I started googling (as one does these days) for information on dance in Portugal. I asked around and heard rumours about various things. Someone thought there was a folk dancing group in Castelo somewhere. My hairdresser asked his clients & I heard that there might be a Salsa bar 1 & 1/2 hours away! Great - there's a lot of directions you can go in searching for a Salsa bar. More information needed me thinks. Other than that it was Lisbon (2 & 1/2 hour drive) where there was also Salsa on offer but nothing like Modern Jive or Lindy Hop.
There is a Dance School in Portalegre (30 mins away) but the challenge was that it seemed to be totally couple orientated & no freestyle evening where you could dance. It was a case of attend the lesson & then go home. Hmmmmm. Not quite what I was looking for & having to bring along a male enthusiast was problematic ..... no-one was volunteering & if I advertised I sense that would lead to various complications. If you can't offer a cup of tea to the guy who arrives to fix your internet telephone line (the poor young man looked terrified - apparently it is not the done thing in rural Portugal) then I suspect that putting an advert up for a dance partner is a definite NO-NO!!
The fantastic thing about for example Modern Jive is that you can go to any class or event anywhere in the world on your own & connect with people who find it totally acceptable that you ask total strangers for a dance whether you are a man or a woman and in a couple or not. The atmosphere is friendly, safe, fun and a recipe for enjoying yourself. The formula for learning is perfect. A lesson of 3 - 4 moves becomes a complete routine in its own right or each move can be added to what is known already. The lesson is then followed by sociable freestyle for practicing and then another lesson to recap what is learnt for beginners or an improvers lesson. Then more freestyle - excellent value for money at only around £7.
