Hello everyone! Today we got some exciting news - Caramelo Latin Dance got selected as one of the Top 20 UK Dance Schools by TripAdvisor! We are very grateful and definitely super excited to be in the "Best Of" list, so if you are in London, you know where to go :-) We absolutely love TripAdvisor and always use it when planning our travel and holidays, it is a super helpful resource with a ton of useful information about various locations all around the globe and amazing options for hotels and holiday lettings as well!
It lovely to see more media covering dance, it's a fantastic way to stay active, be creative, meet like-minded people and have a lot of fun in the process. At Caramelo we strive to provide a high standard of teaching in a very warm and friendly environment. Our teaching team loves what they do and it really shows in their classes where they inspire and train both new students and old-time regulars every month. Social Latin dancing is a fabulous way to open your life to more creativity and fun! Whether you are a complete beginner or a more seasoned dancer looking for more intensive training and performance opportunities - we have courses for you!
The Caramelo team just returned from an amazing week at the Salsa Beach Splash Festival in Sibenik, Croatia where they had a fantastic time performing, dancing and partying together.
All three of our Caramelo student teams performed at the festival, the culmination of 12 weeks of hard work training with Caramelo's Shaan and Danie. The Pro team also performed with newest member Ovgu making her international debut. All the teams did an amazing job and we are very proud of them. One of the best things about being able to offer these opportunities to travel and perform at international events is the fun that we have travelling and spending time together, the week was jam-packed full of laughs and funny moments.
During the daytime we split our time between making the most of the gorgeous weather, relaxing by the beach and swimming in the sea and taking part in some challenging workshops with amazing and inspiring teachers including Franklin Diaz, Rodrigo & Selene, Shaan and Karel Flores. In the evenings we had some great dinners together, including one evening at the Dalmatian Village where we discovered Vinh belonged to a local band!
We partied hard at night with many of us dancing until sunrise. The music, great atmosphere and quality of dancers made it nearly impossible to go to bed, even when our feet were throbbing! We loved it when they opened up the sides of the tent and you could see the beach and sea right outside the dance floor, amazing to see the sun coming up while you are still rocking on the dance floor!
On Friday night the team travelled to Sibenik town where the Salsa and Cha Cha team performed in the town square to an audience of around 1000 people. Both teams did a fantastic job and made us very proud. The atmosphere was electric and definitely an experience not to be forgotten.
Sibenik's Historical Town Square
On stage performing Cha Cha Boogaloo
Salsa Student Team Perfoming
Teams on Stage at the end of the shows
Check out the live performance videos of the Salsa and Cha Cha Boogaloo Student teams below!
On Saturday Shaan with Danie had loads of fun teaching packed out classes in the main tent. Even though Cha Cha was the first class of the day it was full of people eager to learn. Who needs sleep anyway?! The classes were hot hot hot (and not just because of the weather!)
Saturday night was ladies night, with the Caramelo ladies student team and the pro ladies performing on stage. It was another fantastic night with great performances from both teams and brilliant support from the audience. What an honour to share the stage with the amazing Franklin Diaz and Rodrigo Cortazar, their show was incredible! After the shows we celebrated with some mojitos before heading to the salsa tent where DJ Shaan played an awesome set that kept everyone firmly on the floor, dancing their feet off!
Ladies Styling Student Team getting ready.....
.... and then giving a stellar performance on Stage!
Caramelo Pro Team Ladies
Sunday was all about no work and all play with the highly anticipated pool party where we all let our hair down and partied hard. Once again Shaan was on the decks and delivered one great tune after another, keeping us dancing for ages in the amazing pools!
The amazing Pool at the Pool Party
DJ Shaan heating it up on the decks at the Pool party
The festival was extremely well organised and the atmosphere throughout was incredible with dancers enjoying the fantastic workshops, music and parties to a stunning backdrop of sun, sea and sand. We had the most incredible week, the dancers worked so hard and did an amazing job. We had so many funny moments together, including a spice girls reunion on the last night, stay tuned for our remake of 'Wannabe'!
