House music may still be the defining factor in Hong Kong nightlife but clubbers ought to beware - they could very well get run off the dance-floor by a couple doing the tango or the Charleston, or more likely, the salsa.
Hong Kong's fascination with Latin America; the music, the dance-steps, the food and the cigars, is not new. This salsa fever, evident in the salsa nights popping up across Hong Kong, is also part of a bigger trend. Increasingly, venues are catering to people who are not interested in strobe-lit rooms packed with sweaty, inebriated clubbers.
JJ's is one venue trying to capitalise on this, with its Sunday Swing. Featuring Dixieland jazz during its lunch set, a big band tea dance and Latin jazz for the dinner set, the Sunday package is quite a departure. The Wan Chai nightspot is known for its American R&B bands and its dance- floor is usually associated with house music, not the rhumba.
'The venue was free; we were closed on Sundays so we figured why not?' said the Grand Hyatt's executive assistant manager for food and beverage, Richard Greaves.
According to Mr Greaves, although it's still early days, there is enough of a demand for this form of entertainment to warrant keeping the club open for an extra day.
'It's the whole package. It makes for a profitable exercise providing we get the turnout ,' he said. 'One thing that's missing in Hong Kong is this kind of entertainment, the old big band, so many people love it. We see it in the ballroom functions that we do; it's extremely popular. Dance schools across Hong Kong are doing rip-roaring trade with socialites and lovers of this kind of music.' It's the tea dance - featuring Tony Carpio's 20-piece Big Band - that is the most successful segment attracting dance instructors and people hoping to brush up their ballroom dancing skills. Although the event was only launched in the middle of last month, it already has its regulars.
