 15th – Sunday
11:00 – 18:00 – Workshops (5 halls)
18:00 – 20:00 – Dinner
21:00 – 23:00 – Shows
23:00 – 03:00 – Party (Special theme night called U-VIP. Details coming soon!!)

April 16th – Monday*
10:00 – Departure to Agra and site seeing tour inc Taj Mahal
20:00 onwards – Farewell Party@Taj (Theme Bollywood/India)
(Check the ‘Party@Taj’ page for more details)

LVDS
Presents
The 3rd GOA SALSA FESTIVAL 2012: March 16th-18th
Sun, Sea, Sand & Salsaaaaaa…

GSF 2012 is being held in honour of students of various dance schools across the country and the world.
It’s a tribute to the passion and effort they put into keeping Latin Dance, music and culture alive and constantly evolving.
GSF 2012 stands strong and true to its philosophy of fun, fun and more fun.
No hectic workshops, no long performances, No celebrity performers and instructors. Just parties from Sun rise to Sun set.

The only true star at the 3rd Goa Salsa Festival 2012 is YOU

A pure fun SALSA vacation for all.
We have tried to include everything that Goa has to offer – sun, sea, good food, some surf, Water sports and added to that “SALSAAAAAAAA along with a dose of Bachata, Zouk, Cha-cha and Merengue”, as the cherry on top of the sundae.

Today a old friend from the Salsa days called. He was an ace dancer plus a Salsa Instructor. He said I dont teach dancing anymore. This brought back  memories of the MUMBAISALSA MEETUP GROUP group.

My (self)claim to fame in Salsa is not my poor Salsa dancing skills but the because I used to run a community for Salsa right from 2004-2008 organising Salsa parties across various clubs in Mumbai. I wasnt the only one, I had more than ample help from others (wouldnt get into naming them, they all know) but rain or shine every Sunday i showed up at the place to take care of the guests and newbie Salsa enthusiasts who wanted to learn Salsa and dance. As a part of this group, we managed to host more than 150 Salsa parties in Mumbai.

I call this period the Renaissance period of club Salsa dancing in Mumbai.

There were other people organising Salsa dance parties, but the Mumbai Salsa Meetup Group with me as the Organiser was the only community driven Salsa event happening every week (after week). When I look back I wonder why I did it. I was thinking I would make some money (no I didnt make any). But lady luck shined on me with lady love. I asked her “Why does a beautiful woman like you want to be with me”, She answered, “because you are the organizer, the leader”. Well I guess that was reason enough for me to continue doing what I did as a Organizer of the group.

But like all good things come to end, the energy required to keep the parties going were too much, as club owners bickered to us, Salsa dancing is a loss making proposition for them. They said “no one drinks much”. The final blow came to us when Bohemia shut down as consequence of a raid on a rave party happening there (not us).

I never made very good friends in the group, there was no one in the group I met outside our dancing meetups. But they became more like brothers, where a silent relationship with salsa music and salsa dance connected me to them. I love them without having to say so and they probably know about this. Also there are so many newbie boys and girls whose hands I have held and forcefully (bullied) them into dancing with each other. Seeing newcomers on the dance floor gives me a lot of JOY. I like to see them losing their inhibition and becoming one.

BTW the club where this all happened majorly was placed in JUHU called BOHEMIA! If you have been part of the MUMBAI SALSA MEETUP, please leave a comment.

Madan Kumar:A few acheivements

“Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go to Salsa. That’s my best-selling T-shirt for women” laughs Abhishek Tiwari, 26, the founder and CEO of the one-of-a-kind T-shirt venture, Salsa Tees

Abhishek has an answer for everything. “I wanted something to define me as a dancer; to wear my dance attitude, if you will. When I began looking for such T-shirts, I found them to be very expensive – 1500 to 2000 rupees a piece. So I decided to make my own T-Shirts with funny captions. Initially, it was all for me. But when I got on the dance floor, everyone began asking, ‘Dude, where did you get that shirt? I want it too!’ That’s how my little idea became a busin

Not just a business, but a flourishing one at that. Abhishek says what helped him take off is “the big gap between demand and supply. People want such shirts – good designs at affordable prices but no one does them.”

