Martin Place

It's 12:30 on a sunny November day, and in Martin Place scores of office workers have come out of their air-conditioned cubicles to eat their lunch in the sunshine - the lucky few sitting on bench seats; the rest making do with steps. Somewhere around the middle, I'm brought up short by the sight of about a dozen people dancing salsa to the accompaniment of "Under My Umbrella" playing on a portable stereo. For a moment I wonder if it's a free lunch-time class of some sort, but they're too good - each of the couples looks like they're accustomed to dancing together. But the way they're dressed confuses me - they're all very casually dressed, in jeans and tracksuit pants and the like. Apart from one woman, who's wearing a colourful top, flippy skirt and proper dance shoes. She's obviously an instructor. But as for the rest - I can understand the exhibitionist desire to dance in front of a bunch of strangers, but... why would you do it in trackies??