Cuban Salsa Classes

29 September 2009
D' Meltin Pot
Chester’s vibrant salsa dancing scene has just got even better with the arrival of Banderas, the only salsa teacher in the city to actually come from Cuba, the home of salsa. Banderas is teaching beginners and intermediate level salsa at D’ Meltin’ Pot on Watergate Row on Tuesday evenings starting at 8.00pm, bringing a real taste of Cuba to the club.

Banderas teaches an authentic style of salsa – rueda de casino – which developed in the late 1950s and is still the most popular form of salsa in Cuba. Pairs of dancers form a circle, with dance moves called out by one person, the ‘caller’. Many moves involve the swapping of partners around the circle, all are done at speed and enjoyment is compulsory!

Banderas has been teaching salsa for 12 years, and has been in the UK since 2001. Whilst living in Cuba he was a student at “Danza Contemporanea of Cuba”, Havana’s premier dance school, and moved on to teaching after graduating from there. What makes his lessons different is the focus on body movement, not just fancy footwork. This starts with the warm up which isolates and loosens muscles and then the classes themselves teach a truly Cuban style of dance with all parts of the body moving with the dance and rhythm.

Cost: £3 for one class, £5 if taking both Tuesday classes. Log on to www.meltinpot.co.uk for more information or call into D' Meltin' Pot at 31 Watergate Row, Chester.