“Tantra is very broad. They do a lot of things but my product is for dancers alone. It’s an outward expression of the art they love. It’s an additional way for us to bond, and a unique way for us to give back to the community.” In that Abhishek feels he doesn’t sell T-Shirts; he gives his clients a piece of themselves – a reflection of their art, a glimpse of their drive, a drop of their passion.”

“My designs!” Abhishek jumps at my question as if he had been waiting when it would come. “We offer the widest range of shirts. One of my most popular designs include, ‘In a relationship with Suzy Q’ – a very tough move to master in Salsa.”

Then there is ‘Salsa Man,’ a T-Shirt that unabashedly sports the Superman ‘S’. ‘Salsaholic’, ‘Salsa – Connecting People’ and ‘Certified Salseras!’ are all a part of Abhishek’s colorful portfolio, including my personal favourite, ‘It’s not a mistake, it’s a variation.’

“It’s hard to choose!” But after a pause, he says, “The Osama one! We had this shirt, ‘I wanna Salsa before the Americans kill me.’ It went out of stock when he was killed. Now we do a variant, ‘He did Salsa the night before he was killed.”

“You can create your own shirt and order online on our Facebook page. We also sell at special dance studios across India – Salsa India in Delhi, Danza de la Liga in Pune, and have other locations coming up.”

Salsa Tees will also have their own stall at the 6^th International Salsa Congress in Bangalore from 12^th-15^th August so look out for them.

It’s not every day you meet a young entrepreneur, who can run a business he’s deeply passionate about alongside a full-time job and its travel commitments. But Abhishek is full of energy and you can tell he and Salsa Tees will go places.

“Any last words?” I ask him.

 

“I had no intention of breaking a record,” says the dancer, “I’m often in Mumbai to judge reality shows; I am also a talent scout. I was approached by the production company of Guinness in March to find someone who could break a record — there are many in dance such as rock and roll flips and hand hops. Surprisingly no one was willing to give it a shot.”

Vijay then decided to do it himself. He chose three of his dancers who would work with him on the record. “I needed girls who weren’t too tall or heavy. The ones I picked were from across the country and, therefore, we couldn’t start practising till everyone reached Mumbai about three days before we went on stage,” he explains.

Having introduced Salsa in 1997, Vijay has also been working to promote Latin culture music and dance in the country.

For this record, he says, mental preparation was important. “I have been doing Pilates for eight months and that helped me. The work-out focusses on core and upper body strength, which was necessary for the flips. On March 18, we reached Mumbai and practised for three days. We first saw how many flips we could do in a minute and then in 10 seconds. We reached 33 on the second day of practice and then became confident.”

And with 39 flips in a minute, the record was broken comfortably on the sets of Guinness World Records ‘Ab India Thodega’. “I didn’t think it was a big achievement till it was aired and people began to call to appreciate me. But now, it feels good to have done something like this,” he says.

Following this, Lourd Vijay is engaging in a host of activities this year — his dance studio’s Summer Festival Final, a tap dance workshop and an International Salsa Congress.

Article source: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2009147.ece

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF DANCE

“Let’s say Salsa is a language. You first learn the alphabets then the words and then the basic rules of grammar. Then we teach you to form sentences to express yourself. And finally you learn to think in the language so that you can write your own story.” These are the words of Vineet Bangera who has recently co-founded The Dance Factory with Sahiba Sawhney. Dance cannot be learnt by rote as mere steps and it is this belief that has pushed them to set-up a company that aims at giving its students quality dance education. The Dance Factory is about creating artists and not just dancers. It’s about understanding music, communicating with dance, developing your personality and allowing your own personal style to emerge and therefore making dancers a complete package. While setting up dance classes in Mumbai is the first step, it’s far from the last. The Dance Factory will eventually launch apparels and products related to dance. But above these plans, Vineet and Sahiba want to make The Dance Factory into an institute that nurtures quality artists whose talent and skill are their own certificate in dance. The Dance Factory is also going to provide a platform to all talented dancers in the country to make a career of this art form. If you have the passion we will show you the way.

