The first ever Brit Salsafest will take place on February 3-5, 2006 at the spectacular Winter Gardens venue in Blackpool. The programme will feature a jam-packed weekend of salsa events including; three nights of dance parties in the glorious Empress Ballroom, 60 hours of workshops and master classes, three nights of world-class salsa performances, local and international teachers and performers, an onsite salsa marketplace and the best salsa music from top local and international DJ’s.
“The event really is a multicultural one with dancers booked from Taiwan, Russia, South Africa, India, UAE among many others, so for salsa dancers it’s an opportunity to try out their skills and learn new ones with fresh faces and perhaps bump into folk you haven’t seen since that congress in NY!” says organiser Emma Moore.
What Emma and Kate Moore from Salsalogy and Paul Young of Salsa UK are planning is a “Weekend of Extreme Salsa Fun for All !” The tantalising line-up includes:Tropical Gem, Edie “the Salsa Freak”, Juan Matos, Susana Montero, Super Mario, Leon Rose, Osbanis and Iris de Brito and Hache y Machete.
Salsa UK, the UK’s leading salsa dance and event promoter and Salsology, organisers of the UK’s biggest salsa club nights have joined forces to produce Brit Salsafest. According to Salsa-UK’s Paul Young, this event is “ Aimed at everyone; from absolute beginners to advanced level…to dancers and beyond.”
The Brit Salsafest will feature a specially designed programme for the Absolute Beginner, ensuring that the very first Brit Salsafest will be an open-door event that enables everyone to get into the irresistible Latino rhythms. Salsology founder, Kate Moore encourages all would-be Latinos to get their dancing shoes on and “Learn to salsa for the first time with The Salsa Experience” option in the programme. No previous dance experience is necessary, and as the organisers say, everyone is welcome, even “the two-left-footed.” Participants can choose from a 1-day, or weekend programme, or simply to try a single class. And of course partners are not required.
Kate Moore explains, “The Salsa Experience has been… devised as a crash course in salsa dance, specifically aimed at beginners. The Salsa Experience is designed to introduce people to this hot Latin freestyle dance and to get them out onto the dance floor as quickly as possible. Beginners can choose either to fast-track their salsa via an intensive workshop programme or to select from drop-in classes…” at a pace to suit themselves.
“The Brit Salsafest marks a real break from the traditional mould on the salsa scene. Currently the largest annual event is held in the South of England and dancers from the North and Scotland have to travel for many hours to see the big stars. We wanted to give the North and Scotland the edge this time and stage the event at Blackpool. It’s not before time we had an event like this at the UK home of partner dancing, The Winter Gardens!” adds Moore.
Emma Moore also of Salsology, comments, “I think Salsa means different things to different people and changes depending on the length of time you’ve been doing it. Being a bit of a veteran…I most enjoy… meeting up with friends from afar, dancing till the early hours and the…buzz around an event of this scale. New dancers…may place more importance on the opportunity to gain knowledge and inspiration from watching or taking classes with some of the finest teachers in the world. There’s lots to see and do regardless of your ability … you can even get to do a bit of retail therapy!”
The Brit Salsafest organisers want to make this a memorable event for the seasoned salsa crowd whilst ensuring that it is a welcoming and accessible event for anyone planning to “just dip their toe in” for the sheer fun of it. This approach is reflected in the flexibility of the Brit Salsafest packages and the pricing of events. For the die-hard salsa-ites there are workshops galore, nightly performances and parties, as well as the salsa-related marketplace. And organiser Emma Moore says that there are plenty of reasons to make a weekend of it as, ”flights to Blackpool are reasonably priced and special tariffs have been secured with a range of local hotels which offer great value: Ranging from £23- £54 per night.”
“Expected to attract some 2,000 salsa lovers from across the UK and the globe, the Brit Salsafest is the most prestigious salsa event ever to be held in the North of England.” In addition, “Every night, there are two party rooms with top DJs serving up different flavours and tempos of salsa music and catering for all tastes. The line-up includes Julian ‘The Duke’, Lubi, Mauricio Reyes and Tony Lara of Italy.”
Overview of ticketing options:
The 1 day Pass £ 35
Evening Pass £ 60
Weekend Pass £ 69
Full Pass £109
Single Classes £10 per class
Kids Passes £ 5 per class
Dance workshops will be conducted by some of the world’s top instructors. And special guest artists will perform in three unique nightly programmes. Highlights will include; “Tropical Gem of Italy, currently, the world’s hippest salsa dance company, Edie ‘the Salsa Freak’, indisputably the world’s most famous female salsa instructor and performer, Juan Matos of NYC and twice British Open Salsa Champion and Susana Montero UK salsa champion. The event will also showcase the talents of other top British salsa instructors and performers such as Leon Rose, Super Mario ‘The Million Moves Man’, Marchant Birch, Andrea Stewart and a range of the North’s brightest dance stars, including Mushi Noor, Nicky and Gormack and Lossie and Gareth.”
When asked about what makes a salsa dancer tick, Emma Moore has this to say; “…Salsa is anything but exclusive. It is a club dance first and foremost that can be learned by anyone, it is not a competition dance. The great thing about salsa is that you don’t have to be a skinny teenager to learn it, or even to be very good at it! I like to think of it as a language that can be spoken between people from any part of the globe, regardless of whether they’ve met before, who may have nothing more in common than a shared passion for the dance. In that way many friendships are formed and it makes for a very sociable atmosphere.”
The Brit Salsafest promises a great line-up of teachers and performers to salsa lovers of the North; as well as bringing the joy and playfulness of salsa dancing into the life of anyone willing to give it a go. And what better way to spend a dreary English winter evening than in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens in your dancing shoes !
The Brit Salsafest will be held at the winter gardens Blackpool from Feb 3- 5. For the full Brit Salsafest programme, workshop and master class listings, nightly performance line-ups, recommended accommodation and travel options visit : www.britsalsafest.com
Enquiries: info@britsalsafest.com
Online tickets: www.salsatribe.com
Ticket hotline: +44 (0) 208 776 9000
Website: www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk
