Salsa in Spain
A few people had mentioned the Salsa in Spain holidays to me and when a
friend from Liverpool said that she wanted to go, I decided to book my place.
I have to say straight out that it was nothing like I expected, but that's not
a bad thing. I had this idea that we would be on the outskirts of Barcelona
and the days would consist of eating tapas, drinking wine, seeing the sights
with a bit of Salsa thrown in. As it turned out, we were at a beach resort
about an hour's drive from Barcelona and it was Salsa all day, followed by
salsa all night. The week turned out to be my most intensive Salsa experience
and one of the best.
In case you can't be bothered to read this whole article, I'll just say briefly
why I thought it was a great holiday and why you should book a place on the
next one! Quite simply, it was as if someone had asked me what would make a
good Salsa event and had then planned that exact event. My main problem with
most Salsa events is that they try to cram too much in (competitions, displays,
fashion shows, whatever). Well, the Salsa in Spain trip got it just right.
There was one lesson a day (normally from 11 to 1), then music was played until
around 6 or 7. This meant that you could dance all day, chill out, chat with
people or do anything else you wanted. The music played was excellent, being
mostly Salsa with Hip-Hop, R&B and Reggae mixed in as the day went on. The
sunshine and sea also played a large part in all this. If you've been to
Pontins weekenders, then I'd make this comparison. My favourite part at
Pontins is the gaps between lessons, where people just dance with each other
(possibly trying out moves they've just learned, swapping moves or just
dancing). Well, the Salsa in Spain holiday was like that from 1 in the
afternoon until 6 or 7 in the evening, but sitting by the sea, in glorious
sunshine (most of the time), with a cold drink in your hand.
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Of course, no holiday is perfect, so I'll also say what I didn't enjoy about
the Salsa in Spain holiday. The basic problem arose from my late booking,
which meant that we were in an 'overflow' hotel, across the road from the
main hotel. As a result, we couldn't mix as easily with everybody else
on the holiday and we felt we were missing out on some of the social element
of the trip. The other problem was that our food (we were paying for half
board) was extremely bland and on some occasions, we couldn't eat any of it.
To get back to the positive, the thing that really made the holiday was the way
that everyone mixed. Everyone was really friendly and I got to know a load of
people who I'd seen at loads of Salsa clubs, but never really talked to. Every
conversation on the first day seemed to start with "which club do I know you
from?" It all meant that there was a great vibe on the holiday.
One other bonus became apparent when I got back home. When I went out dancing
a few days after I got back, quite a few people commented on the improvement
in my dancing. So, not only did I have a fantastic week's holiday, but my
eligibility as a dance partner also went right up.
The Staff
The staff on the holiday were excellent, keeping things running smoothly,
listening to what people were saying and (more importantly) acting on it and
delivering excellent tuition. They also liked to party and many could be found
in the clubs almost until the last track, despite having to be up to teach the
next morning.
Michael
Michael is the founder of Eagle Activity Tours and was like a calming presence
behind the holiday. He always seemed to be on hand to solve problems, but
kept himself in the background. He isn't really a Salsa dancer, but has a
dance background. In fact, when I saw him do some Jazz dance moves, he really
blew me away.
Luana
Luana is a dance teacher from Casa Latina in Leeds and was involved
mainly in the organisation side of things, although she also helped out with
the classes. She is a great dancer, but unfortunately I didn't get to dance
with her very often, since she was usually off sorting out some problem
somewhere.
Nicolai
Nicolai is a Salsa teacher well-known across the UK. He was teaching on this
holiday and was also responsible for the clubbing parts of the holiday. He
has great style when he's dancing, although it was often difficult to get near
him because of all the women queuing up to dance with him.
Alan
Alan was another of the Latin Quarter teachers on this holiday and was the man
who always seemed to be at the heart of any fun which was going on.
Ces
Ces is also part of the Latin Quarter, a great dancer and a really nice guy.
He was the quiet, understated member of the team (except when he got on stage
with a mic in his hand).
Susanna Montero
Susanna has to be one of the best Salseras in the UK. I'll just quote the
holiday brochure, which says it all: She is sexy, ravenous, sassy and one
cool dancer who encapsulates all that Salsa represents.
Super Mario
Mario is known as the 'million moves man' and seemed to deliver loads of them
in his lessons. This was his first Salsa in Spain holiday, and he fitted in
perfectly, with his friendliness and laid-back approach.
Helen
Helen was teaching alongside Nicolai on the holiday. She's a great dancer
and promoter in her own right. Seeing Helen and Nicolai dancing together
is a real treat.
René
René is an amazing dancer from Leeds and is part of the dance team
Las Chicas Calientes. She had incredible energy on the holiday, staying
in the clubs until 5 or 6 in the morning and then getting up again after a
few hours sleep to help Susanna with her lessons.
