Salsa, Latin-American
& Ballroom Dance
Lessons in London

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  Salsa Music Is Popular

  Salsa music is increasingly used in a number of films, TV programs & commercials as well as growing in popularity generally. Popular musicians include salsa music amongst their repertoire such as Michael Jackson’s "You Rock My World", Sting’s "Fragile" and Cold Play’s "Clocks" to name a few. Salsa music varies across the world and new clubs are starting up all over the place every month. Click on the "Salsa Music Clips" link to hear free samples.
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  Dance styles develop from particular types of music

  For example Mambo was originally a Cuban dance, but in New York, it is now a totally different dance which has become very popular across Europe in the last 10 years or so. The most common styles in London are now L.A. (also known as New York On1) and the original Cuban, but there are a few who prefer the Miami or Colombian styles whilst New York style is rapidly growing in popularity. Click on the "Salsa Video Clips" link to find out more.
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  What About Ballroom & Latin-American Dances?

  There are quite a few dances which seem to be returning to fashion again thanks to dance programs on the television such as "Strictly Come Dancing" etc. BestSalsa will concentrate primarily on teaching moves which can be used on the social dance floor rather than choreographed moves which would be unuseable with anyone other than a regular partner.
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  Learning to dance Cha-cha-cha will help you improve your salsa styling & timing

  The music is a little slower & will therefore help enable you to learn New York Style Mambo which is becoming increasingly popular amongst many salseros & salseras - especially those planning to become professional salsa dancers. If you are not sure what Cha-cha-cha is, then why not check out our "Cha-cha-cha" page? There are video clips showing how to dance, along with examples of what is good, what is great as well as the not so good.
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  Individual Lessons

  The advantages of individual lessons (or private lessons as they were once known as) are that they are tailor made to suit you. You can learn whatever you want to learn at your own pace in the style & level of your choice rather than take the risk of wasting time. This is particularly useful if your time is valuable. Some people feel too shy to go to group classes until they feel reasonably competent.
  
  Barry Gordon is often available for individual lessons in any of the dances listed on the "Dances Available" page.
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  Salsa Dancing Is Popular

  Salsa dancing has become a particularly popular partner dance and is still growing across the UK and the rest of the world at enormous speed. Salsa dancing is now commonly included nowadays amongst traditional Latin American Dancing and is becomingly increasingly popular over the last few years. There is a lot of freedom to freestyle & include one’s personal styling rather than copy a rigid set of instructions as in Ballroom dancing. Hence some people become competent in salsa dancing relatively quickly.

About Barry Gordon

Barry was filmed dancing with "Diversity" for the new TV show - "Got To Dance" which was screened in January 2010 on Sky 1. See video clip below right. He was posing as a security guard on the left.

Barry began teaching weekly Ballroom & Latin-American classes in Central London on 5th September 2008 & has been teaching weekly in Balham since September 2009.

Barry was one of the judges at the UK World Salsa Championships (July 2008) in Kings Cross.

Barry danced Cha-cha-cha in Regent’s Park in the film "Joe’s Palace" produced & directed by Stephen Poliakoff starring Sir Michael Gambon. It was first screened on 4th November 2007 on BBC1.

Barry’s Salsa dance style varies according to the music and the ability and preference of his partner. He love all styles, - Cuban, L.A., New York & Cali (Colombian) styles too. From a Ballroom background in his childhood, he is a very technical dancer and can break down & explain each and every aspect of every move in whatever dance that he teaches and can translate moves from 1 dance / style to another.

This aspect of his dancing has made his dance classes more focused on club style (social) dancing rather than performing in shows & choreography, although this can equally be used in performance work too. Some people learn to perform before they can competently dance socially, We don’t believe that helps them to become good dancers.

Barry has been teaching Salsa in the City of London weekly since September 2005.

Barry qualified as an Associate Member of the UK Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dance (UKA) in June 2004 and taught Salsa in Redbridge from September to December 2004. (Click Here To View Certificate)

Barry was nicknamed "Boogaloo" after demonstrating it to a well-known Salsa teacher / performer in 2002.

Barry has been a finalist in several Salsa competitions. He won 1st place at the International Salsa festival 1998 at the Brittania Hotel Docklands, tied 1st place at the Scala @ Kings Cross, in 2002 and 1st place for the Roger Woor memorial cup 2004 for salsa. He was also a finalist in the 2002 UKA Merengue Championship and 2nd Runner up in the Rueda section of the Tropicana Tropics Open World Championship in 2002.

Amongst the salsa community, Barry was a pioneer in teaching Cha-cha-cha (On2) in 2002. Nowadays people are gradually becoming more aware and understanding the music better, but he is widely regarded by many as amongst the best Cha-cha-cha teachers / dancers in London’s salsa scene.

In November 2001, Barry went to Nashville, Tennessee, to learn American Country Western partner dances e.g. Twostep & Hustle & won first prize for Twostep - beating the Americans & Canadians there.

Barry first became addicted to salsa in 1997. He learnt to salsa with numerous salsa teachers, hence his style being so eclectic.

Barry first became interested in partner dancing as a child in 1970 & went to Rita Pover’s "East London Dance Academy" to study Old-time, Modern Ballroom, Latin-American, Modern Sequence, Tap, Hustle and a contemporary dance called "Slimma" which his teachers there choreographed. He continued with weekly private lessons & classes and eventually competed many times in the 1970’s - nearly always one of the top 6 finalists until He married his dance partner Christine who had been a Junior Open Scottish Old Time Champion. He has since forgotten many of the dance sequences that he then knew (about 60 - 70 dances), but he still knows about 30 - 40 dances including 4 of the 5 those listed on his medal test result sheet when he was still a teenager (click here to view results). He is available to teach the 30 dances listed here. He made his debut appearance on BBC Television in the mid-1970’s dancing the Minuet and Viennese Waltz in a documentary on the Royal Heritage.

Barry has been hired by & taught dance for the following to teach groups. -