Casa de Latinos

ALIYAA Restaurant and Bar in Bukit Damansara is the first authentic Sri Lankan food outlet in Malaysia. Savor authentic Ceylon Island cuisine located in a beautifully converted bungalow amidst the lush green lung of Damansara Heights. Aliyaa’s Chef Prashant Weediyage creates uniquely spiced dishes that tantalize your taste buds and senses. Also explore Aliyaa’s delicious Sri Lankan tapas and feast on rare Sri Lankan crabs.

Food aside, a visit to Aliyaa will also give one a glimpse of Sri Lanka via the many pictures on the wall. Tastefully decorated in a modern theme with black and white as core colours, the outlet which has a seating capacity of 177. The pictures on the walls catch one’s attention the moment one enters the outlet. It is like stepping into an art gallery.

A Li Yaa Restaurant & Bar has a chic, contemporary decor that blends perfectly with its colonial underpinnings. Dark wood and pristine white walls merge with a glorious Island Bar and a pretty garden area where you will enjoy a tipple of single-malt whiskey, ostensible the largest collection in the city.

Come to A Li Yaa and dance (or watch) your mid week blues away…A seductive reason to be where its happening – with Salsa lovers, hot music, wooden dance floor and great ambiance. Surrounded by office buildings and residential area, it is not uncommon to spot yuppies hanging around for drinks after work.

Salsa Wednesday features DJ Xavier and DJ Steiner spinning salsa, mambo, bachata and merengue from hot Latin America. Sit back and lounge on the plush bar stools with a thirst quenching drink in hand or join the throng on the dance floor and sway to beats.

Parking is a breeze as there are loads of parking space along the roadside with faithful ‘illegal’ parking attendant providing excellent service finding parking space for you. For ladies, you may want to be accompanied to your car as the neighborhood is a little quiet after office hours.

ALIYAA RESTAURANT AND BAR,
8, Lorong Dungun, Bukit Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +603-20925378
Business Hours: Daily, noon to 1am. Closed on Sundays.

You’ve just recently found out about this wonderful activity called Salsa and you just can’t seem to get enough of it. Suddenly you like everything that is Latin American. El Cantante is your favorite movie. You know about Tito Puente. And somebody told you that you might be addicted to Salsa. And you begin to wonder….

Well, wonder no more. Run through the 101 signs below.

If you can relate to at least 1 sign below, you have minor Salsaholism issues.

If you can relate to at least 2 signs below, you have major Salsaholism issues.

If you can relate to 3 or more signs below, you are DEFINITELY A SALSAHOLIC!!!

1. You vividly remember your first experience with salsa and the date it happened.

2. You take naps during lunch because you went dancing last night.

3. You never listen to the radio anymore because all you listen to are salsa CDs/cassettes.

4. You cruise downtown blasting salsa music.

5. You go to a hip hop/dance club and you find yourself trying to find the beat of the clave.

6. You try your salsa moves in the hip hop/dance club with somebody that has never partner danced.

7. You dance in your dreams.

8. Salsa lessons/club cover fees are now a permanent part of your monthly expenses.

9. You say you are going shopping for a new business outfit, but you are secretly salsa shopping.

10. Your boyfriend/girlfriend does not understand the “strictly plutonic” relationship you have with your salsa partner because you simply cannot wait until you practice with him/her again.

11. You watch anything that deals with body movement (i.e. karate, gymnastics, figure skating, ballet) because you are trying to devise a new salsa move.

