Salsa @ Shanghai, Jan 2007
With old & young dancing & shining to live oldies bands*, the Shanghainese seem artistic, stylish, hip & happy, making the most of life. Went there for 1 week in Jan 07 to visit cousin and checked out 5 latin dance spots below.. Most are googlable & locatable using Periplus’ Shanghai map sold at KLIA bookshops. All spots 5-10 min walk of nearest metro.
*outdoor chacha, rumba, tango & waltz at People’s Square. Stylish big-guy band members wore big JR Ewing hats & sunglasses. Anyone can join the dance. Band starts at dusk, dance starts at night, and like the best things in life, it’s free.
La Maison
Lane 181, Taicang Lu, Xitiandi district
Nearest metro Huangpi Nan
La Maison's dance stage is bathed in red lighting, so everyone onstage appears red. Two blonde dreadlocked DJs pipeline music from twin pulpits & take turns practicing salsa. Wood dance stage compact like Qba, fills up fast after 10pm. No grind, merengue or chaha; just salsa after salsa. Lady dancers very expressive & nice to watch, treating accidental bumps as extra titillation. They seem very budak baik one. Long permed hair seems to be the in-thing here; bit like watching dark haired Marilyns posing in the skirt updraft scene. Drinks like juice RMB50 (RM25) each.
Loo very high class one.. a friendly attendant locks the door & stands to attention as he watches you peeing.* Then he pours liquid soap & passes you a towel before thanking you, indicating toward an expensive ceramic tip tray containing mostly RMB10 (RM5) notes.
Xitiandi is supposed to be the most swish area in Shanghai, and a walk around the artistic, picturesque, traffic-free mall outside is very refreshing. Spent a lot of time chatting & enjoying views of classy architecture & latest fashion on rather good looking youths.
*this was the men’s restroom
Mint Bar
333 Tongren Lu near Beijing Lu
Nearest metro Jing’an
Plush, tasteful, comfortable, expensively deco'd. Wood dance floor mild S shape, multicolor-lit from sidewall reflections. Dance floorspace similar to SH but a bit wider. Drink price similar to La Maison, but much less crowded & more relaxed.
A highlight of the dance floor was a female DJ wearing green tanktop frock similar to Carlsberg ones @ LH. Posture near-perfect & relaxed like ballet dancer. Modest S’pore male might remark “Wa, quite chio looking one. But too highclass for me.” Soft light was falling on her & her equipment. She was playing a selection of cheerful, “gentler times” melodic tunes I’d never heard before. Sound system impressive; no saturation or hiss. Couldn’t tell where speakers were located: volume seemed uniform everywhere I went.
It was 10pm & no-one was dancing yet, so decided to go down for meal.* After makan, found some beginners discussing, testing, practising specific moves on & off. One lady was trying to lead her disciples.. They were surprised and delighted to be asked, grinning at friends & thrilled at even simple moves. Gender ratio helped -- 6:2 in my favour. Music by DJ goddess also helped -- consistently slow/moderate & salsalicious. Lead lady quickly switched to English soon as she realized my mandarin was painfully slow. Her name was Michelle & she was eager to get Imp1 move sets down to pat, asking where did you learn, etc. Said she had holidayed in M'sia before. Showed me her preferred hand positions which made the moves clearer for her. It was very educational; I was very grateful.
*have a big dinner before going here. No other eateries near Mint, and dinner for 2 at Mint’s chic fusion restaurant below cost RMB500 (RM250). Wow. That might explain how their sound equipment was funded.
Zapata's
5 Hengshan Lu nr Dongping Lu
Nearest metros Hengshan Lu or Changshu Lu
According to the Lonely Planet & another B2 student from ROC, this spot has bartop dancing & champagne foam parties. One swing dance instructor crossed her fingers & warned me good humouredly 'No! Don't go to the evil place!' when I asked about it. Piqued at her response, I went to checkout her definition of evil.
Salsa wasn't playing that night (Saturday), although outside front desk staff said it would be later.* Noticed they charged 10 RMB (RM5) to store each hand-bag or coat away. 1st indication that this place may also be too highclass.. Peeking through the front door window, I saw a few male patrons craning their necks slightly upwards, perhaps to watch some elevated dance action. The music (9.15pm) was raw heavy rock. Chose not to go in; felt like checking out another websearched spot, Mural Bar, for some practice.
