Un Poco Loco; Salsa at Chauffeurs Nightclub
In September 1998, Chauffeurs nightclub in Liverpool closed down, meaning the
end of their regular Latin nights, known as Poco Loco. Latin nights
regularly close down, so what is so special about Poco Loco? Well, it was
the first Latin club in Liverpool. Many, many people who dance Salsa in
Liverpool have danced there (and a large proportion of those learned to dance
there) and just about every current Latin club in Liverpool is run by someone
who has had some association with Poco Loco at some time. However, for me
personally, the thing about Poco Loco is that it is the place I first heard
Latin music and the place where I learned to dance Salsa.
It all began for me with some friends, Jennie, Andy and Steve. They are the
sort of people who try a new activity every week. They'd ring me from time to
time to ask if we wanted to try windsurfing or horse riding or some other
exotic activity. One Wednesday, we got a phone call from them saying that
they'd heard about this club which had Latin American dancing and did we want
to go there the next day. Well, we couldn't go with them that Thursday and I
was quite relieved. I had visions of fake tans, fixed smiles and sequins. The
next time we saw them though, they said what a good time they'd had and did we
fancy going with them the next week. We said yes and went along, together with
our preconceptions
As you can guess from the fact that I'm running these Salsa web pages, we had
a really great time. The music wasn't the cheesy ballroom Latin music I was
expecting, it was jazzy and rhythmic. The people weren't stuffy as I thought
they'd be, but were just normal people. All in all, I had a great time and
I've been dancing Salsa ever since.
At that time, Chauffeurs was a really great place to dance. Poco Loco took
place in the basement of Chauffeurs, which had a really great wooden dance
floor (albeit in a dingy room). It was full of dancers and always got really
hot, with a great atmosphere.
Even though it has closed, the Salsa scene in Liverpool can be traced back to
Poco Loco: Juanito, who DJs at Bar Buro is the original DJ from Poco Loco;
Jose Cardoso, who teaches and DJs at Club Latino was the last DJ and teacher
at Poco Loco; Nigel, who runs El Puerto, learned to dance at Poco Loco and
taught there with Jose; and Roger who runs Carnival at Cream and DJ's in the
Voodoo Lounge used to DJ at Poco Loco.
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