Myths & Facts # 1: Real Men Don’t Dance Salsa
Here’s the first edition of my new pet project on myths and facts (via celebrity speak) Meet Ashwin Mushran; actor, dancer and just an all-around very very funny guy. (Psst! Don’t miss him on Pirate Radio LIVE with Cyrus Sahukar & Chetan Kapoor playing you his favorite songs on November 7th.) For now here’s his take on “Real Men Don’t Dance” exclusively for missmalini.com, yay!
Ashwin Mushran - babe magnet!
Real Men Don’t Dance Salsa
written by: Ashwin Mushran
I know what you’re thinking. Real Men don’t dance Salsa. Real Men go to the gym, pump some iron, grunt a bit, get down and dirty with a protein shake. Real men don’t dance, are you kidding me… Real men hang out at the bar trying to bag that Alpha Male slot… Real men drink a couple of beers, discuss their single malts and ooh and ah over the last premiership football game… Real men get so smashed on their nights out that they can’t even remember they had a night out. Real Men… Why would they even waste their time dancing Salsa?
salsa superstars!
goofing around as usual!
Well, I don’t care, at least not any more. I tried the real man thing for a while and then one fine evening I walked into a Salsa bar in London and made a choice. Now I have to admit, I was a little mad at the girl who pulled me along to the club because it was a Tuesday night and I was missing a really important champion’s league game. I did the beginner’s class a little cockily (I’m a real man remember), stepped on all the girl’s toes and rushed to the bar to get that beer (I couldn’t afford the single malt.) Here’s where it went all topsy-turvy. The class ends, lights go down and the Latin music kicks in. There are very pretty girls at the club, I apparently don’t exist for them. A couple of guys walk in. Now these guys aren’t anything to look at, quite average when I come to think of it. Not too tall, not strikingly good looking, casually dressed… just average I would say. But there is something about them and they know it. Within seconds the women in the club are all over them. I’m wondering why… and then I see them dance. They’ve literally swept the women off their feet and haven’t even uttered a word. Now, that’s cool. That’s it, I’m hooked so help me God. I want to be one of these guys so I sign up for classes. 10 years down the line and I’m still dancing salsa.
What I love about salsa is that it gives the average guy a chance. You don’t have to be a pro, it’s about having fun and being social. Real men in the end rate themselves on how women judge them and women definitely find a guy who can dance cool. 10 years down the line, I can walk into almost any Salsa Club in the world not knowing anyone and I know in minutes I ’m one of those very same guys, I saw strolling into Bar Rumba in London all those years ago. That’s man enough for me thank you very much.
Let me break the myth. You’re not any less of a man because you say you dance salsa. You don’t have to wear tight trousers, satin shirts and shoes with heels on them and you most definitely don’t have to wander around a dance floor with a rose stem clamped between your teeth, while shaking your hips from side to side. You can be skinny, fat, tall or short, what matters is that you know how to dance. You don’t need a six pack… you need six lessons and a whole new world awaits you. In a salsa club the only real man is one who can dance so guys leave that drink at the bar and step it up on the dance floor for a change. Salsa is smooth, sexy and stylish. When the music’s playing and you’re spinning the girl around take a millisecond to think about it. Now that’s real. Be a man… Doooo the right thing…
Ashwin and his adorable wife Rebecca (in red) at the Malaysian Salsa Festival
P.S. Wanna learn to salsa? Get Ashwin to teach you at the Salsa India Dance Company!
Recent Entries
- Amelie and other stories…
- All That Jazz…
- Recommended: Riding an elevator with Ashish Raheja
- A nightclub for Royalty, by Royalty, called Royalty!
- Where’s the Party Tonight?
- What’s inside MissMalini’s Purse?
- *Alien Chutney, The Twilight Players & Tote!
- Mukul Deora’s Bob Dylan Special on Pirate Radio!
- MissMalini @ Lakme Fashion Week: Suneet Verma Finale
- The Twilight Players @ Blue Frog: Be There for a Dev D. repeat!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
SO true! Women love a peacock, and if he can dance, so much the better.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:56 am
Kaviani love the peacock analogy :)
October 31st, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Completely agree with our very own Ash of the salsa world. He’s very cool and for a change very modest inspite of being an actor and he’s got brains too AND he keeps you in splits throughout the time you are in his company. Love his thoughts on Facebook. And I wholeheartedly agree what he states about Salsa and I would like to add “ONLY REAL MEN CAN DANCE”. WAY TO GO ASH. The only difference between Salsa in India and salsa in the rest of the world is that, there are more men in Salsa in India than women and that needs to change. The more the women, the more we get to dance with them.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Thanks Javed bet Ashwin will be delighted to read this :)
November 1st, 2009 at 7:16 pm
[...] Maria Vaz (salsa star Ashwin Mushran’s gorgeous Mrs.) brought cupcakes! And these my friend were no ordinary [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 1:41 am
[...] did he did! Check it out, Real Men Don’t Dance Salsa. (By the way if you head to Zenzi on Sunday evenings he’ll give you a free lesson, tell him I [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 1:11 am
[...] Salsa star Ashwin Mushran’s gorgeous Mrs. Rebecca Maria Vaz (they were rapper Kanye White and double-agent Etta James for the party) brought cupcakes! And these my friend were no ordinary cupcakes. They were individually-customized-with-boo-factor cupcakes and a mouthful of delicious! Here’s what I recommend; give her a holler and order something, cakes, brownies, cuppies you name it – you won’t regret it! Tags: 60s Bollywood, @MissMalini, Ashwin Mushran, beehive, bollywood, Carol Robequin, cupcakes, Etta James, hair, Halloween, impersonation, Jean Claude Biguine, Kanye White, Laurene Daluzeau, LPC, Mumtaz, Palladium Mall, Phoenix mills, Rebecca Maria Vaz FB.init("35cbf6081c632145ba6be3e90b87e666", "/xd_receiver.htm"); « Bindu plays the Hindu card! Lucy Liu and Snoop Dog at the Elbow Room, Mumbai » [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 10:37 am
[...] Salsa has been a huge part of my life for the last 11 years. I started learning it while I was in London and it just hooked me from day one. I love everything about it from the music,to the clubs and people. I have made some of my best friends through Salsa. I’ve travelled the world because of it and got to meet people who I otherwise would never have come across. I even taught my wife to dance Salsa so she could come with me to festivals. Our honeymoon believe it or not ended up being spent with 3000 people at the Greek Salsa Festival in Athens. We had an absolute blast. When I came back to Bombay, Salsa kept me afloat. I taught for a while but now I only teach at festivals. I moonlight as a Salsa DJ and play at clubs in Bombay every week. I’ve been asked to DJ at the Hong Kong Salsa Festival in February 2010 and am looking forward to that. (please do check the article I wrote about Salsa – http://www.missmalini.com/2009/10/30/myth-1-real-men-dont-dance-salsa/) [...]