Helsinki Night of the Arts goes salsa .... and zouk!

Yesterday was the tradional Night of the Arts (Taiteiden Yö) in Helsinki. It's the night to see theater, circus, music and dance shows, visit art galleries, book stores and anything even remotely related to arts - all for free! The "Night of the Arts" events take place all around Finland and are on a Thursday evening at the end of August. They're really popular among intoxicated teens, but luckily there's also something else fun to do and see!

I'll give you one very good example: It was also the season's final Opera Salsa. This a series of events organised by Salsa Borealis usually every Sunday evening during the summer (you may remember it from last year too). Yesterday evening the stage behind the Opera House was filled with dance classes & shows and hundreds of people were there to have fun, show their move and learn something new. There was Cuban salsa, LA salsa, bachata, kizomba, semba and yes - also zouk! Our local Mzouk teacher Ossi Kimmelma together with Noora Kykkänen hosted a short class on Mzouk. Mzouk is a zouk style from Palma de Mallorca, popular in Barcelona at the moment.

Mzouk class by Ossi and Noora

The class was packed and I was happy to see lots of new faces learning zouk. Some couples even persistently tried their newly learned skills on the salsa tunes that was played later! I'm sure the beautiful Mzouk demo by Ossi and Noora pleased the crowd as well :)