12. Everything you do leads back to salsa.

13. You sing songs with words you don’t even understand.

14. You are the only non-latino in the Musica Latina section.

15. You practice your turns when no one is looking.

16. You lightly dance your basic when you are waiting for something or when no one is looking.

17. People do not know you are secretly practicing your footwork when they are speaking with you on the phone.

18. You quit watching TV.

19. You convince yourself you can get by on 3-4 hours sleep per night.

20. Would rather have salsa than sex.

21. Salsa IS sex.

22. You have lost about 10 lbs. from dancing so much.

23. You have searched and found EVERY club in town.

24. You start spending more on salsa clothes than work clothes.

25. You’ve considered getting a different/easier day job to co-exist with your salsa dancing.

26. Friday nights are off limits for any events because you just CANNOT miss your salsa night.

27. You can’t buy enough salsa music/clothes/shoes.

28. All your “former” friends have now abandoned you.

29. You don’t even miss your “former” friends, as long as you have your salsa!

30. You argue about how salsa should be danced.

31. You have met all new (better and more permanent) friends.

32. Your friends and family do not understand what you are ranting and raving about.

33. You dump your boyfriend/girlfriend because he/she is getting in the way of your salsa training.

34. When you say, “I need my FIX for the week.” you are not referring to drugs.

35. You cannot convince any of your friends to come with you.

36. You start talking 100 mph just because someone shows an interest that you like to dance salsa.

37. You went to a salsa congress and had an information overload.

38. You used to be humble and shy, but now you just have to show off every chance you get.

39. You go on vacation and instead of looking forward to seeing the main attraction, you just cannot wait until you check out the local salsa clubs.

40. You extend your vacation a few days, just so you can check out a local club.

41. You watch the MTV music awards and you don’t recognize any of the new groups/singers because you never listen to that music anymore.

42. You are on the web all day long visiting salsa web sites.

43. You started working out again because you have to be in shape to wear those salsa outfits.

44. Your shoes are worn out from spinning so much.

45. You start clearing space in your room so you can dance salsa there.

46. You listen to Marc Anthony and start crying.

47. You cannot imagine life without salsa.

48. You start changing your screen names to “Salsa-this” or “Salsa-that”.

49. You are pondering getting a license plate with “Salsa” somehow in it.

50. You sneak to your car during working hours just so you can listen to a few salsa tunes.

51. You are a writer/columnist and all you think about is writing about salsa.

52. You pray at night and thank God for creating salsa.

53. You install wooden floors in your house because you prefer them over carpet (Yeah right!).

54. You get stopped (at work, in a grocery store, in the mall, etc.) by random people telling you that they have seen you dance.

55. The only time you rest in the club is during the merengue breaks.

56. You can only stand merengue for a few songs.

57. You are on that eternal search for those perfect shoes.

58. Nobody wants to go shopping with you because all you talk about is how that would look so good in the salsa club.

59. You are in church listening to the sermon, but secretly you are dancing in your head.

60. You get desperate to practice and you dance with an “imaginary” partner.

61. You realize that the only thing you have done for the past few months is go salsa dancing every weekend and you feel you still haven’t gotten enough.

62. You realize that the only thing you have done for the past few YEARS is go salsa dancing every weekend and you feel you still haven’t gotten enough.

63. For your birthday, you ask for something related to salsa (i.e. lessons, new shoes, new outfit).

64. For your birthday, your friends buy you something related to salsa.

65. You get a few friends together and the first thing that comes to mind is casino rueda.

66. You are looking for a wedding dress that you can dance salsa in.

67. You use to have other hobbies.

68. You have chronic knee and back problems from all the dips, flips, and tricks.

69. You start wearing tight t-shirts.

70. You try to pass your addiction onto your other friends.

71. You walk into the club and everyone there is like family to you.

72. You have experienced at least one time when you overexerted yourself on the dance floor.

73. Your idea of a good first date is to go salsa dancing.

74. Heaven is having lots of space on the dance floor.

75. You take something that has no relevance to salsa dancing, but somehow you manipulate the conversation to end with salsa.

76. Your skirt keeps getting shorter and shorter.

77. Hell is a place where there is no salsa.

78. Your password is SALSAFREAK.

79. You have engaged in fisticuffs with another dancer over the “one” and the “two”.

80. You decide that going out salsa dancing is more important than studying for that big exam.

81. You lie to your boss and tell him/her the reason you have to fly to Los Angeles /New York/ Miami or Puerto Rico is strictly for business.

82. You get caught by your boss surfing SALSAWEB during working hours.

83. You did the “death-drop” move and never came back up.

84. You leave the club at 3 a.m., completely tired from dancing all night, and you get stopped by the cops because you were swerving on the road. When the cop asks you to perform the “walk”, you start busting out your salsa.

