My country Trinidad and Tobago is the most southerly island in the Caribbean. Dance, rhythm and song are synonymous with this twin island Republic! We are a Caribbean nation, located not far from the north east coast of Venezuela.

Most people don’t realise that my country is quite cosmopolitan, comprising people of different ethnic backgrounds. These are people of different descents and mixes including Africans, East Indians, Chinese, Caucasians, Syrians, Lebanese, Portuguese and many others. You name them, you can find all sorts of people here.

Venezuela is our closest mainland neighbour and there are a lot of Venezuelans living in Trinidad now. Most of them have come across to learn English.

To the visitor, dance in Trinidad is a new experience - they soon realise that music, rhythm annd culture are as normal as breathing in this place I call home. With the ethnic mix that we have here it’s not surprising that we have numerous cultural influences which have given us a lot of different forms of dance.

A great time to visit Trinidad would be at Carnival time. Carnival usually falls anywhere between the second week in February to the first week in March. It consists of a massive two-day celebration and display of masqueraders and their costumes. Now the celebration begins way in advance and just culminates with that parade. There are fetes. These are large parties (sometimes hundreds to thousands of people) where the major bands perform and the people just have a grand time. The predominant music is soca, which is an adaptation to the traditional calypso. Carnival is a festive time, when people give way to wanton freedom, especially freedom of bodily expression.

Dance has been described as the art of moving the body in a rhythmical way (usually) to music, to express an emotion or idea, to narrate a story of simply to take delight in the movement itself. To me, dance is indeed a beautiful expression of self! Your senses are tuned! The sense of touch is alive because you are dancing with another. He or she is holding you in a particular way, maybe intimately. Your sense of sound is alive because the music starts a positive feedback mechanism throughout you. You hear the music, you know the song and it immediately sends brain waves to start tapping the foot. This tap moves into a motion and before you know it your entire body is moving to the pulsating beat of that rhythm!

I am still learning but I have a yearning to improve. I went to a Latin night near where I live. It is called a “Latin night” but really it is just a party with the main focus on Latin dance. Learners and the experienced all go to these parties to showcase their talent. I was just in awe of the people who executed their moves so well, as they grooved to the music. What made it even more special was the pure joy on the dancers’ faces! They were doing their “stuff” and just loving it.

The history of my island is not that much different to the other histories that created the music we listen to throughout the Caribbean. I believe that the attraction to Latin dance in my country could be due to the underlying African rhythms of the music, the Spanish influence, as well as the rise to popularity of cross-over Latin artistes like Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin. Latin dance is indeed the dance to know today. Why I love it so is because it is not rigid and it gives way to natural expression.

It is my firm belief that to dance one must feel the music. You have to let the music infiltrate your being and most of all enjoy what you’re doing. Let the movements flow as naturally as you would walk or talk.

For those of you that want to try something new, Latin dance would be the right touch of spice. I urge you to join a class. For those of you who are already there, continue. If you think that it’s not for you, pick up an interest that you always wanted to pursue. This will be useful, as it will enrich your being, make you feel good about yourself and put a smile on your face. Smiling is indeed good. You can brighten someone else’s day and your day will be brightened in turn.

If you don’t believe a smile can make a difference, come to Trinidad - we are always smiling! Maybe it is the music!!!