*Zapata’s website says salsa's on Sundays
Mural Bar
697 Yongjia Lu
Nearest metro Hengshan Lu
The embassy-lined Hengshan Lu between Zapata & Mural seemed inconspicuously manned by smooth well-dressed innocuous looking guys who would helpfully ask “you want go where” & then push special services in machine-gun speed mandarin, trailing & counter-offering 20-30m or so. Come to think of it, there was an attractive young lady earlier nearer Zapata dressed for a night out & walking alone slowly, apparently enjoying the street view. Slowed down behind her to keep a distance ‘cos didn’t like to scare lone ladies. Thought she was waiting or looking for her BF, because she slowed even more. Pretty doe-like eyes gave a side glance & fleeting friendly smile. Thought she was just feeling happy & maybe about to comment on the weather & starry night. Eventually overtook her, appreciating her looks & agreeing on the beautiful weather.*
Mural was well hidden, almost like Zapata’s camouflage. Walked past it several times & only found it after asking friendly staff from nearby bars. The way other bar staff called out cheerily “Hello-o! Morning Sir!” from far away sounded both incongruous and endearing; it was still early night. Also realized that somehow they could tell I wasn’t local. Inside its basement, Mural turned out to be a brightly lit dance café. Another striking feature was that the patron gender ratio, not counting myself, was infinitely in my favour. The only males seen apart from live musicians were the waiters. Every table was filled with groups of just ladies & their girlfriends relaxing or chatting animatedly. It was like an all-girls school café, except the girls weren’t in uniform.
Dance floor similar to Qba’s size. Singer on stage was belting out a chacha piece at 9.30pm. Stage lighting highlighted golden-brown tan, blonde hair (hard to tell if real or dyed), Hawaii-style straw skirt (probably real), generously filled pale green bikini top (hard to tell if..) Voice was expressive, powerful, spirited.
A waiter said dance usually started 9.30pm, but I didn't stay around much longer.. tables were full everywhere I wandered. Didn’t want to interrupt the buzzing female bonding sessions with tragic-sounding mandarin.. so went to checkout another salsa spot recommended by Michelle called Silver Moon.
*overtook as in strolled by
Silver Moon
1 Yueyang Lu nr Dongping Lu
Nearest metro Changshu Lu
Heading here from Mural, got ambushed again by another special serviceman along Hengshan Lu. This time I was more relaxed, knowing what to expect & more confident using a “Talk to the hand” technique. Thankfully there was no “I like your jacket” response, so we were ok.
The walk was worth it. Silver Moon’s probably the most modestly priced & productive spot to learn & practice in Shanghai. It also has “Salsa Club” in large red cursive neon lighting, so you can’t miss it. There’s a Xinjiang kebab stall outside. Cooking tools & fragrance similar to satay, giving the exterior an appetizing aroma. Drink included in RMB35 (RM17.50) cover.
Dance arena is linked to ground floor by a long art-deco'd tunnel. The arena’s very soundproofed; music was only audible after the last tunnel corner. At the cavernous basement arena, three easily accessible dance platforms are each patterned differently. Total dance arena floorspace comparable to LH. Surrounding the floors is a spacious underground eatery with plenty of seating.
At the drinks counter, lessons are advertised on eye-catching flyers. Often they sported a lady in red dress, already short hem lifted further by her spin & hair in whip motion. Bit like a Japanese anime drawing. One brochure advertised the instructor had participated in salsa shows at various big companies, including Intel. Sounded like Intel Shanghai’s Dilberts had evolved faster. Based on the advertised schedules, lessons are organized throughout the week from afternoon til 10pm.
Before 10pm, the 123-567 song was playing & the entire crowd was doing similar move sets. At 10pm, a lady dance instructor grabbed the stage microphone & announced in schoolteacher style mandarin, “ok, hope you all have had good practice.. now its time for ‘salsa party’!” And the music changed.
Like at La Maison, a popular move seemed to be twin symmetric body waving, where partners wave against each other. But at Silver Moon it seemed more fun-like than sexually exhibitionistic; a bit like students playing pattycake. Good to know such a suggestive move could also look cute, playful & PG-13able.
Bachata’s popular here, with all couples in closed position. Quite pleasant & relaxing to watch the PG-13 non-nutcracker versions with gentle flowing tai-chi flavour. Nut & raisin in between partners would probably just get energized with Qi, not turn into goober grape mixture. No hair fondling or facials seen though; maybe it was too early.*
Normal walking or sports shoes are recommended; dance floor even more slippery than LH. Like at Mint, the more experienced partners often asked for a slow replay of moves to dance it with confidence. There were more than enough partners to keep going past midnight, but at 11.30ish, it was time to catch a return metro.
*merengue at Mint after 11pm did have like hair fondling & facials & was pretty racy; strong smooth artistic lower body writhing movements. Sensousness comparable to the “Mystical Steppes” bellydance even though merengue’s motion range was a bit smaller due to the faster merengue beat