85. You decide the only man/woman you will marry has to be a salsa dancer.

86. One of your pet peeves are cumbia dancers.

87. Your family coat-of-arms features a couple salsa dancing.

88. Club owners hate you because you go to the club and all you do is drink the free water.

89. (Salseras only)You practice day/night with your partner and when you go to the clubs together, he goes dancing with all the different women and you never get asked.

90. You become jealous when watching your dance partner, whom you have no relations with, dance with another person.

91. You bust out some salsa solo moves when waiting in line to use the restroom.

92. You have salsa music on your answering machine.

93. You sing salsa songs in the shower.

94. You and your friend/partner dance in the oddest places (i.e. grocery store, mall, gym, work, etc.).

95. After you break up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you go out salsa dancing.

96. Your neighbors are wondering what the hell that is you are playing.

97. You check SALSAWEB’s partner search everyday.

98. You own at least 2-3 salsa instructional videos.

99. You were already dancing salsa while in your mother’s womb.

100. You do your leg workout earlier in the week so you can have “fresh” legs for your salsa weekend.

101. “Wepa!” is now part of your vocabulary.

- Author Unknown -

El Habanero is ‘Making It Official’ by having their soft launch party on Wednesday, 19th August 2009 at their outlet in CapSquare. e.Centre. CapSquare, KL.

It is going to be one night filled with lots of fun, booze and dancing.

For those Latin dancing buffs out there, El Habanero is the answer to your prayers…Good music and and the perfect ambience and space for latin dancing.

DJ Renato will be there to see to your every mood and musical need as he spins sultry latin music all night long.

Wednesday, 19th August 2009. 7.30pm -9.30pm(by invitation only), 10pm onwards(open to all) El Habanero Bar, Lounge and Restaurant, CapSquare e.Centre, Persiaran CapSquare, Kuala Lumpur. (the outlet is next to Red Square)

Salsa in its elemental form is danced to four beats using three steps, each one beat long. The remaining beat can either be tagged onto the end of the preceding step (resulting in a quick-quick-slow count), or can contain an adorning movement, called a highlight. Steps can be traveling or on the spot; a bit like groovy walking three paces at a time with a pause thrown in. Walk like that to time and you’re dancing salsa.

Its very simplicity underlies its extreme flexibility; the sheer amount of personal choice. Just as you can walk in any direction you choose, so you can dance salsa on the spot, in straight lines, or in turning paces. The remaining beat can be highlighted with a tap, kick or pause. Note: A step is when you put your foot down and move your weight onto it (foot placement with weight transfer), a tap is when you put your foot down but don’t move your weight onto it (foot placement without weight). In many Latin countries, couples even choose which beat they would like to dance on, and it need not necessarily be the first beat.

All this might sound like rhythmic anarchy and it would be, were it not for one vital constraint. Salsa music and its progenitors has always been music for dancing. Its cooperative heritage has engendered a belief, in Latin America at least, that everyone else has an equal right to enjoyment on the dance floor. This alone prevents outbreaks of destructive mayhem. Instead this attitude (especially towards one’s partner) welds the forces of spontaneity, individuality and musicality together to form the atmosphere that Latin music is renowned for.

Just as the music has maintained its vitality by absorbing other influences, so has the dance. Apart from other Latin dances like the merengue and cumbia (which the term salsa sometimes encompasses), salsa bears some marked similarities with lindy-hop, swing and hustle. It has even proved capable of absorbing elements of ballroom Latin dance and Argentine tango. Quite astounding.

Flavours of Salsa

The way salsa is danced varies significantly depending where you’re from and how you’ve learnt it. In the main, Salseros from different backgrounds can still dance with each other, at least at a basic level. British salsa is primarily anchored around the back basic, turns are executed on the second beat after a “wind-up” movement on beat one and are biased anticlockwise. North American salsa is built around the Latin basic and many early combinations contain turns to the right. Salsa from the Caribbean and Latin America is presented more commonly as a walk, resulting in a much more circular in movement and the turns being slower. Within this are the main stereotypes of the Cuban and Colombian style, that is having an action that digs deeper into the floor or one that travels lighter above it respectively.

