(From left) Reza, Peh, Loy and Raj meet up for blues dancing socials once a week. — Photos: ART CHEN, SHAARI CHEMAT and AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star
IT’S A quiet weeknight in the suburban neighbourhood of SS2, Petaling Jaya.
However, the soulful tunes of blues music shatter the tranquillity, filling the air with haunting melodies.
The music is coming from a charming cafe on the first floor along the row of shoplots, where a group of working-class urbanites gather for their weekly meet-up of social dancing.
Social dancing is non-competitive dances such as salsa, tango, swing and blues that are meant to be enjoyed while socialising.
StarMetro talks to individuals and dance groups from different backgrounds who find that social dancing gives them a sense of belonging and a way to connect with others without pressure for verbal interaction.
Bani (right) says dancing is a good way to destress after work.
They also enjoy how the music and movements provide a space for them to express themselves and help them relieve stress from their daily lives.
Some individuals who met each other during such social dancing sessions and have become bosom buddies include teacher Callie Peh, 31, software engineer and entrepreneur Raj Kissu Rajandran, 37, and 48-year-old Canadian Mariah Loy.
“Instead of having a conversation with words and intellect, you meet on a physical level and feel the music together.
“It’s a lovely time of connection between two people,” said Loy, who has lived in Malaysia for over 15 years.
Raj concurred, saying “We dance together, we feast together (at the mamak restaurant mostly), we laugh and sometimes even cry together.
“Our community is laid-back, filled with people who are friendly and even silly at times; so if you’re not the sort to take things too seriously, you’ll fit right in.”
Peh joined the group in hopes of learning a new dance form, but it provided so much more with the connections she has made with people who share the same love for dance.
Social dancers attending a salsa dance lesson on a weeknight to destress and meet new friends.
Socialising made easy
While mobile apps are the platform of the day to form relationships and meet new people, journalist Tan Zhai Yun, fondly known as Nat, 30, finds Lindy Hop a fun way to lessen the anxiety of meeting new people.
“This community is rare, because we enjoy music from the previous century and are not shy to come out and dance.
“I feel Malaysians don’t really dance. It takes a particular kind person to do it, so we have a certain quality (in common) and we attract those who are passionate and energetic,” she said.
Attending Lindy Hop socials once a week forces Tan, who considers herself an introvert, to be in the present and in the moment.
“I disagree that Lindy Hop dancing is only for extroverts. Social dancing involves non- verbal movement with a lot of eye contact.
“We can understand each other without speaking. Even if we are not meeting new friends, we can overcome certain fears about ourselves,” Tan added.
Wong started attending Lindy Hop social dances in the US as a student.
Manufacturing excellence specialist Wong Lee En, 34, started attending Lindy Hop social dances as a student in US.
“I did not know we had this community in Malaysia. It is nice to be part of it,” she said.
Wong considers Lindy Hop to be a “wholesome” dance.
“It’s the culture of social dancing where we ask people to dance, and we can say yes or no.
“Lindy Hop might not be sexy compared to Latin dances but there is no pressure for either gender to ask the other person to dance.
“We can wear what we want, and I like that I don’t have to wear high heels to dance,” Wong said.
Goh says attending his first Lindy Hop taster class changed his life.
Distribution manager Max Goh, 32, who is not good at talking to strangers, said the Lindy Hop taster class changed his life.
“I would listen to different types of music since I was young, one of them was jazz.
“When I was in university I came across videos of Lindy Hop. I looked it up and found the Lindy KL page,” he said, adding that a friend introduced him to Lindy Hop taster class.
For Goh, the welcoming community including the teachers were accommodating.
“In my first year of Lindy Hop, I had no friends because all I did was show up for the social dances.
“But some people were friendly and we ended up hanging out with each other,” he added.
While there is no obligation or pressure to strike a conversation with people, he can still enjoy the experience and art form, the community and sense of belonging.
Song says social dancing is a great way to meet people who share the same passion.
