Christmas in Cali, Colombia

This year, we are lucky to have the opportunity to visit one of the most spectacular events on the Latin American continent or possibly the entire World. La Feria de Cali is Colombia's biggest celebration of the region's cultural identity. 

Between Christmas and New Year, the 67th La Feria will host the most famous Salsa musicians in the World, including Willie Colón, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Oscar D'León, Víctor Manuelle, El Gran Combo, and Grupo Niche.

Four-week "Improve Your Dancing" Course

We have exciting news!

Monika and I have finally acquired an appropriate space in Edinburgh city centre for a four-week dancing course aimed at dancers of all levels. The course starts on the 5th of November, 2023, for four consecutive Sundays, at 6 p.m.

With over ten years of experience in social dancing, teaching and performing, we can provide the necessary guidance to improve your skills or take them to the next level.

Alba Flamenca is relatively small, but it has a great dance floor and excellent mirrors. There will be limited availability due to the venue's size. We would also like to keep the class small enough to cater for everyone's needs equally and fairly.

Beginners, Improvers, and Intermediate-level dancers will come together in this course for the first time intentionally. We designed our course this way because all these levels require dancers to adhere to the same principles, although at different depths. We will gather information from our attendees before the course starts to determine the convergence points between all topics presented and prepare the appropriate course materials for each class. You can pick an area you would like to improve, and we will ensure you receive the guidance you need.

You can attend in one of two ways:

1. Sign up for the entire course and benefit from four hours (one hour per week) of dedicated instructions to work on your chosen area. In this case, attendees receive a 30% discount, so the price is £20.
2. Sign up for one-hour classes, and we will guide you to find the answers to your questions. This option will cost £7 each.

In both cases, we will ask you to complete a very short questionnaire before the course starts so we can take time to understand what everyone wants to work on. This way, we can prepare the lessons optimally for everyone's benefit. You can sign up and fill out the questionnaire until the 3rd of November.

I'd like to Register Now Applications are now closed. If you need information about other courses we might teach, please follow our Facebook page.

Héctor Lavoe

Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, a.k.a Héctor Lavoe was born in Puerto Rico just after the end of WWII. He studied musical arts here before he moved to New York at age sixteen. His talent as a singer got recognised quickly, and he sang with some well-known bands, including one by Johnny Pacheco, before he signed up with Willie Colón's band as a vocalist a few years later. His fame only indeed materialised when he decided to start his own band and recorded many famous hit songs, such as "El Cantante", "Periódico De Ayer", "El Día De Mi Suerte", and many more. 

Photo: rpp.pe

His stage name Lavoe comes from "La Voz" ("The Voice"), which his manager made him adopt. His stage name was well deserved as many regarded him as one of the best Salsa singers of all time due to his unique, clear voice, impeccable diction, and charismatic stage presence.

Towards the late 70s, Lavoe was battling with drug addiction, which period of his life was turned into one of the best movies made about this piece of Salsa history, called "El Cantante", featuring Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez as Hector and his wife, Nilda. The movie tells his story till his death in 1993 at age 46.

The movie trailer:

Anita Santos Rubin

Anita Santos Rubin is a six times world salsa champion, one of the most recognisable and respected female dancers today. 

Like many dancers of similar standing, she trained in various styles of ballet, which has likely affected her becoming one of the most graceful and expressive dancers of our time.

She was born in Brazil to a humble family but won a scholarship to prestigious school in London at a young age. She later settled in Spain, where she operates her dancing school called U!Dance in Barcelona. Anita also provides live classes worldwide online using her website anitasantosrubin.com, where you can sign up for as little as 50 Euros per month to learn from the best of the best!

Check out one of my favourites of her performances that I was fortunate enough to witness myself at the Teeside Salsa Festival in 2015.

Tito Rodríguez

Pablo Rodríguez Lozada a.k.a "El Inolvidable", is another iconic Puerto Rican musician on our list. He moved to New York during WWII with his brother Johnny and quickly established himself in the developing Latin Music scene as brilliant percussionist and singer.

Photo latinjazznet.com

A few years later Tito Rodriguez organised his own band, the Los Diablos Del Mambo but later changed it to just Tito Rodriguez Orchestra. His first hit, "Bésame La Bembita" was released amids the Mambo and ChaChaChá and earned him honours for developing his unique style of singing. Over the years, Tito and his orchestra played in the famous Palladium Ballroom, alongside Machito and Tito Puente.

Hi extensive discography overarches many different styles of Latin music, but some of them are still very popular and can be heard at Salsa events around the world:

El Agua De Belén

Celoso

Estoy Como Nunca

Bilongo

... and many others!