If the closest you’ve come to trying salsa is sampling a new brand of dip with your tortilla chips, then you might not be familiar with the benefits of salsa dancing. We sent our brave but inexperienced reviewer Peter Suksakorn along to a salsa course at Morley College to learn some vibrant, energetic moves in an attempt to get his toes tapping…

Name: Peter Suksakorn
Course: Salsa Dancing
Venue: Morley College
When is it? Saturday, 11am-12pm

When the opportunity came along to sample some salsa, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to test out my rhythm and quash the rumours that I have two left feet once and for all. Morley College, based in Lambeth, offered me the chance to try their 10-week beginners’ class on Saturday mornings, so I went along with a friend who was also keen to show off their footwork.
 
The classes take place on a Saturday morning between 11am-12pm and are for adults only. Surprisingly, not many of the attendees were local – they had travelled from all over London. On arrival, we were taken to the dance room and the first thing I noticed was that there were more women than men in the class. The class consisted of 15 people, of varying ages, and this seemed to be a good size for one tutor. Any more and you may not have got one-on-one attention. The dance room had a mirrored wall so you could see what you were doing and scrutinise your novice moves as you practised.

Basic steps
Like any class we started with the basics of salsa that consisted of learning the all-important mamba steps and the rhythmic count to find the salsa beat. Salsa timing is made up of eight beats, but you only step on beats one-three and five-seven. I learned to count this beat in my head as I danced, so that I didn’t get out of time with the other class members. After learning a few more steps, we started a tentative routine and began to incorporate new steps as we learned them.  
Our tutor Beverly was lovely and showed a lot of patience with all of us. She has over 12 years of teaching salsa and her enthusiasm oozed out of her voice and her dance moves. Beverly kept a steady pace that allowed us to pick the moves up, yet at the same time we weren’t doing too much repetition of the same steps throughout the class. This kept our attention and momentum going and in no time I was twirling my other students around and feeling quite proud of myself. It looked quite impressive for a mere beginner like me.

Smooth moves
As we went along to more classes, our confidence grew and soon we were being made to pair up with each other. As there were five men, Beverly made the women line up so that each woman would get to dance with each man. For me this was the turning point of the class, as it changed the dynamic of how we danced as well as adding an extra level of concentration – as you didn’t want to be the one that messed up.
Beverly explained that, in salsa, the man takes the lead and the woman has to wait for his signal to make the move, so not only did I have to keep my count going, I also had to think of when to make the move and avoid her toes! As the class progressed, we started to get to know each other and form a bond, and it didn’t feel like we were a bunch of strangers. After the fifth week our confidence levels had soared and I was starting to think the contestants on Strictly Come Dancing might have a challenge on their hands!

Dance vision
It’s fair to say that Morley College is embracing a number of popular dances from across the globe. The dance classes on offer include ballroom, ballet, tango, Bollywood and street dance. I was impressed by the list and after speaking with the head of the dance department, it was plain to see that Morley has a clear vision of how they want the dance department to grow and develop. The lessons work out at under £5 per session if you break it down – really good value I thought. Would I go back to do more classes? Am I brave enough? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes; it was loads of fun and I discovered that it was fantastic exercise too. I’m now in touch with my inner rhythm and I’m sure I could give those dancers on Strictly a run for their money…

Meet the Tutor: Beverley Daniels
Bev has being teaching beginners’ salsa at Morley College since 2004, but her career began back in 2000 at Bar Latina and then later at Salsateca, the top salsa school in the UK, where she still teaches today. She has always been passionate about dance and has danced all her life, but only took up professional training in dance when she joined the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme in jazz dance at the age of 15. Bev’s passion for salsa began when she herself took a beginners’ class. From there she started to teach and, through Morley, has completed her PGCE so she can translate that passion into fun, effective classes for her students. Bev explains: ‘I believe that students should be taught to dance rhythmically and in tune with the music. I believe that dancing comes from the inside out.’