Pakefield08



		The Best of Salsa Classes, Salsa Clubs, Salsa Events Founder of the Official Fan Club for Latin Music & London's Carnival de Cuba

	London Salsa Scene All New Gallery - Dateline: 23rd June 2010

	UK'S 1ST EVER SALSA & KIZOMBA WEEKEND DELIVERS IN FINE STYLE Click *HERE* *to View Miguel de las Fotos Full on Party Gallery!*

OVER 500 DANCERS SHIMMIED THEIR WAY TO THE UK'S 1ST EVER SALSA AND KIZOMBA WEEKENDER, HOSTED BY CLUB CUBANA'S CRESSIDA CHILDS AT PONTINS PAKEFIELD RESORT ON THE SUFFOLK COAST THIS WEEKEND (18TH-21ST JUNE).
There was a MASSIVE hunger for kizomba, with ALL workshops chock-a-block with dancers looking to be among the first to experience a genuine dance craze. An array of the UK's top kizomba instructors, including Miguel Monteiro and Iris de Brito, were on hand to bring the heady delights of the dance dubbed "Afro-tango" to life.
          Driving the kizomba craze is the allure of this smooth, flowing, sensual, passionate dance – a tango-like style without its dark melancholy, danced to the heavy, repetitive percussive rhythm of zouk music.
          Originally called passada, the dance emerged in the 1970's, a fusion of semba (an Angolan folkloric dance and predecessor of samba), Argentine tango, salsa and zouk musical influences from the French Caribbean. Later, it took the name kizomba - meaning "party" - with the dance style and music becomingly increasingly sophisticated, hot-housing in Lisbon and elsewhere in Portugal.
This was simply one of the best weekenders we've been to in ages, a great party atmosphere, brilliant workshop programme, world-class performances - plus a chance to catch the UK's newly crowned official Professional UK Salsa Champion, Noel Hernandez Roque teaching Cuban style salsa and rueda de casino, plus an evening performance with Kerry Ribchester.
Europe's best value salsa weekender delivered in fine style yet again.
     For more on Club Cubana's Salsa Weekenders, contact: Cressida Childs, Club Cubana tel: 0117 3306933 or 07808 581739; visit: www.clubcubana.com Pontins: 0844 576 5949.
PHOTOS BY: LONDON SALSA SCENE'S ONE AND ONLY MIGUEL DE LAS FOTOS!


	London Salsa Pakefield Review & Gallery & Clip Friday 3rd July 2009


	Pakefield's Party People Star at Pontins East Coast Break



	CLICK HERE - CHECK OUT MIGUEL DE LAS FOTO'S FILM OF PONTIN'S BACHATA QUEEN CLICK HERE FOR MIGUEL'S 2009 PAKEFIELD PICTURE GALLERY

WE'VE GOT ONE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER OF A PHOTO GALLERY FOR YOU OF CLUB CUBANA'S 50th SALSA WEEKENDER AT PONTINS' PAKEFIELD RESORT IN SUFFOLK, 19-22 JUNE.
Miguel del Foto serves up the story - including yummy mummy Phyllis and her daughter from south London (above), Salsa Chillout's ever stylish Terry Lewis, Salsa Heart's Gareth as the Golden Elvis - CLICK HERE to see if Miguel del Foto snapped you and your friends!

Stand-out instructor for us was La Reina, Bachata Queen Raynor Stock-Lynch (left). I've been slow to warm to bachata, a beautiful, simple dance that's being turned into a poor man's salsa with loads of complex moves that just don't fit the music.
La Reina changed my mind about bachata. Despite some scarily big workshops - Pakefield's main Stardust venue was chocka block with hundreds of dancers - Raynor's sessions were well structured, well pitched, well taught, satisfying and fun.

         Raynor generated a fun, relaxed vibe, taught moves appropriate to level of the students and was, in short, a cracking teacher. The Bachata Queen was ably supported by assistant Jools who offered positive help to dancers as she circulated.
        We've got a great video clip of La Reina and Jules in action, capturing her smooth, down to earth, working with the music style - CLICK HERE to check it out and pick up some great moves!
        My favourite sessions at the weekend were bachata de rueda with La Reina and Jules, no question. This was the first time I've seen and tried out this new fusion genre and I'm hooked.
        Bachata de rueda is just breaking through in the UK right now. Starting up in the US only a few years ago, it's the creation of Seemore Johnson and Cristina Pujo, from Boston's Latin dance company Hips on Fire.
        If it's a new one to you, Bachata de rueda brings together bachata moves and music with the concept of la rueda de casino (dancing in the round, constantly changing partners in response to calls led by one of the dancers). Be warned - it's nothing like the Cuban original, most of the calls are different and the execution is for sure different! But it works, it's fun, and makes a lot more sense than doing a whole bunch of twisty turny fling your woman around moves that don't fit the music. We'll be following up on this and will have more news on Bachata de Rueda soon!
        More: www.clubcubana.com Next Weekender: Pontins South West Latin Break, Brean Sands, Somerset, 4th-7th December, with headliner Alex Wilson. Alex will be launching his new guide to understanding salsa music, promising to help dancers stop counting and start listening. Our teaching team are there, we're already looking forward to this one! Lee, www.londonsalsascene.co.uk


