Cuba's rhythm nation

Sensual, funky and truly beautiful to watch, the couples sway, spin and shimmy to the music. Salsa dancing, Cuba's greatest cultural export, was introduced to me at a weekender that drew thousands of fans to a Pontins holiday camp in Somerset. "You're not very good, but you look like you're enjoying yourself," said my dance partner. Fortunately, I'm not easily offended.

Sensual, funky and truly beautiful to watch, the couples sway, spin and shimmy to the music. Salsa dancing, Cuba's greatest cultural export, was introduced to me at a weekender that drew thousands of fans to a Pontins holiday camp in Somerset. "You're not very good, but you look like you're enjoying yourself," said my dance partner. Fortunately, I'm not easily offended.

I'd got a buzz that lasted for days after the trip and decided not to give up just because I'd stepped on a few toes. So for a deeper understanding, I headed for Havana to experience salsa in its natural habitat.

It feels as if music is everywhere in Cuba. Arrivingat the Hotel Sevilla, in the old part of the city, was like walking on to a film set. I almost expected to see Al Capone and his cronies smoking cigars in the corner.

This was a dance holiday for a dozen Brits, and we were eager to taste the local lifestyle. So within an hour of arriving we took a taxi to El Polvorin de El Morro - an outdoor salsa club in the fortress that guards the entrance to Havana's harbour. It was the first of many clubs we experienced over the next two weeks. The fiery dancers reminded me why I had come here and how much I had to learn.

Every morning we were put through our paces in a two-hour salsa class. Luckily our group comprised just 12 students, so we got a lot of individual attention; the previous holiday in November attracted 60 participants.

I was a little daunted by our instructor. Alexis Gonzalez Valdez is super-fit and one of the top salsa teachers in Cuba. A professional ballet dancer, he also teaches son - the mixture of African and Spanish rhythms that's evolved into the salsa of today - plus cha cha cha, mambo and danzon. He took us through what he called some basic salsa steps and split us into two groups based on ability. I resigned myself to the fact that from the beginners class, the only way is up.

US tourists are banned by their government from visiting Cuba, which is why it is so different from other Caribbean islands. The dance instructors don't speak much English. Happily, it soon became clear that there is a universal language of music. Somehow you just understand what is required. Alexis shouting "no" and "good" also helped.

The real fun is to be had in the salsa clubs in and around the Cuban capital. One afternoon we headed to a salsa matinée at the Casa de la Musica in Miramar. It felt strange to be in a nightclub in the middle of the day - but it was full. Matinées are extremely popular, since many Cubans work shifts. Entry fees are lower, drinks are cheaper and there are few tourists.

We joined the party as the top Cuban band Bamboleo took the stage. I couldn't help but move to their Latin brass, mixed with the hip-hop salsa sounds of the sexy singers. The crowd was ecstatic - dancing and singing every word as if their lives depended on it.

Vibrant music and dancing are a good enough reason to travel to the biggest island in the Caribbean. But the idea of visiting the last communist state in the West has its own appeal. Havana is an exciting city, the splendour of the grand palaces contrasting with the decrepit, dusty backstreets. When I asked an old Cuba hand about food on the island before I left the UK, he urged me to take sandwiches. But I found excellent home-cooked food in the paladares - small, family-run restaurants where you eat in the living room. As the owner piled rice, beans and spicy chicken on to my plate, I knew salsa dancing would be off the menu that night.

But it's the music that will bring me back. In the country's second biggest city, Santiago de Cuba, at the Casa de La Trova ("troubadours' house"), bands play all day. We were spellbound as a young man in a fifties-style suit elegantly spun and twisted his gaily dressed partner to a live son band. It's easy to see why Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene fell in love with this island. I, too, was seduced.

Joyce Ohajah is a news presenter for ITN. She travelled with Dance Holidays (0870 286 6000, www.danceholidays.com)

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