The Timetable
To put the holiday in context, I'm including the week's timetable here. As
you can see, it doesn't look like much is happening during the day However,
at every point where there's no scheduled activity, music was being played and
people were dancing. This meant that you were often dancing for 4 or 5 hours
during the day (with a similar amount of dancing in a club in the evening).
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Saturday 14th |
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22:30-late |
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Arrivals |
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Arrivals |
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Arrivals |
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Habana Club |
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Sunday 15th |
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10:30 |
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12:00 - 14:00 |
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15:00 - 17:00 |
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22:00 - 2:00 |
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Introduction |
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Lunch at Hotel |
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Workshops |
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Dinner at Casa Nova |
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Monday 16th |
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11:00 - 13:00 |
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15:00 - 16:00 |
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22:30-late |
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Workshops |
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Free time |
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Optional class |
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Habana Club |
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Tuesday 17th |
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11:00 - 13:00 |
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22:30-late |
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Workshops |
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Free time |
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Free time |
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Antilla Club |
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Wednesday 18th |
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12:00 |
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18:00 |
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22:30-late |
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Barcelona |
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Coach departs |
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Coach returns |
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Noche Latina at Tahiti |
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Thursday 19th |
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11:00 - 13:00 |
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15:00 - 16:00 |
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22:30-late |
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Workshops |
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Free time |
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Optional class |
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Buena Vista Club |
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Friday 20th |
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11:00 - 13:00 |
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15:00 - 16:00 |
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22:30-late |
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Workshops |
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Free time |
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Optional class |
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Farewell at Casa Nova |
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Saturday 21st |
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Departures |
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Departures |
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Departures |
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Departures |
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Saturday 14th
It was an easy trip for me, being based in Liverpool, because I could just get
an easyJet flight from Liverpool Airport (10 minutes from my house) to
Barcelona. Foolishly, I'd let this ease of travel lull me into a false sense
of security, where I thought it would be a good idea to get into the holiday
mood by going out dancing on Friday night. So, I arrived at the airport after
far too few hours sleep. As it turned out, it was almost as if the holiday
started at the airport. In addition to the Liverpool crew (myself, Dorothy
and Mandy), I recognised Salseros from Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester.
When we arrived in Barcelona, the first problem was to find the person
meeting us at the airport. As it turned out, I recognised Luana, who I'd
seen at Casa Latina. Even if I hadn't recognised her, the Salsa in
Spain t-shirt she was wearing also gave me a small clue. Luana took us to
our coach, where we waited for a while for another plane load of Salseros, then
we drove to the Santa Susana resort (about an hour away).
After eating and freshening up, it was time to visit our first club. The plan
was to meet in the main hotel at 10:00 and walk down to the club. As it turned
out, this was 10:00 Salsa time. This wasn't a bad thing, since it meant
there was plenty of time to say "Hi" to people you already knew and to introduce
yourself to everybody else. Eventually we got to our local club, Habana, and
were ready to start dancing ...
... apart from the fact that nobody wanted to be the first onto the dance floor!
Eventually some brave couples started things off and the Salsa holiday started
in earnest. The music seemed to be mostly Cuban (I guess the name of the club
had hinted at that), with the odd Merengue and Bachata thrown in. I had a
great evening, dancing with my friends and dancing with new partners. I even
got my first dance with a local Salsera. I eventually left at around 5am
(leaving behind some people from our group who were still partying).
Sunday 15th
Amazingly, I was up for breakfast on Sunday morning (although this habit faded
very quickly) and made it to the 10:30 welcome meeting, where we were
introduced to the instructors, given some information about the area and told
generally what the week had in store for us. We were also given the
opportunity to buy some CDs and some Salsa in Spain t-shirts. Now,
without meaning to disrespect anybody, I have to say that the t-shirts weren't
the most stylish articles of clothing I've ever seen! Perhaps next time a more
stylish, more subtle design could be produced?
The introductory meeting was also where you decided which of the four levels
of workshops you fitted. This was done simply on your decision (you said
how good you were), which seemed to work reasonably well. I personally
found it difficult to do this, since I didn't know a lot of the other dancers
and didn't know how I stacked up against them. As I said though, it all
seemed to work out okay.
After lunch we got our first lesson. My group got Super-Mario, who wasted no
time in getting us tied into knots in one of his trademarked twisty-armed,
dislocated-shoulder moves. It was a great start, because you got a load of
moves in a short period of time. Mario is an excellent teacher who totally
understands the technical side of what he's teaching, but manages to present
it in a fun way.
When the lesson finished, Mario carried on playing Salsa and people carried
on dancing. Gradually, people from the other lessons arrived (our group's
lesson was on the beach outside the main hotel) and we started showing each
other the moves we'd learned. This set the tone for the whole week, with
everyone mixing with everybody else.
