Latino in Tel Aviv

A latino set: what it actually is

Latino is the only style we run that comes out of partner dancing. Salsa, bachata, a little samba: all of them were born as dances for two, and even performed solo they keep the habit of facing outward rather than inward.

You notice it straight away. There is a lot of eye contact, continuous hip work, and a sense that the set is talking to the room rather than happening in front of it. The tempo is warm and does not stop, but it is not the mechanical tempo of go-go; it breathes.

On the restraint scale it sits somewhere in the middle of our catalogue: more physical than fashion, far less direct than lap dance.

The only style guests can take part in

This is the part that surprises people most, and it follows directly from the partner origin.

In every other style we run, guests watch. In latino the dancer can bring someone out for a few bars: lead two steps, turn them, put them back. It lasts under a minute, it always starts with her rather than with the guest, and it is almost always the moment the group talks about the next day.

The rules around it are fixed. She leads, she chooses who, and she ends it. If you want the guest of honour brought out, tell us in advance so she knows which way to look. If you would rather nobody was pulled out at all, we pass that on too, and that is entirely fine.

Because of that moment the style works well at birthdays and at evenings for couples, and less well at a bachelor party where the group is already drunk and past the point where this lands.

A terrace on a summer evening is where it belongs

Every style has a space that suits it better than any other. For latino it is a terrace or a roof at eight in the evening between May and October.

The reason is practical rather than romantic. This dance generates heat, and forty minutes of it in a closed living room with weak air conditioning is a worse experience for everybody. Outside, with an evening breeze, the same set looks like a different thing.

So most of its bookings come from roofs in Florentin, terraces in Jaffa and Neve Tzedek, and gardens in Bat Yam. In winter it moves indoors without trouble, but then it pays to open a window before the set rather than halfway through.

The floor matters here in a different way

For most styles we ask for a hard surface and leave it at that. Latino has a more exact requirement, because it is built on turns on the ball of the foot.

What works: tile, smooth concrete, parquet. What does not: grass, paving with gaps, decking with wide grooves, and rugs. On a surface that catches a heel the turn stops halfway, and at worst it is dangerous.

Two metres by two is plenty, which makes it far easier to place than a club set and its three by three. A small tiled balcony still works.

The hip work is technique, not accident

Worth saying, because it is the thing people see rather than the thing that is happening.

The movement comes from the knees and from weight transfer, not from the pelvis. It is learned over years of classes, and it is why not every dancer does latino even when she is excellent at other styles. With us it belongs to Yonit Dror, who danced competitive salsa before she came to this work. The rest of the dancers can be filtered by style in the catalogue.

Music and what she wears

The playlist is bachata and reggaeton with a few salsa classics, and usually somebody in the group recognises at least one track. Unlike pin-up, where the recognition is nostalgic, here it is physical: anyone who has ever taken a salsa class starts moving in their chair.

The outfit is a dress with a hem that moves, a shoe with a strap that holds the foot, sometimes a fan or a shawl. There is no character and no set dressing, so all you prepare is the surface, the space and the music.

As a duo it reads differently

Two dancers in latino do not do the same thing at the same time. One leads and the other answers, exactly as in real partner dancing, and what you see between them is a conversation rather than symmetry.

In an open space the effect is strong, and it costs the ordinary duo rate. If your event is on a roof with room to move, that is our recommendation.

When to choose a different style

If the group is large and wants energy without subtlety, go-go or a club set is more accurate. If the evening is built around one person, that is lap dance. And if you are in a small hotel room with no balcony, latino will work but not at its best.