Clubs to go footloose with jive, waltz

Clubs to go footloose with jive, waltz

Even as clubs and restobars are gearing up to host wild Christmas parties with peppy music by resident DJs, city gymkhanas and a few clubs are bringing alive the traditional ballroom dance forms such as jive, foxtrot and waltz. Western music and retro dance forms mark the spirit of Christmas at Catholic Gymkhana in Marine Drive. “We’ll have a western band called Brin to play retro and jive music on Christmas day. This is also the 100th year of Catholic Gymkhana, so the celebrations will be bigger. We want to restrict ourselves to retro music but if people want to listen to Bollywood, we may play a song or two,” said Norbert Periera of Catholic Gymkhana. He said that because of police restrictions they have stopped hosting Christmas party outdoors. “We will host it in a hall between 8pm and 2am.” At Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana in Santa Cruz, too, the focus is on ballroom dancing. An officer at the gymkhana said: “We will not play any fast numbers; we want couples to sway to waltz and jive. The band will only play music from the 60s and 70s.” “Many youngsters like to move to the latest music. We try to incorporate our beats. This time the popular ones that will be played are Senorita, Fevicol and Gangnam style,” said Dion Rodrigues, director of Lynn Sound, whose group will be playing at Bandra Gymkhana. But for jive enthusiast Ryan Oliver, the tradition of ballroom dancing on Christmas day is unique. “For Catholics, jive and ballroom are traditional dance forms. It cuts across age groups. The atmosphere in clubs is Christmasy and the attire is formal.” Mary Lobo, who organises salsa parties, said, “Salsa takes a backseat on Christmas. I make it a point to be part of the rock and roll parties as there is high energy and a sense of camaraderie too.”