Life & Style | Leisure
The right steps
Salsa is my passion and there is nothing as precious as the feeling that I get when I am gliding to the beautiful tunes of salsa.
- By Alex Westcott, Sub Editor
- Published: 23:14 February 5, 2009
- Chris and dance partner Irina Litkova will be dancing their way to helping Gaza in a Valentine's Day charity event.
- Image Credit: Alex Wescott/ANM
Get to know Chris dissanayake, owner and co-founder of Familia De La Salsa Dance School in Dubai.
I believe that salsa sends a strong message about unity and acceptance.
A variety of cultures come together in a salsa class – people who you may not meet in the course of your regular day. You're all together in one space. In this way I think that salsa is an advocate of peace. By getting to know that person and their culture you accept them for who they are and what they're about. Salsa promotes mutual cultural understanding.
I am from a big family – three brothers and four sisters.
I grew up in Sri Lanka. From a young age I was drawn to music and dancing. When I reached my teens, I started to DJ at parties as a hobby. After gaining experience there I began to do functions and weddings. When I turned 20 I started taking lessons in Latin dancing.
My father was a teacher of Latin ballroom dance but quit teaching when we were growing up. Even though he never taught us the dance steps, I was drawn to it like a bee to honey!
I came to Dubai in 1997.
It was here that I met Royston, the brother of a good friend of mine in Sri Lanka. We both share the same interests and like the same kind of music so we used to go to gigs and concerts together. One night in 2000 Royston and I went to a Latin club called Savage Garden. At that time I knew hardly anything about salsa. While we were at the club, we saw everyone dancing the salsa and I was captivated. I desperately wanted to learn this dance. Although Royston had done Latin dancing in Sri Lanka, salsa was new to both of us.
After our night at Savage Garden, we attended a salsa class. There we met a couple from Chile who were skilled salsa dancers. They helped us learn this dance form. At that time the salsa community in Dubai was a very
small one.
After six months of classes I stopped going.I couldn't keep up with the demands of my job and that of dance training. At the time I was working for a shipping company and the hours were long. Six months later, I revisited Savage Garden. There I saw Royston dancing and couldn't believe how good he'd become in just six months. We'd started at the same time and he'd progressed by leaps and bounds. I was green with envy.
I decided that nothing should keep me from continuing to learn salsa. I felt it was an innate part of my soul. So I enrolled with a new dance teacher – a British lady with Nigerian roots named Tami Fowlie – who is unofficially the founder of salsa in Dubai.
At the end of 2002, Royston and I opened our first salsa class in Dubai at the Willow Stream Spa.
In our first three classes, we had just one student. We now have around 130 students spread over two classes. We have a beginner's class and an intermediate class.
In May 2003, we created the Familia De La Salsa Dance School. We wanted to show that we are like a family – despite our different ages and nationalities – united by our mutual love of salsa. The name is in Spanish because we wanted to keep the traditional flavour of this dance form. Once the number of students increased, we moved to the World Trade Centre and set up The Club.
The formation of the UAE Salsa Championship put Dubai on the salsa map internationally. The competition attracts salsa schools from clubs all over the UAE. Now schools from all over the GCC participate. In 2006 Royston left Dubai for Washington where he has opened another branch of Familia
De La Salsa.
Our classes can never be too full.
I can never bring myself to turn away anyone who wants to learn salsa. Sometimes our classes can number up to 80 people and you may find people dancing in the corridors!
When I started learning salsa, I used to look forward to the classes, so I will never deny anyone access to a class. Somehow we make a plan to fit everyone in. Our ethos is much like that of a family's – the older and more experienced members guide and teach the new and less experienced learners. It's all about teamwork. We interchange partners continuously throughout the class to help everyone get to know one another. The social aspect of the school is very important.
Outside of salsa class, we regularly get together for what we call ‘chill outs'. Sometimes we'll be a group of about 30 people and it would be amazing to find that there would be around 20 nationalities in a gathering.
When I first started learning salsa, I often sat on the sidelines because I didn't have a partner to dance with. I'd often end up only getting to dance with the instructor for the last ten minutes of the class! There's nothing worse than wanting to learn to dance and not having someone to dance with. So when Royston and I started our classes, we implemented a rotational system. Every time the song changes
I interchange partners so that everyone gets to dance with and meet someone new. This way no one gets left out.
Learning salsa has given me opportunities to travel all over the world. In 2001 I attended my first salsa congress in London. Competitions have actually become quite limited,
but festivals have grown enormously.
I have been to numerous international salsa festivals in Germany, Italy, the UK, Switzerland and many other countries. At these festivals there are classes, workshops and shows – it's a mixed bag of salsa activities.
Through salsa I believe one can achieve balance between body, mind and soul. I believe that rhythm can be learned through patience, motivation and dedication. Even when you're not dancing, listening to Spanish music gets you well acquainted with this music style's beat and syncopations.
For me, salsa is first and foremost about fun.
Familia De La Salsa was never intended to be a business and I like the fact that's it's held true to its initial priority. All who come to salsa classes have jobs in a variety of industries in Dubai. We're all there for pure enjoyment, to share our interests and experiences with one another. Salsa relaxes and simultaneously energises me.
After a long day's work, dancing releases tension and I find that you're so busy focusing on the steps and the music, that you're distracted from whatever has been worrying you during the day. It can also be physically challenging and I love the fact that I can have fun while getting a workout!
I love teaching salsa.
Even when I was still at school, I had a teacher's nature – often helping younger kids learn maths. Teaching comes naturally to me. I developed organisational skills from the time I was in Sri Lanka where I used to handle music and entertainment events there. I've started from scratch and worked my way up to working with some of the world's greatest dance masters. This keeps me updated on the latest developments on the international salsa platform!
My life philosophy is to follow your dream until you see it realised. If you have the interest, you will acquire the ability to follow it through. It doesn't matter what age you are – it is never too late to start learning.
Through community involvement in salsa, I strive to make a difference to the local community and the world. With help from my friends at Familia De La Salsa, I have organised projects to raise funds for various causes. We have organised events in aid of the Lebanon crisis, for tsunami victims and on our fifth anniversary, we organised an event to raise funds to feed 375 children at The Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind in Sri Lanka.
On February 13, we're having a Valentine's event to gather food and clothing to contribute to a relief programme in Gaza. I see a lot of potential in Dubai's community to reach out to those in need and I believe that the UAE salsa community can make a difference through dance.
For more information e-mail chris@familiadelasalsa.com.
– As told to Alex Westcott, Sub Editor, Friday
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