SalsaFleet News letter July 2010

Hello Everyone,

Just a brief mail to outline whats going on this month(July) at SalsaFleet.

Cheers
Jim

Beginners Course/Classes
At this time of year its difficult for people to commit to a 4 week block of classes given its the holiday season, so for now the beginners classes will work the same way as the regular class i.e. on a drop in basis. It is better if you can do the whole course from start to finish as its structured this way and it works out cheaper, but at least you now have the choice to do either.

Bachata Party Night
We'll be having a Bachata party night at the end of this month. So its a change from our usual Rueda party night... All levels of class will be Bachata based so don't worry if you haven't danced it before.

Birthday NEWS....
Special thanks and congratulations to Julie. We celebrated her birthday last week, a great opportunity to mix and socialise and get to know every ones names. We have another birthday later this month... so reserve Wednesday 21st July for a traditional SalsaFleet birthday celebration. I'll leave the person unnamed at this time and only say that its a he. I'll provide the cake, You bring the nibbles ;-)


NEW Regular Classes (block booking scheme)
A couple of weeks ago someone asked me if they could pay for a block of four classes (because if they've already paid for the class, this would encourage them to get off the couch & go). this seemed a good idea to me... I get a guarantee of attendance and the money up front and the customer saves £1 pound on every class they attend. So, I'd like to extend this idea for everyone.

£24 for a block of 4 classes, which means if your a regular attender you save £4 over the block booking period.

NOTE: The four classes in a block booking can be taken at any time, there's no expiration date, they don't have to be taken in consecutive weeks (i.e. you can have your holiday or other break and you wont miss out out on any classes you've paid for. The only proviso I'll make is that the booking has to be for an individual (i.e. 4 people can't make a booking then use it all in the one night between them ;-)).


Credit where credit is due - Part1... (musings from Jim)
No body develops their own salsa style, movement, technique, turn patterns, shines etc without help and influence from other salsa dancers and teachers.

I always said that if I ever ran my own salsa venue, I would list the people who have influenced me the most in salsa. Just to give a little back to the people who have shaped the way I dance. Ultimately we are all individuals and we all move in our own unique way. Developing your own style, that you feel comfortable with, is part of the salsa learning experience. Maybe this re-cap of how my salsa dancing developed will influence you ;-)

Part1: Salsa Beginnings
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I started learning salsa in the late 90's at Bar Mambo in Guildford. Carlos Paz ran the venue and the advanced class was taught by William Dash. Everybody danced Cuban style salsa in those days and William was an incredibly smooth dancer. I loved the way the guy never looked rushed. He was great to watch and a nice guy too.

Then I went to Cuba with Kerry Ribchester. She introduced the idea of dancing from the heart, feeling the music, connecting with your partner and Afro-Cuban movement (something I still struggle with). Kerry's a fantastic person, great fun, and well respected in the salsa scene and beyond. She appeared on a TV program called 'Confidence lab' using music combined with afro-cuban body movement to help people regain confidence and improve their lives.

The next big thing on the salsa scene was 'Cross Body Lead' (XBL) style salsa. Imported from the USA, suddenly everybody was dancing lots of complicated moves. I attended various salsa classes Robert Charlamagne, Chandy David, Super Mario, Susanna Montero, but of all these XBL teachers Leon Rose had the biggest influence. I loved his classes because he not only danced this style superbly well, he also danced it with a huge amount of style and grace. A special mention to Super Mario here, as although I didn't attend many of his classes. The moves he taught, spread from his classes and everybody danced them. They didn't call him the 'million moves man' for nothing.

Enough ramblings from me, I'll add part 2. next month.....

Happy Salsering
Jim