DANCELASTARRIA

Barrio Lastarria is the bohemian slice of downtown Santiago, wedged between Santa Lucía hill and Parque Forestal. It's named after José Victorino Lastarria, a 19th-century Chilean writer and politician, and it still carries some of that era: cobbled streets, old façades and inner courtyards that open onto hidden squares.

Today it's where downtown gets beautiful at night. Bars with tables on the pavement, local markets selling antiques and second-hand books, ice cream shops people cross the city for, and Peruvian, Venezuelan, Italian, Japanese and Chilean kitchens within three blocks.

It's also the most international neighbourhood in downtown Santiago. That makes it the easiest place in the country to arrive knowing nobody: here, nobody is the odd one out.

Bachata was born in the poor neighbourhoods of the Dominican Republic in the mid-20th century, a child of the bolero and the guitar. For decades radio and the upper classes looked down on it, calling it "música de amargue" — heartbreak songs for people with no money. Today it plays all over the planet.

It's danced in pairs over a four-beat count: three steps and a hip pop on the fourth. That hip pop is the whole of bachata. It's one of the fastest partner dances to pick up, which is why it opens the night.

The class splits into three levels, beginner to advanced, and partners rotate. If you've never danced anything in your life, that's exactly what level one is for. And if you already dance, there are people above you to push you.