	LONDON SALSA REVIEW - EAST COAST LATIN, PONTINS PAKEFIELD - JULY 08


	Pontins Pioneers UK's Breakthrough Salsa & Latin American Ballroom Fusion Weekend

	PICTURES AND FILMS BY LONDON SALSA SCENE'S MIGUEL DEL FOTO WORDS: LEE KNIGHTS CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY - DID WE SNAP YOU AND YOUR MATES? SALSA AT THE MOVIES: Miguel de Puerto Rico & Mayana - PART 1 & PART 2 ; Ben and Lucy CLICK HERE El Nico beginners cha cha cha CLICK HERE; Cook and the Coconuts - CLICK HERE! HAVE YOUR SAY: CLICK HERE

	TO BE HONEST, Pontins isn't the most likely setting for a ground-breaking dance event. But if you're looking for a dance promoter that's pushing the envelop right now, its Club Cubana – the people who run an array of Latin themed dance weekenders at Pontins' holiday parks across the UK, writes London Salsa Scene's Lee Knights.

    Typically, Pontins weekenders are for hardcore salsa lovers who want all-day salsa workshops followed by parties where there is more salsa dancing til the wee hours.
   Breaking the mould can be risky – salsa lovers are passionate about their chosen dance and its music, and are not especially known for their responsiveness to alternative dance forms (unless its the odd bachata which has kicked off on the scene).
  Only months ago, the Hilton Hotel group was forced to cancel two high profile salsa/ballroom fusion events in London and Birmingham due to lack of bookings.      These looked like cracking events, with a line up that included favourites on the UK salsa scene Marchant Birch and Davina, but they failed to hit the spot with dancers.

    Attracting 600 dancers, Club Cubana's East Coast Latin break at Pontins holiday park in Pakefield, Suffolk in June ended up being the first to successfully fuse the worlds of club salsa and Latin American ballroom.
  The event is the brainchild of Club Cubana's Cressida Childs, a pioneer on the UK salsa scene who launched Pontins first salsa holiday in 1997.
   With the demise this year of the top two salsa congresses – the UK Salsa Congress in Bournemouth and Blackpool's Britfest - Pontins takes over as the UK's No1 salsa holiday provider, running weekenders at Blackpool, Southport, Brean Sands in Somerset and Pakefield in Suffolk.
   East Coast Latin offered plenty for hardcore salseros. Heading the line up were UK Salsa Champions Miguel de Puerto Rico & Mayana - two of the most effective and sought after instructors around - while there is nobody better at getting a hot dance party vibe going than Moe Flex.

    To take salsa dancers outside their comfort zones, there were rising UK Latin American Ballroom stars, Ben Hardwick and Lucy Jones.
   Giving the event an extra edge, they led a team of ballroom instructors offering workshops on cha cha cha, tango, rumba, waltz, samba and more and were due to in the evenings.
  With the worlds of ballroom and club salsa set to collide, it looked as if Ben and Lucy were facing their toughest audience yet. That was until they started to dance. Former stars of the UK and US Simply Ballroom shows, Ben and Lucy brought pure Latin passion, fire and sensuality to their performances.
  Their showcases on rumba, pasa doble, cha cha cha, jive were spiced with smouldering swivel-hipped body movement, fluid upper movement, pin sharp timing, Lucy's red hot ladies' styling and Ben's corkscrew spins that left him in danger of drilling through the floor.

    This was the missing link between the worlds of freestyle club salsa and the ballroom scene.
  Ben and Lucy - ranked no 3 on the UK amateur Latin Ballroom scene – wore their hearts of their sleeves.
  They danced for the pure joy of it, with all the heat of lovers, leaving nothing unsaid, with romance, soul and drama. The 600 strong crowd gave their verdict - a spontaneous explosion of applause that got louder with every show.

    Salsa dancers voted with their feet. Ben and Lucy's workshops were packed with experienced salsa dancers, many of whom took their first, uncertain baby steps into the steamy, sensual world of ballroom rumba, cha cha cha, samba, tango and more. And they enjoyed every bit of it.
   I'd like to see this one grow and grow. There is a lot that salsa dancers can learn from ballroom - and vice versa.
   Now Pontins has opened the way for a successful fusion of the two worlds, I'd like to see structured mini courses on Latin ballroom dances, like cha cha cha and samba at the next event.
   Once salseros get into a dance, they get hooked - an integrated workshop programme would help to take our Latin American Ballroom to the next level - along with knock on benefits for us as salsa dancers.


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