Dance Class with Author Alienor Salmon
Eight countries. Eight dances. Join author and happiness expert Alienor Salmon for an evening of dancing. Salmon will teach eight iconic steps from each country she visited in her exploration of Latin dance.
Aliénor Salmon was working as a happiness researcher in Bangkok when a friend asked her the question that turned life as she knew it on its heels. A novice dancer but experienced social researcher, the Franco-British Aliénor headed west from Bangkok to dance her way through Latin America. As she learns eighteen dances, each native to the countries she visits, she engages with esoteric customs, traditions, and cultures. Through conversations and arduous studio hours, she learns that every step, pivot, and shake thrums with an undeniable spirit of place. And that in a world where we are over-connected but increasingly disconnected from one another, dance offers an authentically human experience. One that allows her to develop tolerance, kindness, truth, and love by holding the hands of a stranger and gazing into their eyes for the time of a song.
Alienor Salmon is a Franco–British writer, researcher, and consultant who has traveled the world studying happiness, education, and emotional development for UNESCO and other international organizations. Through her website, Bailando Journey, she has become a dance influencer and ambassador, promoting the discovery of cultures through dance and dance’s multiple benefits for well-being and personal development. In 2018 she received official accreditation for journalistic coverage of the Cali Fair, one of the most important traditional music and dance celebrations in Colombia and Latin America. In 2022 she gave a TEDx talk on her tour of Latin America, learning its dances and about herself in the process, the basis for her book Finding Rhythm. She has since founded the School of Happiness, where she teaches masterclasses on the science of happiness, and she teaches Mindful Latin Flow, a mindful movement class based on Latin rhythms. Aliénor currently lives in Lisbon, Portugal