That evening, we went for the welcome dinner at a local restaurant, called
Casa Nova. We basically took over the restaurant, filling all the tables
and setting up our own sound system. We then moved on to Habana, where we
danced until 5am again.
Monday 16th
I woke up at 1pm ... obviously the late nights were taking their toll! I
went across to the main hotel, met up with my friends for lunch and then
spent the rest of the day dancing, chatting and chilling. Susanna took
the optional class in the afternoon, teaching some styling. I sat that one
out, then carried on dancing for a while.
In the evening, it was back to Habana. In addition to the usual great music
and dancing, a Brasilian show was laid on with a Samba display and a Capoeira
display. For those of you who haven't seen Capoeira, it's incredible to watch.
It's a martial art, developed by African slaves in Brasil and disguised as a
dance. As well as jumping, spinning kicks, there are all sorts of acrobatic
moves like backflips and handstands. It was an amazing display.
Tuesday 17th
Tuesday was our first evening out in Barcelona. We were taken by coach to
a club called Antilla, where we were promised an evening of dancing
together with performances by a Cuban band. When we got into the club, there
were a few couples dancing rueda. Apart from them and the DJ, the place was
pretty empty.
Not long after we arrived, the guy who was calling the rueda started organising
people into lines and started leading bunches of shines. In fact, all through
the evening (particularly when the band was playing), he'd start off some
shines and it wouldn't take long before a load of people were following him.
Next, he started off another session of rueda, this time including the more
adventurous of our group (I remember seeing Helen and Nicolai in there and
a couple of dancers from Edinburgh). It looked like a lot of fun, but a
bit tricky for someone like me with only a few rueda moves under their belt.
The club was now starting to fill up a bit, but our group was still in the
majority. I guess this was to do with it being a Tuesday night. The dance
floor was pretty full though, with the music seeming to be mainly Cuban style
Salsa.
The band was excellent and they dragged up a number of people to dance on
stage with them during one number. This included René from our group
and Bill, to celebrate his birthday.
Towards the end of our evening, Susanna was told that she was needed on the
dance floor to translate something into Spanish. She came rushing out, only
to find the dance floor empty, with everybody standing around in a big circle.
Before she could make her escape, we were told that it was her birthday and
so she was going to dance with as many men as possible during one track.
The high point was when two members of the band made their way into the centre
and did some really neat footwork, in total synchronisation! After that,
Susanna's partner, Tony, was dragged into the circle since it was also his
birthday and was made to dance with as many women as possible (including
Mario).
Not long after, just as I was really starting to enjoy myself, we were told
it was time to leave and we all had to get back on the coach to go back to our
hotels.
Wednesday 18th
Wednesday was our day out in Barcelona. We were picked up at noon and taken
by coach into Barcelona for a day of culture. A group of five of us hooked
up and decided on a plan of action. We had already ruled out doing a mad
sightseeing trip and thought we would first address our immediate need ...
food ... and then decide on some choice sights to visit.
We started off by going down Ramblas looking for banks to cash
travellers cheques and also for tapas bars. We were partially successful
with the banks, and then found a tapas bar and sat down to order food and
wine and to decide what to do next.
After many plates of food, a couple of bottles of wine and much gossip, we
emerged with no more idea about what to do. Someone said it was nice down
at the harbour and we decided to wander down there. After looking at some
very expensive boats we decided that the best way to do the harbour justice
was to find a bar that sold Irish coffees.
With that mission accomplished, we realised that it wasn't long until we were
due to be picked up by the coach again, so we hurried back to the pick-up
point, where we met the rest of our group, all fresh from their cultural
experiences. I have to say that this was the day that had felt most like
being on holiday and was most enjoyable, despite completely failing to see
anything by Gaudi!!
The evening event was a party at a local hotel called Tahiti. This
(obviously) involved Salsa, but was also to include a number of "special"
events, which the organisers went to great pains to keep secret.
The first event was a panel discussion, where a panel of Salsa experts made
pronouncements on burning issues. I have to say that this fell a little
flat. Part of the problem was (as far as I was concerned) that I initially
thought it was meant to be a comedy item. By the time I realised it was
serious (and they were asking for questions from the audience), I think it
was too late to recover it. Perhaps, if they want to do this again, they
should think about announcing it ahead of time and obtain the questions
in advance.
Another event during the evening was a Singled Out spot (I hope that
MTV's lawyers aren't reading this). For those not familiar with the idea,
one person is the "picker" and all the people of the opposite sex stand in
a big bunch. The picker is then asked an X or Y type of question
(tall or short, fat or thin) and the people who don't match their preference
have then "got to go". Pretty quickly, this leaves one person who is then
introduced to the picker. In the case of the female picker, the man who
was left was Delroy, a friend of Michael's. He then treated us to a pretty
amazing display of Jazz dancing.
