I went for a samba workshop earlier this evening conducted by Güpson Pierre of Attitude Dance Studio and man, was it intense. This was the Carnival-style samba danced in Brazil, not the ballroom samba which is the version of samba I've been wanting to learn ever since I saw it in 1999, but nevertheless, I had lots of fun. My calves and abs ached at the end of the two hour session, and while they don't ache any more now, I'm sure as heck going to feel it in the morning!

One thing Güpson (who is a great teacher, incidentally, if a little scary at times) told us was that people in Brazil "don't have breasts. All they have is the butt. That is why they exaggerate the chest movement so much. The butt... it is easy!" Given my typically Asian bust and rather substantial booty, it sounds like the perfect dance for me to take up.

If you're wondering about the main difference between authentic Brazilian samba and ballroom samba, I would say that your feet have to move a lot faster in the former than in the latter. Within eight beats of a samba song, you would have taken 24 steps doing the former compared to eight dancing the latter. And apparently, dancers in Brazil do this for hours at a stretch during the Carnival. Yowtch.