Dance all around the world
1. Samba in Brazil
Ear-splitting. Erotic. Elaborate. Samba – once an obscure African priestess ritual, now one of the most famous dances on Earth – is difficult to ignore. On the surface it may seem all jangling percussion, jiggling hips and skimpy get-up but squint and you’ll see it’s a crucial part of Brazil’s social fabric. To see samba at its best, head to Rio Carnival in February for spectacular street parties and fancy dress balls. The piece de resistance is a competition between samba schools from across the country in the humongous 70,000-seater sambadrome. Think Gladiator with sequins instead of swords. In the final run-up, these schools hold dance socials open to travellers. Don a rhinestone and feather plume outfit and perform at the main event if you dare.
2. Waltz in Vienna
Ball season in Vienna is the Ascot of a nation that hasn’t forgotten how to dance. The tradition goes back to a posse of bored 19th-century aristocrats who threw waltz soirees during the eight months of peace negotiations that followed the Napoleonic wars. It’s since exploded into a tuxedoed tumult of 400 balls across the city stretching through January and February, which take place in venues from the marbled ceremonial halls of the Hofburg Palace to the gold-and-ivory rooms of the Vienna State Opera house. Dance lessons are the focus in the daytime, and spending a few hours exploring Vienna’s traditional fashion houses to hire a gown or top hat and tails completes the experience. The Viennese pull out the stops, so aim high to fit in with all the butter satin and white-silk gloves.
3. Flamenco in Andalucia
Historians are flummoxed about whether flamenco has Ancient Indian, Dorian, Moorish, or Jewish roots, but Andalucia – with its heaving tablaos and gipsy haunts – is its cultural heartland, without a doubt. A private lesson in Seville is just the ticket for beginners. In the evenings, hit the local bars for your fix of delirious footwork and distraught guitar riffs, or head to an upmarket dinner and dance show. The end goal is duende – an almost spiritual bond that flamencos insist performers and spectators alike can experience in the heat of it all. Bring your Kleenex, it could get emotional.
4. Tango in Argentina
It’s quite something to take on the haughty, tortured immigrant dance tango, born on the patios of Buenos Aires’ working class tenement blocks and bred in its 19th-century brothels. Argentina’s capital is still the place to experience it, whether it be through nightly dance lessons with professionals, titillating live shows over candlelit dinners or tango concerts that flirt with jazz, rock and folk in the city’s hippest bars. Make time to visit one of the capital’s community dance halls, or milongas; they offer travellers a thrilling window into the scene, from the young, hip joints booming tango nuevo tunes to the more refined affairs where men and women sit – in line with tradition – on opposite sides of the room.
5. Bollywood in Mumbai
One for those who have dreamed of dressing like an Indian film star, mastering the neck wiggle and being part of a dance stampede more synchronised than Michael Jackson’s Thriller crew. Aficionados can work on their hip struts and wrist twists as part of a one-on-one choreography lesson. It’s a rite of passage to see live filming on a professional set. Recording your own Bollywood tune in a recording studio followed by a private screening of an Indian blockbuster completes the experience.