Before we lose our sense of perspective, these generalizations are mean to demonstrate the richness of the dance, not to typecast. Bear in mind that individual styles also vary within regions, so adopting a “definitive” style of salsa and trying to squeeze your students into it would be an amusingly futile gesture.

The Problem with Learning

People born and raised in a Latin American culture acquire salsa in a passive learning process; through constant immersion. It is my opinion that they come to understand the dance differently: as a series of walks instead of individual moves.

For those who are not fortunate enough to have this opportunity (like myself), we have to learn it instead. As mentioned before, early learning tends to occur best in a structure. To this end you will often find salsa being taught as a series of steps and moves because it is more meaningful to the student. But at some point, a different teaching angle should be used to offer the student an opportunity to look at the dance through a native dancer’s eyes, thereby offering the student the best of both worlds. Often the final process is not carried out, either because its importance is overlooked, or because it is easier for the teacher to carry on in the old manner regardless.

A Little Comment About Leading and Following

Social dancing in couples is mainly a phenomenon of Western European culture. By social dance I mean one that has structure but is not executed in the form of routines i.e. basic rules which once understood allows two individuals to dance together and flexibly determine their choreography, even if they had never met before. This demands that each move element of the dance possess a unique identifying start signal. Initiation of the signal and compliance with it results in the coordinated execution of the move element by both partners.

When a couple takes to the dance floor, both partners cannot initiate at the same time, neither can they both comply. Therefore one partner initiates and the other complies. This is known as leading and following respectively. Traditionally the lead role has been assumed by men and the following by women, although this has begun to change: where women are forced to lead due to a dearth of men, and because the social roles of both genders are being redefined.

The lead (known as la marca meaning “the mark” in Argentine Tango) for a move can take a variety of forms, usually presenting itself as a change in pressure (increase/decrease) at the points of partner contact, or in the body position of the leader relative to the follower. The most elegant leads are clear and considerate to the follower without being obvious to the casual on-looker. The challenge to the follower, in choosing to comply with the signal, is in finding ways of self-expression whilst dancing within its constraints.

Consequently salsa demands the abilities of lead and follow of its dancers in order for it to be executed on our latter-day club floors in a social context.

This is that daunting question. You have paid your dance class fee, you can count up to eight and you have danced with 15 fellow students without their suffering a broken toe or nausea. Now the class has ended and it’s a jungle out there!!

The question “Would you like to dance?” is seen by a majority of women as one that men should ask. And, as it is men who are expected to lead the dance, it is very daunting to go from attending lessons to being confident enough to ask a stranger.

Here are some tips and observations to ease this transformation:

1) Do the lessons and learn it. If not satisfied try other teachers and see which one suits you.

2) Chat to your fellow students. They are probably as nervous as you, and will almost certainly dance with you later on.

3) If you are asking an experienced dancer, explain that you are a beginner. Some will turn their noses up – they will die bitter, sad and friendless. The majority will be sympathetic and give you tips as you dance.

4) Always thank your partner for the dance, even if it was grim.

5) If you see two or more women together, ask “Would either of you like to dance?”. If the dance is not a complete disaster, you are almost certain to get a dance with the remaining friend’s.

6) Don’t grope. Any downward sliding of your right hand from your partner’s back is likely to result in ostracism and purgatory!

7) You’re refused! The nightmare scenario! You should not feel that this is your fault. Turning down a civil request to dance is plain rudeness. Some answers are common and can be countered with a little encouragement or gentle humor:

a) “I’m only a beginner” – reply with “Weren’t we all!”

b) “I’m not very good” – reply with “I’m not inquiring about you morals!”

c) “No” – reply with “Which leg is broken?” or “Is it my shirt/flares/after shave?” Remember that you’re the one who’s making the effort here and summoning up all the courage. Occasionally I’ve been so irritated with a haughty refusal that I’ve answered back with “Why are you here then?” or “I’m sorry – this is a dance club – the Library’s round the corner!”. I’ll leave this kind of response up to your judgment.

Above all, if you smile, are well-mannered and clean, most women will tolerate a lack of dancing prowess, and if you’re a keen student and enjoy a variety of dance partners, your transformation from Salsa virgin to Juan Travolta will be rapid!

- Steve Hill