Latin American

with Angela Horton

LATIN AMERICAN

Learn to dance:

Rumba
Cha-cha-cha
Salsa
Jive
Samba
Paso Doble

Salsa & Latin American courses are available for Absolute Beginners, Intermediate & Improvers.

The Absolute Beginners course is broken down as follows:

Weeks 1-5: Salsa & Cha-cha-cha
Weeks 6-10: Jive & Rumba
Weeks 11-15: Paso Doble & Party Samba

Intermediate and Improvers courses develop and further these routines to a higher standard and they are taught concurrently.

See Class dates and times page for more information

Pricing information:

Individual classes cost £5 unless stated otherwise. All members are required to commit for at least one 5 week block of classes per 15 week term at a price of £25 plus the £5 membership fee.
Members wanting to sign up for a complete term are offered a 25% discount on the cost of the full 15 weeks when paid in full in advance of term commencement. This fee is £61.25 (incl. membership fee).
These classes are NOT available on a weekly pay as you go basis.
2 hour classes (Fridays and Sundays) are equivalent of £8 per person or £45 for 5 lessons plus membership fee.
Members wanting to sign up for the entire term for these classes - £95 each.

An overview and history of some of the Latin American dances

The Cha Cha Cha

Cheeky and carefree, the Cha Cha Cha is a together dance - one to do with your friends as well as your partner. Not so intimate as the Tango or the Rumba, it is also one of the easiest dances to learn.

Beginners find its Latin rhythm easy to follow because the clearly marked beats can be counted out in time with the music making it a perennial favourite with social dancers throughout the world.

The dance is based on a chasse movement (three linked steps) which danced to coincide with the accented beats in each bar of the music. The name Cha Cha Cha is said to represent the sound made by the feet of the dancers on the floor when they dance this chasse.

Cha Cha Cha music, which originated in Cuba, has a strong compelling, easy recognised rhythm that can be counted comfortably as "one, two, three, four and one, two, three, four and one" etc. The beats that occur on the count of four and one are accented and may be spelled out as Cha Cha Cha. The best tempo for the music is 30 bars per minute, The strongest musical accent occurs on the first beat of each bar.

The Cha Cha Cha consists of the some twenty basic figures and innumerable variations developed from these basic figures. However newcomers to the dance will soon attract the attention of their friends if they can dance well the four basic figures that are demonstrated in our classes, along with the preparatory step, which must be used to start the dance in correct time with the music.