Cha Cha and the Filipinos

How do you get an entire Filipino party on the dance floor?

Play Love City - ...If there's life, I would like to be there...I take a bus or a train to love city. It's the only place I feel at home - and you are guaranteed a cha-cha dance exhibition unlike anything you've ever seen before. Left, right, shuffle, left, right - there isn't a ballroom dance more endearing to Filipinos. We also have an affinity for Brazilian music especially songs written and sung by the godfather of modern
Brazilian music, Sergio Mendes. And Love City tops it all for me. There is no question that this is one of my all-time favorites.

We grew up watching our parents, tito's (uncle's), tita's (aunt's) and grandparents dancing the cha-cha at every family gathering. With the printed dance instructions that came with the LP record as a guide (click here), we would all try to learn the classic dances such as salsa, the hustle and even the rhumba. It didn't matter how old you were, when the cha-cha came on, it's a free for all in the living room. And when I couldn't find a partner to dance with at home, the maids were not exempt from the cha-cha action.

Even during the height of the disco-era, throwing in a cha-cha song or two during a soiree is a necessary component to a successful party. In high school, the most satisfying part of the soiree is when the boys and girls would line up on each side of the dance floor, and just like a dance face-off, show off each other's choreographed cha-cha moves (unbeknownst to our counterparts required week long practice sessions during lunch at school). Given the fact that the Ateneo was an all boys high school, boy to boy dancing was a necessary evil during these lunch sessions. Suave!