Korean Jen Song, 33, an advertising agency assistant director who moved to Malaysia eight years ago, said she chose to remain in Malaysia as she made friends from the socials.
“I did not like social dancing at first because it looked so professional.
“But the socials were just three minutes away from my home, and I started hanging out with other dancers who became my friends.
“Social dancing is a great way to meet people; there is no need for conversations or to be outgoing,” she said, adding that after eight hours of work, she dances.
A special medley performance at the Havana Estudio to celebrate National Day.
Dance groups
KL Swing is the pioneer Lindy Hop community in Kuala Lumpur, a safe space where dance and history are bound together.
Its organising committee helps out with the blues social dancing.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Reza Salleh, the guy behind swing jazz band – The Frankie Sixes – attends the weekly gatherings.
He said they were more than just dance lessons but an avenue to share their passion for the improvised dance form.
“It’s like a sports meet of sorts. There are people who actually travel to a foreign country to dance and they manage to make new friends at the same time.
“There is a momentum here in South-East Asia, which we saw during the Swing Era dance festival in Bangkok, Thailand, last month. We had close to 30 dancers from Malaysia who attended," he said.
Blues dancing is an African American form of improvised partner and solo dance that is performed to blues music. It is based on a series of dance styles created in the United States between the 1800s and mid 1900s, blending various solo African styles with the more partnered styles of European dances.
Reza said the Blues Dancing KL movement was formed in 2015 when a few Lindy Hoppers, who knew blues dancing, tried to slip in a few blues songs into the night’s swing jazz playlist.
“Dancers didn’t know what to do but enjoyed dancing it, which led to the creation of a KL-based blues dancing scene with the purpose to teach and spread the joy of the dance form.”It is a standalone community adjacent to KL Swing with its own organising crew, with many dancers overlapping in both scenes.
Love of salsa
Many people would think that driving for two hours and enduring traffic is too much of a commute to attend dance class in Kuala Lumpur every weekend.
But seven years ago, Josephine Chor, 59, who runs a construction business, made it her priority to drive down every weekend from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur for salsa classes at Havana Estudio in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
“There are no such dance classes in Ipoh. So every Friday evening after work I drive to KL and return to Ipoh on Monday morning,” Chor said while getting ready to join the studio’s Salsa, Bachata, Rueda special medley performance event on National Day last month.
“Salsa is exercise by itself, in a fun way. A lot of people are shy at first, but once they join, they are forced to interact with people in salsa,” she said.
Chor added that Sam Sopiee, the artistic director and salsa teacher behind Havana Estudio, encouraged them to find new partners to dance with.
Sam runs the studio and lessons with his wife Aisha Mansoor.
The studio was established in 1998 by Sherrie Dekorte, who still remains a partner.
“Salsa helps me to destress; it is so much fun. During the pandemic when there were no physical classes, my weekend was empty. Luckily, Sam did online classes,” added Chor.
Holding down a demanding job in banking as a finance analyst is stressful, so 15 years ago Bani Alagesu, 44, decided to give salsa and bachata a try as a way to socialise and he has not looked back since.
“It was a trial class at another studio in Petaling Jaya which has since closed,” he said while joining the event at Havana Estudio.
“If you ask me, people make connections with other people in their own ways. Mobile apps can connect people, but social dancing makes us physically come to a place to get to know each other. It’s a different priority.”
He definitely attests to the benefits of dancing to take the pressure off work once a week.
Business analyst Nabil Fikri Iqbal, 39, a regular at Havana Estudio since 2019, told his bosses that Thursdays from 9pm to 10pm, they would not get any message replies from him.
“My time is blocked,” he said, attributing his love of dance to his parents.
Stay-at-home mum Irene Quek Abdullah, 52, took up dancing in her 30s at the studio as her husband encouraged her to engage in activities once a week.
“Social dancing allows me to be free; I can learn skills and dance anywhere.
“The salsa environment is a respectful one and we just love dancing,” she said.
