Ballroom dance may be a mainstay in Taiwan, but a variety of new dance classes are spicing up the social dance scene in Taipei.
Catering to both the local and foreign communities, with classes in English and Chinese, several dance studios in Taipei are now offering salsa, tango, hip-hop and swing.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIWAN YOSEIKAN BODU
"Salsa is becoming quite popular in Taiwan. A lot of places are starting to hire live Latin bands and there seems to be a big salsa community emerging here," said Godfrey Zwygart, a director and instructor at Taiwan Yoseikan Bodu, a martial-arts center in Tienmu.
Hoping to cash in on the recent rise in popularity of Latin-style dance, the Yoseikan center has employed professional instructors to teach salsa, flamenco and belly dancing. "These are natural and sexy dances. People like to get dressed up and go out to the clubs and dance. The girls really love it," Zwygart said.
While beginner-level classes in flamenco get underway this coming Wednesday, both belly dance and salsa began last week. However, interested persons can still register and -- if demand permits -- additional classes will be added later.
Elsewhere in the city, well-established studios such as Wu Yi (
Classes at Wu Yi are open to the public and the center encourages people to drop by the studio and observe a class before making any commitments. It offers a wide range of classes from classical Chinese to salsa and caters to all levels, but English instruction is not always available. For some, however verbal language is nonessential to a good dance lesson.
"You don't need language. You just need to watch what the instructor does and follow, you can use body language to learn," Chiang said.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS