THE moves: Salsa, a sensual street dance that is a mix of rhumba, mambo, cha-cha and other Latin and Afro-Caribbean dance forms. It is not usually danced at competitive level, but followers see it as a social dance that allows them to improvise steps and movements according to the music.

The crowd: Fleet-of-foot types who can keep up with quick tempos. Usually 20- to 30-something yuppies or tertiary students who enjoy the convivial scene - think bustling salsa nights at dance clubs - as much as the dance.

The hot spots: Union Square, an NTUC-run salsa club at Amara Hotel; Xenbar, a dance spot set in a shophouse along Pagoda Street in Chinatown.

HE'S GOT THE GIRL: Engineer Dennis Goh, an avid salsa fan, met his girlfriend, business development manager Yeoh Gaik Leng, two years ago at a salsa class, and the two have performed overseas. -- ST PHOTO: EDWIN KOO

WHEN business development manager Yeoh Gaik Leng, 30, tells her male colleagues she does salsa, they often tsk-tsk and say: 'Oh, so the male dancers must all be gay.'

The response tickles Ms Yeoh's dance partner and boyfriend, engineer Dennis Goh, 28, who tells LifeStyle with a gleeful grin: 'Never mind, I got the girl.'

The couple met about two years ago at a salsa class at dance studio JJSalsaRengue in Murray Street.

As part of the Tanjong Pagar studio's dance team, they have performed at the annual Singapore Salsa Festival, and even flown to Los Angeles to dance at the city's Salsa Congress, reportedly the largest and most high-profile salsa event in the world.

Depending on whether there is an upcoming performance, they spend between two and four nights a week practising. Besides the studio, a favourite haunt is Union Square at Amara Hotel.

As it's common practice there for men to ask women for a dance, the well-known salsa club is 'the best place for guys to meet girls', says Mr Goh with a laugh.

'Ninety-nine per cent of the time when a guy approaches a girl, he will not get rejected.'

But there's nothing sleazy involved, explains Ms Yeoh. 'Even if it's a stranger you're dancing with, you know he is there because he has respect for the dance.'

And despite the some-say effeminate shaking and shimmying that is required of male salsa dancers, Mr Goh insists that salsa is really about the testosterone-boosting act of 'a man showing off his lady'.

'It's about how hard you lead her, how well you take care of her in a crowded place like Union Square. I have to make sure my partner is comfortable - make her look good, make her feel good.'

---

'It's about how hard you lead her, how well you take care of her... I have to make sure my partner is comfortable - make her look good and feel good'
Engineer Dennis Goh on the perception that salsa is effeminate