An engineer by qualification, technique and detailed understanding of the subject is a way of thinking for Vineet. A fashion designer by qualification, style and grace is Sahiba’s forte. Together they are technically sound, stylish, fast and precise. With deep love for music, they make sure that their students dance to the music and not on counts and therefore maintain a strong harmony between dance and music. The duo have been teaching salsa and dancing together for a decade now. They have taught and performed at various events in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Goa, Pune and Surat within India and in festivals across the globe including Istanbul, Antalya, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Paris, Malaysia, Bangkok, Bali, Sydney, Dubai, Slovenia, Croatia.

The Dance Factory has started its first batch at Sparks Centre in Grant Road. Classes are conducted on Mondays and Thursdays (8-9pm Basics and 9-10pm Improvers). The first class was held on Thursday, 10^th February. To join the current batch, drop in on Monday, 12^th February. For further information call on (98200-**-TDF) i.e. 98200-97-833 or 98200-59-833.

The Dance Factory - Rethinking Dance….

Watch this video below of Vineet Bangera and Sahiba Sawhney at the II International Turkish Festival.

Lourd Vijay (founder –Director of LVDS) is a phenomenal dancer, an innovative choreographer and a very able instructor. Of his most recent accomplishments, Lourd Vijay counts being invited to conduct Salsa workshops at the World Salsa Congress, Italy and thrilling workshops conducted by him in Colombo and Bangkok, and at Salsa Festivals in Hong Kong. He also has fond memories of choreographing and working in many theatre productions and Bollywood Production including the Jackie Chan starrer ‘The Myth”

• Can you tell us how and when did you get in to salsa? Who inspired you?

One of the earliest friends I made in the Salsa circle was Yogesh, I know him as a die hard Salsa aficionado and inspiring teacher & passionate dancer of Salsa.He is a constant reminder to me how life should be easy without any hangups, his dance personifies this attitude, check out this interview with Yogesh, known as YK in the Salsa circle, who i believe is one of the earliest Salsa dancers the city has seen.

• How and when did you get introduced to Salsa? Who were your teachers who helped you hone your dancing Skills?

I was studying in a small university town- iowa city, USA -where i went our dancing and saw this soulful dance which looked like jiving. Though I managed to pick up the steps, i realised that i was quite offbeat. I resolved to learn the dance asap. We had a student who was conducting salsa workshops in the university and I learnt my basics from him- Modei – a mix of Latin and African parents. Hanging out at the local salsa pubs with Latin students helped me add finesse and passion to the steps. Later on i went to learn other forms of Latin ballroom in Washington DC from world champions- Maria and Martin- and was an instructor in their studio there.

• What difference has Salsa made to your life?

Besides making me a more social person Salsa has immersed me in a new culture- that of Latin Americans. This dance has helped me keep fit- physically and mentally. It has won me many friends around the world . I have also been able to help absolute newcomers to learn dancing and this has boosted the confidence of many aspiring salseros. I also learnt Spanish to understand Salsa better.

My students have varied from teenagers to those leading a busy corporate life to senior citizens. It gives me immense pleasure to see someone happy while dancing. And of course salsa has given me an alternate profession- Two Left Feet – a dance group that we started to teach dancing to people who are short of time and want to learn it in a fun and fast manner.

• How long have you been dancing Salsa? which is you “other” favourite Latin dance?

Its been 12 years since I first danced salsa. After that it has literally been a way of life. Brazilian Samba and Argentine tango are my other favorite Latin dances. The fun and footloose Samba is exactly opposite to the passionate and disciplined Tango.. yet they mesmerise the soul and body alike.

• What do you think about the Salsa Parties happening in Mumbai?
  

It is heartening to see more salsa parties in Mumbai after I first started dancing with Devika Shahani at Liquid Lounge in 2002.  Now there are atleast 4-5 places in a week to dance salsa. I look forward to seeing more live music salsa parties and maybe open air parties too.

• How many Salsa congresses in India and around the world have you attended?
  

I have attended one each in Bangalore and Bombay.One of the first things that I do when i travel is to go dancing at a salsa club. i have danced in more than 25 cities across more than 15 countries in the world.  I enjoyed the Salsa congress the most in Amsterdam and Berlin.

• How does your family react to your passion for Salsa? Do they support you?

When I first started to dance, it was an uphill task convincing my parents as the perception of the dance was very negative in India. Over the years they have seen me perform and the dance has also received rave reviews. Now they are proud to inform people about my passion for dancing.