Book description
Every week for much of the year, millions of Brits view and vote on
Strictly Come Dancing, with the salsa being one of the most
popular dances. Dark, enticing Afro-Caribbean rhythms; moving bodies
gently interlaced, responding to the music: at first sight, salsa
dancing seems to recover something our regimented British lives
suppress. For not much more than a fiver, salsa can reconnect us with
our bodies. So we seem to think: with perhaps a million Britons taking
a class every week, salsa is statistically our national dance.
Matt Rendell learned salsa the British way, as an adult,
rote-learning figures and routines. His Colombian wife, Vivi, acquired
salsa in early childhood from her parents and grandparents; the dance
made her part of her community.
A love story about two people from cultures at sometimes comical
cross-purposes, Salsa for People Who Probably Shouldn't
explores how the world's most popular dance went global, how it
reached the UK and whether the saucy, salacious salsa of our national
fantasy life is really as exotic as we like to think.
Matt Rendell is the author of several other books, including the
award-winning
King of the Mountains
and
The Death of Marco Pantani
, and most recently
Olympic Gangster
. He is married and divides his time between Bristol and MedellÃn,
Colombia.
