Regina couples celebrate a Cuban Valentine's Day

Couples in Regina put on their dancing shoes to celebrate a Cuban Valentine's Day at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

The Cuban Valentine event was presented by the Regina Musical Club and New Dance Horizons and featured the prairie début of the Luis Mario Ochoa Cuban Quartet.

Cuban-born musician Luis Mario Ochoa said Latin American music is perfect to spread the romance on the special day.

"Playing for the people is just bringing all I have inside and communicating it to them," he said. "I am very lucky that we always play on Valentine's Day; it's a very important day for music and for love."

To spread the musical love he suggested the couples "just close your eyes and just dream about the goodness."

Following the music, Chris Kailing and his wife Jennifer Barrett gave a tango lesson. For the couple, the dance and the holiday are closely related.

"We actually met dancing tango so having the opportunity to teach new people to dance tango is always exciting because we feel like it's considered a dance of love," Barrett said.

"It's something that's been part of our lives since we've been together," Kailing added.

Barrett learned to dance in Montreal while Kailling learned while living in the United States, but they began dancing together when they met in a small town.

"We discovered that 'Oh, this person danced tango,'" Kailing said.

To spread the love on Valentine's Day also holds special significance because Barrett said it was five years ago, on the holiday, that they first said "I love you."

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