Castlemaine’s getting set to salsa.
On Saturday November 16 the town’s Theatre Royal hosts Fiesta de Salsa.
Fronting the fiesta is local salsa dance instructor Camila Serrano, originally from Colombia but now well established in Castlemaine where she’s helping locals unlock their latent love for things Latin with regular dance classes through her Salsa Social Dance school.
“This year is a big one,” says Camila ahead of Saturday evening’s fiesta.
It happens at the Theatre Royal from 6.30pm, starting out with a free Cuban salsa class for ticket holders from 7.30pm.
Camila says this will enable even those who have never salsa-ed before to pick up a few moves before the doors open to the public and the show gets started from 8.30pm.
“We’ve got the 10-piece Latin and Salsa Jazz band, Tumbao Social coming from Melbourne,” Camila says.
“Tumbao Social are amazing – lots of horns. Latin jazz.”
Many of Camila’s local salsa dance students will be performing as part of the fest and can hardly wait to hit the floor.
“It’s good fun, good exercise,” says one of the them – Castlemaine’s Ian Jones.
Another, Rina McEwan, lives in Sedgwick and says she signed on for Camila’s salsa classes to enhance her dancing repertoire.
“I just like dancing and I just want to keep doing different styles of dance,” she says.
Camila says that since it happened for the first time last year, Fiesta de Salsa has grown in popularity as more locals cultivate a taste for the Colombian and wider Latin culture.
“This event has so much love and work involved,” she says.
“It’s a Latin festival where Australians get to understand and experience the Colombian culture and the traditional dances and food,” she says.
Traditional Latin street food, a Latin DJ and some a cappella performance will also be in the fiesta mix.
“It’s an amazing way to celebrate multiculturalism,” Camila says.
