Saturday Salsa: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SATURDAY SALSA

The fairy godmother was working overtime this Saturday, as damsel after damsel
turned up like a princess at the Latino Night festival at the Secunderabad Club.
Evidently fairy godmother fell rather short of clothes, but no one was complaining.

The night started at around 10pm, after a longish stint by the band at adjusting their instruments. But as they lit up the lights and the night finally 'turned Latino', the crowd had gathered strong and was waiting to take that ride to the land of the salsa. The band, Obligato, which was flown in from Goa, struck up with some old favourites. A few daring souls tentatively ventured out to the dance floor. But as soon as it was announced that they were giving out imported Cuban cigars to the first fifty couples on the floor, the rest of the crowd broke forth unrestrained.

Soon we had minis, halter necks, off-shoulders, leathers and denim sashaying on the dance floor and painting the night air with a lot of oomph and sizzling steam. And the hep and the wannabes of the esteemed Secunderabad Club showed us how they party.

The sponsors of the evening, Santiago Rum, made sure that their product was well consumed as the party got under full swing. The cool night air made a worthy contribution to their cause, as those present made a beeline for the drink counters. And with rather down-to-earth prices, it was not really a surprise that the drinks ran out long before the music did.

The band was decent enough, especially the female lead, but one really hoped they would stay on stage a little longer and not run away leaving the crowd to the DJ. And like all DJs do, we were soon jumping around (most of the dancing qualified to be termed just that) to Bon Jovi and Eminem. But the crowd, sufficiently high on the booze and the ambience, was past caring.

And as the hours tumbled on to past midnight, the crowd was visibly growing thinner, probably to look for more spirit - of the liquid kind. But the band kept on playing on as the dance floor remained sufficiently crowded, as it seemed would remain till 2 in the night, when the night was officially supposed to bring the curtains down.

But the high point of the evening unquestionably was the two-part display of wonderful salsa by the pair of Jason and Sylvie. The crowd stepped aside and crowded into a ring as these two dancers, especially flown in from Spain, left all present breathless with their display.

But even as we left, the foremost question in our minds was what the handful of extra-long red chillies, filled into a glass and adorning every table, were for. Any takers?