SalsaFleet News letter August 2010

Hello Everyone

August has been a very busy month, a lot has happened & I've had to re-write my original August news letter which is why this is a bit late…

The first thing to mention is Su's departure from SalsaFleet. I tried my best to keep her on board but ultimately she felt it was time to move on. So I would like to take this opportunity to wish her well & thank her for the work she put into making SalsaFleet the hottest night in Fleet on a Wednesday!

I've spent a lot of time this month thinking about what's the best direction for SalsaFleet to take and have come to a few decisions.

Monthly Rueda Night
I've decided to stop the end of month Rueda nights. Although, I did enjoy these evenings. Cross Body Lead style salsa and Cuban style circular salsa do not mix well. They have the same rhythm and can be danced to the same music but are essentially different in terms of the rules for leading and following . I think it can be confusing to learn both styles at the same time. If there is enough interest then I will setup some separate classes to teach 'la Rueda'.

So from now on our focus for all Wednesday night classes will be Cross Body Lead salsa. I want to retain the fun, friendly atmosphere, but will be placing more emphasis on technique, especially in the beginners classes, as this is the foundation for dancing salsa up to musical speed in free style.

New Salsa Beginners teacher
I'd like to introduce you all to Jo Hutchinson. Jo is our new SalsaFleet Beginners teacher. She has been dancing salsa for several years now and has a background in ballroom Latin American dancing. In fact she is still competing in this field. Jo has great dance technique, posture and styling. Her background in ball room gives her salsa dancing a very elegant quality as she glides across the dance floor. Jo is fantastic to dance with and is great at improvisation. When she hears something in the music or I try a move that's very challenging she just goes with it, and never gets ruffled. You never notice any mistakes because she just makes it all seem like part of the dance.

New Class Assistant/Front Desk/DJ
Ashley is the youngest member of the SalsaFleet team. She's been dancing salsa since the age of 10 years old, when I would try my salsa routines on her. At this time she wasn't very enthusiastic, as anything Dad does just cannot be cool..... Ashley's role at SalsaFleet is to help out during the classes, meet, greet and take payments on the door & help with the DJing. She's a fantastic person and great fun to have around, she's also a very talented dancer and can follow just about any salsa move. Don't take my word on this, just ask the guys who take the classes!

Wednesday Night Classes @The Albert
The Beginners class at the Albert club will now be attended on a drop in basis, just like all the other classes. Salsa Beginners courses will be run on a different evening. This gives the Beginners a choice for the type of class they want to attend.



Tuesday Night Beginners Salsa Course @The Harlington Centre
Starting Tuesday September 7th, I'm running Salsa Beginners courses in Carnival Hall at the Harlington Centre in Fleet. The course will run for 5 weeks and will be taught by myself. I'm really keen to teach Beginners as it will mean I can coach people right from the start, teach them good dance habits and follow the persons development right the way through all the class levels.

Please feel free to email or speak to me about ideas for improving the format of the evening. I'm always open to suggestions.

Happy Salsering

Jim Costello
SalsaFleet