The highlight of the evening, for many, was the Salsa dance display which
consisted of a number of men dressed as women, dancing with a number of
women who were dressed as men. The image that sticks in many people's mind
(and which is still being talked about after the holiday is over), is that
of Nicolai in a dress. In fact, it made such an impression on the night,
that it got a special mention by Delroy, when he was freestyling at the end
of the evening.
Thursday 19th
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Susanna says ...
In her lesson, in addition to teaching shines and moves, Susanna took some time
to discuss how to interpret a Salsa track. This was an excellent idea and one
which I hope is repeated elsewhere. She was saying that it's no use being
able to do hundreds of moves if you don't know how to make them look good in
the track that you're dancing to. She then played a track (Sube by
Eddie Palmieri, I think it was) and discussed how the music changed
throughout the track and how the way you'd dance should change too. Then she
got people to dance to that track, to put the ideas into practice.
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Thursday was the first (and in fact the only) time, I managed to get to an 11am
workshop. This was one of Susanna's workshops. Obviously I'd seen her dance
and do displays, but I'd never seen her teach. She's a great teacher, who
didn't just teach moves, but also talked a lot about style.
After Susanna's lesson, the day progressed pretty much as usual, with music
being played all afternoon and people dancing. At one point, an impromptu
rueda session sprung up (driven by a couple of people from Edinburgh) and
involving about a dozen of us. The other thing which happened was an optional
class, showing a variety of drops. That's not really my thing, so I sat it
out, but it looked really interesting. Straight after the lesson, Susanna and
Tony had to leave for the UK, so a load of goodbyes were said (like leaving a
normal Salsa club, but taking about ten times as long).
In the evening, we went to our second Barcelona club, a place called Buena
Vista. Again, the emphasis was on Cuban style Salsa, with a bit of Timba
thrown into the mix. This seemed to be a bigger club than Antilla and I had
a really great evening (although again, we had to leave too early).
The bloke who was leading the dancing in Antilla was there, so it was good
to see a face we knew. At one point, he was calling a rueda and Helen came
over to me, grabbed me and next thing I knew, I was in the rueda. I could
cope with dame and enchufla (and even enchufla doble).
Unfortunately, for anything else all I could do was make sure that I was in
the right place at the right time! I did have loads of fun though.
Friday 20th
By the time Friday rolled round, I'd exhausted all my reserves of energy
and spent a large part of the day dozing (in chairs on the beach, on the
steps of the hotel and anywhere else I could find). I did see part of the
optional lesson, which was a rueda lesson. It was interesting to see all the
different names people had for the same moves!
The evening saw us going back to Casa Nova, for the farewell dinner. This
was really nice, since loads of people had really bonded over the week and
a few people got up to share some of their thoughts. One guy explained how
he'd come on the holiday by himself, but quickly found loads of people being
really friendly to him.
We then went on to Habana for our last visit of the week. You could see how
much the week had taken out of people, since the energy levels were definitely
on the low side. However, it was still a great evening, with many more local
dancers there than I'd seen during the week.
I stayed until I could barely move and left at around 4:30. One of the Leeds
crowd who left at the same time had an early morning flight. Her plan was to
just go back to the hotel, pack, shower and then leave for the airport.
I couldn't decide whether that was a really sensible thing to do or really
foolish.
Saturday 21st
Saturday was "going home" day and was spent saying goodbye to everyone and the
organisers driving everyone to Barcelona Airport in time for their flights.
This must have been a really long day for them, considering that the earliest
flights were around 6am and the latest were at 11pm.
The holiday spirit kept going all the way home, since many people were on
the same flight as us back to Liverpool and the wait for the plane was passed
by chatting to people from the holiday (actually going on longer than planned
due to the plane being delayed for two hours).
Final goodbyes were said in the taxi rank at Liverpool airport as everybody
made their way home (ready for a week's recovery after the holiday).
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The Next Eagle Activity / Latin Quarter Salsa in Spain Holiday
19th - 26th May 2001
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Useful Addresses
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Eagle Activity Tours
6 Wellhouse Crescent,
Leeds
LS8 4BT
| Phone: | 0113 217 0588 |
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E-mail: mike@eatours1.fsnet.co.uk
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The Latin Quarter
19 Roxholme Grove,
Leeds
LS7 4JJ
| Phone: | Nicolai - 0113 239 2586 |
| | Alan - 0973 346641 |
| | Ces - 07855 026250 |
E-mail: latinquarter@cwcom.net
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Antilla
Calle Aragon, 141
Barcelona
Phone: 93 451 2151
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Habana
Paseo Maritimo
Centro Comercial
Santa Susana
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Buena Vista
Calle Rosellon, 217
Barcelona
Phone: 93 237 6528
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