ifYOUwalkYOUcanDANCE …
Want to try Salsa dancing for the first time?
Are you an experienced salsa dancer interested in learning a new style?
Want to keep fit and meet new people?
Then our salsa dance classes are for you. No partner necessary, no dance experience necessary, guaranteed workout Salsa and bachata dance classes across central Scotland in Edinburgh and surrounding area
For information call: 07955820558
Fast Tube by Casper
More information about our classes:
About Alex el Gato: With his massive natural blonde afro hair once seen Alex ‘el gato’ certainly won’t be forgotten. Alex is a Dominican and International Dance Champion in Salsa and in Dominican Bachata. He is a fully qualified dance instructor with 20 years of experience as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. His classes are fun but you will learn how to dance! His style of salsa is a true latino mix just like himself. Alex has a broad dance background but his salsa is truly word class. Learning his craft in the various dance schools of Santo Domingo including the famous, Bellas Artes y Curtos and as part of the National Dance Group of Dominican Republic he went on to dance in the Dominican TV Show, “Sabado de Corporan”. He even appeared in a “Sex in the City” episode where he taught SJP some Salsa moves. Working for Dance Base in the 1990s he actually taught Prince Charles a move or two. However, it was on the streets of the Dominican capital, that he picked up his best salsa moves, competing in the salsa competitions of the colmados in the barrios of Santo Domingo. At the age of 8 he was cleaning shoes on the streets of Dominican capital and on one occasion he found himself cleaning the shoes of Puerto Rican star Tito Rojas, one of the world’s most famous salsa singers. Alex never does a job by half so Rojas came back several times to get “el rubio” to clean his shoes. Only a few years later he began to train as a dancer and he has never looked back. One of the highlights of his dancing career was when he danced as a backing dancer for Shakira on “Sabado de Corporan”. Alex (being Alex) then worked up the courage to ask her to dance after the TV show. Alex began dancing Dominican-style salsa on 2 and on the right foot and is famous for his footwork and shines. Having danced across Latin America, the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Europe he has now blended many different styles to give you his distinctive brand of free-Latin American salsa.
About Laura Tiguerona: Laura is Alex’s dance partner, trained by him in latin dance styles by since 2006. Her own dance background is in jazz, ballet, modern, hip-hop and gymnastics and she is a highly accomplished and fully qualified UKA dance-teacher with over a decade of experience in choreography, teaching and performing. Laura has taught thousands of people across Scotland how to dance starting with her own school dance group in Dunfermline High School at the tender age of 14. As Alex’s dance partner and assistant teacher over the past six years she has developed her salsa and bachata style. Laura has had the honour of developing her latin dance styles by working as a guest teacher in salsa and dominican bachata at Santo Domingo’s famous “Salsa en 21 horas” Dance School with Luis Mello and Laysa Fransisco. Laura, like Alex, dances purely for the love of dance. Laura’s favourite song in class for bachata. If you understand the words you will cry:
Recent achievements:
As a partnership since 2007 if you walk you can dance has gone from strength to strength.
In 2008 Alex and Laura danced in the “Esta noche hay party” Reggaeton video with Mome the Mo (Dominican Reggaeton singer) filmed on location in Andres, Boca Chica
They organised and ran a charity event for Haiti in 2010 raising £600 for Edinburgh Charity, Mercy Corps
They were auctioned and gave dance demonstrations in a charity event for Oxfam (at Nancy’s Bordello, Newcastle) raising over £1000 for Haiti in 2010
Alex reached the finals of Haddington’s charity “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2010 with his dance partner nurse and mother of three Lynne Darling
They choreographed and starred in the high energy Edinburgh Festival Latin Show of 2010 “Rumba” at Madogs on George Street
Alex also organises hen nights and party nights across Scotland
His dancers performed in the Dalkeith Gala and Bilston Gala in 2010
They have performed and acted as guest teachers/at various salsa events in Dominican Republic, The UK, The USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, and Germany.
They took part in the Televised “Strictly Get Dancing” Event for the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing” in October 2010
They danced for a “Brugal Pimped My City” promotion/ documentary in Edinburgh in October 2010
Started Edinburgh’s first Dominican-style Latin night -Ratata Ratata at Wash Bar every Sunday on the Mound
Guest dance teacher’s at The Edinburgh Corn Exchange, “Dance Extravaganza” event for Marie Curie in May 2011and Extravadanza Event October 28th 2011. They will also take part in the next event on April 27th 2012
Laura and Alex organised their first ZUMBATHON event in September 2011 to raise money for the James Gillepsie’s Development Centre in Durban South Africa
This is a video of Alex teaching:
Fast Tube by Casper
Some clips of our students dancing for fun:
Our classes in Free Latin American style salsa are characterised by a number of things: They are inclusive and friendly. You do not need a partner or any dancing experience, all ages and fitness levels are welcome, and they are for people of all shapes and sizes. Basic steps to beginners and improvers are taught on-1 (the first beat of the music) which means we feel the rythm of the drums. This is how most people in the UK dance. We break steps down and teach you to dance very clearly and slowly how to move your body, move your feet and feel the timing and rythm of the music. We teach routines in free-Latin American style as warm-ups. These help you to concentrate on footwork and style and also are a great work-out for everyone. There are different levels of routine for each level of class. We often take our classes to perform these routines (everyone from 16 years old to their 80s can perform) We teach you how to dance in a partner and how to lead and be led in a social context. In more advanced classes we teach more complex shines, dips, drops, complex combinations and turn patterns. We also show you how to adapt your style to interpret the music and how to dance on-2 in Dominican style. In all of our classes we also teach the Dominican Dance of Bachata which is becoming more popular than salsa world-wide. This dance style from the backstreets of the Dominican Republic was basically illegal in the Dominican and was not allowed to be played on the radio until the 1990s. It is now a world-wide phenomenon. Popularised by the group Aventura in the USA in recent years.
Our classes are for you if:
- You want to learn to dance
- You want to make new friends of all ages and backgrounds
- You want to improve your fitness
- You love Dominican people, Dominican music and the Dominican Republic
- You want to lose weight or tone-up
- You want to learn a new skill
- You want to improve your Spanish by immersing yourself in the music and culture
- You want to de-stress after a hard day
- You want to feel more confident or just get in the holiday mood
For details on our classes see our classes page
