Biz Unusual

In a gloomy economy, some dance the night away

By Zhou Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-12 08:00

Salsa beat

Wang Yi, a friend of Lin who runs a Latin studio that has been teaching salsa and bachata dances since late 2007, can't agree more.

"It was almost a barren land for Latin dancing five years ago in Shanghai, but now there are at least four professional studios solely teaching salsa," Wang Yi said.

His J&L Dance Club has recently added two more classes to the current schedule of three a week because of soaring demands.

His club also has had to set a maximum number of 10 students per class to give more attention to each dancer. Still, some classes number as many as 15 due to the insistence of students.

"I have a lot of friends who like salsa dancing. In our eyes, it means fashionable and modern. It's also a good way to know more people," said a student in the studio surnamed Sun.

Abi Wang, 27, who works for a venture capital firm, said it's also a good way to establish social networks.

"Many of my foreign friends favor salsa, so it's good to learn some," Abi said.

With a workload that has decreased due to the financial crisis, she also has more time now to take dancing lessons, she said.

Even though Wang Yi's studio charges 350 yuan per hour for classes, he still receives "plenty of requests" from high earners in Shanghai.

Wang said he even had a student who paid more than 8,000 yuan once for a private class just for fun.

Dance shows

"People in the city are open-minded and willing to pay a lot of money to learn something new," he said.

Wang Yi said that's probably why Wulin Da Hui is becoming all the rage in Shanghai.

Wulin Da Hui, which literally means dance battle, is a Shanghai Media Group television show featuring a Latin-themed dance competition.

Well-known celebrities are among the participants on the show that has had an audience share of 16 percent since the show began airing in 2006. That's the highest rating among Shanghai Media Group entertainment programs since 2000.