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London Salsa Scene News                    Thursday 7th May 2009

Elder Sanchez Launches UKA
Salsa Teachers Training Course

ELDER SANCHEZ – founder of the UK's Salsateca Dance School and one of the world's foremost authorities on salsa – launched a new UKA salsa teachers' training course at Dance Attic Studios, 368 North End Road, Fulham SW6 on Saturday 16th - Sunday 17th May.

LEE WRIGHT - Obituary                  Monday, 10th November 2008

Lee Wright, the Shy Young Man who Became an International Salsa Star

OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS are with the family and friends of Lee Wright, one of the best loved people on the international salsa scene, who has died in a car crash in Spain.
       Lee Wright was not just one of our brightest dancing stars, he was a totally genuine and truely sweet natured young man. It is incredibly hard to take in that this young man, with all his youthful exuberance, his playful and fun loving nature, is no longer with us. Lee was a beautiful person, and no matter how many shows he did or how many classes he taught, he remained shy, sweet natured and utterly unassuming and modest. While his dancing ability goes without saying, it was these personal qualities that won him so many friends both in the UK and around the world.
       It is impossible to say Lee's name without mentioning his dance partner, Shelley.
It was and is impossible to separate them - Lee and Shelley were simply an item, they went together like jam and doughnuts, banana and splits. It was this same sweet, fun loving, youthful and determined attitude that made them so popular.
       It is incredibly sad that we have lost the Lee we knew and the Lee that was to come. Lee - and Lee and Shelley as a partnership - had so much more to be, to express and experience. It is this loss of potential and the loss of fulfilment of a young life that strikes so hard. Lee was at the beginning, with so much promise, so much hope, and so much more to come.
       It is a measure of the impact of this young, shy and quite unassuming young man that we are all feeling his loss so keenly. Personally, I think he would be surprised, as he didn't take himself that seriously. Lee was always ready to laugh and muck about - as anyone who saw Lee and Shelley made up as smurfs doing a dance showcase at Mambo City's Salsa Splash weekender recently would know. Right now, he'd be jollying us all along, trying to snap us out of it and trying to make us smile.
       Trouble is, young Lee, that's the reason we are all feeling your loss.
Lee Knights, London Salsa Scene, Monday 10th November 2008

London Salsa Scene - Corazón de la Salsa            by Elder Sanchez

There is a big lie going on on the salsa scene. The big lie is that people believe when they move their bodies, their feet and their hands, they're dancing - writes Salsateca founder and managing director Elder Sanchez (above).
      I think it's our mistake - I mean all of us as teachers – because we've taught people in Europe to dance using their feet and hands first before we've taught people how move their bodies. We've created movers not dancers who dance rhythmically to music.
      I've got nothing against New York style, but it requires a lot of big moves and takes a lot of space. People watch performers dancing on stage and they think these are the best dancers and they want to copy them. But it's not possible to reproduce this style on the social dance floor. You can't dance in the same way on the social dance floor. What performers do on a stage is rehearsed 100 times to get it right – you can't do that in social dancing and you can't use the space amount of space.
      The result is social dancers in Europe want big dance floors – but they aren't listening to the music when they dance. They move to the music, make moves they know to the music – but moving to music is not the same as dancing to music. This makes social dancing too technical, too mechanical. 
      This problem has created the problem of poor bar takings. People think they've got to learn everything 120 per cent and not make mistakes so they've got to be sober 120 per cent. These technical moves can't be reproduced if you drink. So nobody drinks, everybody drinks tap water and you need vast spaces to perform moves.
      This isn't salsa. Salsa is a social dance. It's about having fun. It's not about shows and competition. Salsa as a social dance for fun is not the same as salsa as performance or in a competition. These are totally different things. 
      Elder Sanchez, Founder and Managing Director Salsateca Dance School and pioneer of salsa in the UK.

LONDON SALSA SCENE NEWS - TO BE OR NOT TO BE QUALIFIED
Monday 19th January 2009

Salsa Moves Off the Street as Teachers Opt for Qualifications

TO BE OR NOT TO BE QUALIFIED, THAT IS THE QUESTION for salsa instructors now. Overnight, it seems everybody's taking or talking about taking a qualification. Post a comment on this topic on any salsa forum, and threads spiral on for days. A bevy of new salsa teachers' awards has come on stream, with more in the pipeline and teacher training courses are filling up fast, writes Lee Knights, editor,
www.londonsalsascene.co.uk

       Like most of my fellow salsa instructors, I've been teaching for years without a qualification. If the Government ever did get around a clamp down, the salsa community would be very exposed.
       I was in the market for a fast-track, intensive course tailored for experienced salsa dance instructors. I wanted fire-proofing and to open a door to teaching in the public sector. I opted for a new course, the International Dance Teachers' Association (IDTA) Salsa Instructors' Diploma with the Dance Mode/Salsa Naturally team.
       I was the first student to work with the teaching team and it turned out to be a more satisfying experience than I imagined. The course has a strong practical teacher training bias which worked for me. Now, I've got a qualification that gives recognition to years' of informal teaching. After years of living on the street, I've been accepted into polite society as a qualified dance teacher. Whatever hoops the Government decides to throw at me, I can sashay beautifully passed them, waving my piece of paper and a "highly commended" grading.
       But will flashing my bit of paper be enough save me from the big Government bogeyman whom – according to some on the salsa circuit – will be closing down UK salsa clubs manned by the unqualified come January 1st 2010?

Unlikely to be Sacked

Sean Williams, Director of the Council for Dance Education and Training (CDET) explained that the main target group was dance teachers working in the public sector with both children and adults. "Dance teachers who have been teaching for years in the public sector are unlikely to be sacked because they don't have Government recongised qualifications, allowances will be made." He went on: "So far, I've heard nothing that would indicate the DfE will move from the current implementation date of 2010."
       Currently, only the ISTD meets the criteria required to offer Government recognised courses for Salsa Dance Instructors. However, both the IDTA and the UKA are currently working towards the official status they need to get Government recognition for their awards.
       "Initially, I thought the Government would require privately run dance schools to comply with the recommendations. Now, I don't think it's going to happen, the Government has other priorities. My advice to dance teachers is to take a recognised qualification in case of changes in the future," Sean Williams concluded.
       
More on the IDTA Diploma for Salsa Instructors from Suzanne Mendonca
www.dancemode.co.uk on 0700 341 8771 and Ruth Ferguson, www.salsanaturally.com 078522 84259; contact the CDET at: www.cdet.org.uk on 0207 240 5703.