The real couples who
met and fell in love at salsa dancing class
As Cuban Fury is released three if of the real couples who met on the dance floor discuss their salsa experiences
In the new Brit romcom Cuban Fury, salsa dancing is the way to meet the woman (or man) of your dreams.
Funnyman Nick Frost plays Bruce, an overweight, washed-up former teen dance champ who falls for his new boss, Julia, played by Rashida Jones, who’s mad about the sizzling Latin American dance.
And he decides that the only way she’ll fall in love with him is if he dusts off his Cuban heels and starts wiggling his hips.
And it seems he might be onto something, because up and down the country people have been finding love as they burn up the dance floor.
Here, three couples reveal how shaking their booty at salsa classes brought them together.
'It's erotic when you are holding each other close'
Solicitor Robert Lye, 40, met his wife Adnieszka, 35, while taking salsa lessons at the same club. The couple, who married in May 2012, live in Middleton, Manchester, and Adnieszka is a full-time mum to their seven-month-old daughter, Alexandra.
Being humiliated about his two left feet spurred on Robert to take salsa classes.
“I was in Tenerife with a pal and we were out one night when the DJ said, ‘Can the bald chap who can’t dance get off the table please’. That was the impetus for me to do something about it,” says Robert.
“But I didn’t take up dancing to meet someone. I was happy being single.”
He signed up to a course at Salsa de Cuba in Manchester and in 2009 he was introduced to Adnieszka in a nearby bar on a night organised by the club.
“I liked his sense of humour and also his smile,” she says.
Three months later, she joined Robert’s class where the steamy Latino numbers started to work their magic.
“I’d look forward to seeing her at the next lesson,” says Robert. “I loved leading her around the floor and we’d get pretty sweaty learning the routines, but that’s all part of the fun. Salsa is quite erotic – you feel like you are actually in tropical Latin America!”
Things started to hot up off the dance floor, too. A few weeks later Robert asked Adnieszka out at a party.
“If I’d seen her in a bar I would have needed a few drinks first. But it really breaks the ice when you dance so close to each other, holding hands,” he says.
Eighteen months later, in December 2010, he proposed to Adnieszka, who has a son, Michael, eight, from a previous relationship, while they were on holiday in her native Poland.
“We were drinking hot chocolate when he got down on one knee. At first I thought he had fallen off the sofa, then I saw the ring,” she says.
The couple got married in her hometown of Slupsk and their salsa teacher helped choreograph the routine for their first dance.
“I had to change out of my wedding dress because I couldn’t move in it. I found a beautiful black dress with tassels that flared out when Robert spun me around. I felt amazing,” says Adnieszka.
Like Robert, she never expected to find her perfect partner salsa dancing.
“I went purely to learn how to dance. I fell in love with salsa, then I fell in love with Robert.”
'He gave me butterflies as he took the lead'
PA Amanda Sahranavard, 42, from Brighton, had been single for a year when she met her future husband, apprentice electrician Mahmood, 31, at salsa in 2012.
Fed up with internet dating, Amanda took up salsa lessons as another way to meet men – and not only did she discover her groove, she found a husband, too.
“I hadn’t met anyone I particularly liked online and after being on a computer all day at work, logging on at night wasn’t something I wanted to do,” she says.
“Dancing was another avenue to try. I’m quite into keeping fit and I liked the music, so it was ideal.”
A couple of months later she met Mahmood, who moved to England three years ago from Iran. “We kept catching each other’s eye,” she says.
“When we danced together, I was quite nervous because I was still a beginner and he’d been dancing for a while.
“I got butterflies as he held me close and led me around the floor.
“He gave me a kiss on the cheek at the end of the dance and we got chatting after that. It’s a very different scene to clubbing, which can be a bit of a free-for-all!”
They exchanged numbers and went on their first date the next day to a bar.
Two months later, Mahmood moved in with Amanda and they married in August last year.
“I’d only been single for a month after coming out of a short relationship when I met Amanda,” says Mahmood.
“I’d not been looking to meet anyone but I thought it was a good way to make new friends.
“I started going after being given a flyer for free entry and enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back the following week.” The word salsa is said to come from the phrase “echale salsita”, which basically means “spice it up a little”. And with all that hip action, there’s certainly no shortage of spice. Amanda admits that dancing in such close proximity to each other can be intoxicating.
“Salsa can be very sexy,” she says. “It’s really nice to dance with your partner because you can get close to them and really enjoy the dancing.
“It feels more intimate and you feel very comfortable looking them in the eyes while you’re dancing.”
While neither dons sequins to dance, Amanda does slip into glittery salsa shoes.
“It’s where we do most of our socialising so it’s nice to make the effort to glam up. Mahmood normally wears jeans and a nice T-shirt,” she says. “I’ll often wear a sexy dress but we leave the really skimpy outfits to the Strictly Come Dancing lot!”
'We got partnered up in our class and in real life'
Housing officer Darren Parker, 45, met legal assistant Nina Roby, 35, at a salsa class four years ago. They live together in Epping, Essex.
When Darren went to his local leisure centre for salsa lessons in 2010, he wasn’t looking for love. “It was the last thing on my mind,” he admits. “I’d been single for two years after coming out of an 11-year relationship.”
It was a colleague who suggested he try dancing.
“Her sister had started salsa and she suggested I go along,” he says. “She’d seen me dancing at a works party and thought I moved quite well!”
At first, he struggled with the intimacy that comes with dancing so close. “They put me in a partner hold and I was a very typical British person trying to keep my distance,” he laughs. “But my teacher said, ‘You’ve got to grab your partner, you can’t lead from half a
mile away!’”
mile away!’”
Four months later, he met Nina.
Like Darren, she wasn’t looking for a relationship.
“I’d had a bad break-up three years earlier,” she says. “We’d been engaged and it hit me quite hard. I just wanted to do something for myself, to go out and enjoy myself without having to rely on my friends.”
After being partnered in the class, the couple started chatting as they shimmied together.
“Salsa is very complicated and she was good at helping me with my moves,” says Darren. “I thought she was really sweet and secretly enjoyed wrapping my arms round her.”
He plucked up the courage to ask Nina out and they went to the opening of a salsa club on their first date.
“I find it very sexy when a man can dance,” admits Nina. “I danced with Darren a lot and every time I had that tingling sensation.
“Salsa is very flirty and one of my favourite moves is a body roll – it starts from your shoulders and goes down to your bottom. It’s pretty sexy. We both really let go and get lost in the beat of the Latino music. Even if we’ve had an argument, you’ll start dancing and it’s forgotten.
“Friday and Saturday nights are party night. I usually wear a short skirt or dress but wear ‘safety shorts’ so when Darren’s spinning me around I don’t flash my bottom!”
For Darren, taking up salsa has been life-changing.
“Before, I was alone, depressed and a workaholic.
“It’s taken my life in a completely different direction,” he says.
Nina, who now runs a not-for-profit salsa club with Darren, isn’t surprised when dance partners become lovers.
“With salsa you get pretty close in every sense. The music is very emotive. It’s all about love, finding a girl, losing a girl and finding her again so it really puts you in the mood for love!”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/music/real-couples-who-met-fell-3159608#ixzz2uAwva6i0
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