Love, passion and power were impressively displayed with skillful, thrilling twists, spirals and swivels.
Yesterday, some celebrities and distinguished guests spent an enthusiastic night at the Caesar Hall in the Summit Club with three world champion couples of Latin dance.
Tonight they will perform dances such as the Rumba, Samba and Cha Cha, which are usually seen at Latin clubs or in dance sport competitions, to a large public at the Century Theatre.
After the performance, a gala Latin party will be held at the Kempinski Hotel until midnight, sponsored by Finland Embassy in China, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and The Sixth Sense Company.
The three couples -- Jukka Haapalainen and Sirpa Suutari, Victor Da Silva and Hanna Karttunen, Slavik Kryklyvyy and Karina Smirnoff -- have all won numerous champions in world dance sport competitions in recent years.
They excel at the steps and poses of the Rumba, Samba, Cha Cha, Paso Doble and Jave, the five types of dances which feature twisting, spirals, curls, swivels, three-step turns, continuous spins, overturns, Batucada rhythms, Promenade runs, Chasse shapes, Cuban break rhythms and Disco split rhythms.
The Latin Samba, Rumba and Cha Cha dances, plus the Paso Doble from Europe and the Jive from North America, are now performed all over the world as Latin-American dances in international dance sport competitions, as well as being danced socially.
These dances are for couples and most of them are lovers or husband and wife in real life.
Hanna Karttunen is known as the "Finnish Tigress." She is very animated and ultra glamorous and specializes in Latin American Dancing.
In May, she won the BBC's dance competition program "Strictly Come Dancing" which gathers eight couples to dance to a jury and receive votes from the audience.
Winner of the World Cup, the World Trophy and the World Series 2003, Karttunen has now turned to Dance Exhibition with her new partner Victor Da Silva.
Slightly different from the traditional Latin American Dance, Dance Exhibition combines ballet, acrobatics and other stunts. Some have story lines and characters.
At the press conference held on Monday Karttunen introduced one of the dances she will perform this time, "Gladiator," which tells of the love between a gladiator and a Roman Queen.
Karttunen said she knows China has many talented and hard-working dancers and advised them to "believe in yourself and keep practising."
Slavik Kryklyvyy and Karina Smirnoff's dances are in a sense more traditional and competitive. The youngest among the three couples, Kryklyvyy and Smirnoff are probably the world's hottest Latin-American couple today.
They will demonstrate their superb control and understanding of all Latin principles.
"As well as the steps and movements, the dancers should learn about the culture of each dance and understand the characters of a dance," said Kryklyvyy.
"Latin dance originated from Latin culture and is mainly about the passion between man and woman. The dancers should have deep understanding of this to express the feelings," he said.
His partner Smirnoff added: "Different couples have different interpretations of a dance. Although we three couples will all dance Rumba, you will figure it out that we are different."
Jukka Haapalainen and Sirpa Suutari, four-time world champions couple from Finland, were the oldest couple among the three. They retired from their competitive career in 1998 and now devote themselves to stage shows and coaching new dancers.
According to his own experience, he told China's young dancers: "It is not enough to have a lesson and listen to what the teacher says. You should understand what he says and turn that into your motion. And you have to go and do it all over and over and over again to make it your dance experience and your knowledge."
(China Daily December 3, 2004)