Massive thank you to Inti, Martina and the whole SBS team for hosting all the Caramelo Teams and big congratulations to all the performers. It has been an honour to share this incredible experience with you all and can't wait for the next adventure.
Hello everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend, we sure did!!
Caramelo Latin Dance crew just returned from an amazing weekend at Salsa Convention Berlin, where two of our student teams had an opportunity to perform and compete representing the U.K. on a renowned international stage. Not forgetting our Pro-Team Ladies that shared the stage on the Saturday Gala night with a number of amazing and inspirational artists such as Eddie Torres himself, with his son Eddie Torres Jr, Karel Flores, Grupo Alafia, Shellina Donkers and many many more.
In preparation to the competition on Friday night, our Cha Cha Boogaloo and Salsa student teams rehearsed hard like true champions and were humbled to spend some time with Eddie Torres, who shared with them some pearls of wisdom and gave really good positive feedback on the two shows and the teams' performances.
This competition would be the final performance for our January Intensive Training and Performance student teams, who learned the choreographies in a record 10 weeks time. Choreographed, directed and trained by Caramelo's Shaan, one of the most respected Salsa and Latin dance instructors in the U.K., Europe & the world, assisted by the graceful and stylish Danie Street.
Prior to the Salsa Convention Berlin, the teams had numerous opportunities to perform with great success in London, as well as internationally at the Istanbul International Dance Festival. All this hard work, dedicated training and preparation has paid off when Caramelo Latin Dance teams swept two of the three prize places at Salsa Convention Berlin!
The event had 9 student teams participating, many of which prepared shows specifically for this occasion. It was an amazing experience to compete with so many talented and passionate dancers, a great motivation for us and our teams to keep on pushing further, learning, developing and promoting UK and London style at home and abroad. Our guys were up against some really tough competition! The atmosphere was buzzing and we are grateful for such great support and response from the crowd and the judges!
Check out the videos of the Cha Cha Boogaloo & Salsa shows and the Winner Announcements below:
This was a great experience for our Caramelito's, to travel together, perform, work hard and support for each other, as well as to have so much fun and good times doing this! Definitely a memory and an achievement that we will all treasure for a very long time! :-)
Starring Caramelo Students: Piotr Jan, Deb Low, Fahim Shah, Lucy Coral-Jezzard, Laila Selener, Zachariah Iskander, Andrew Ingram, Pia Muller, Gregory Hunte, Jenna Rennie, Soner Erduyan, Maria Garcia, Mori Miharu, Ai Pheng Yeap, Sabina Joniec, Raizo Rain, Elwira Kot and Yuko Umeoka.
We are really proud to be able to offer such unique opportunities to our student to travel and perform at such amazing international events that not only help us showcase their achievements and realise their potential, but also help inspire and motivate the new generation of dancers.
Our Pro-Team Ladies performance on Saturday Gala night was a blast, they showed off their style, grace and creativity - stay tuned for the video of Danie, Marta and Claire-Louise!
We had such an amazing time at Berlin Salsa Convention, we did not want to leave! :-) And we are so looking forward to the next instalment in 2015. Our massive thank you to the organisers, Jens Puschel-Thiesen and his team for making us feel so welcome and taking care of our whole team. You have put together an immaculate and perfectly organised event, it was such a pleasure to participate!
Hi guys! We are extremely excited to announce our Intensive Training & Performance Courses in Salsa, Cha Cha Cha and Ladies Styling. All starting on 21st and 23rd January 2014, aimed at dancers at Intermediate / Advanced level.
Auditions will be taking place on January 14th and January 16th at our Paddington Academy venue.
Make sure to check out all of the course descriptions and contact us if you are interested - limited spaces available!
Performance courses are a great and unique opportunity to work hard on your dancing, technique, core fitness, posture and confidence, stage presence, musical interpretation, body movement and polish your all around dancing skills. What's more, you will have opportunities to perform at local and international events, festivals and congresses.
Caramelo's Shaan will be choreographing the Salsa Partnerwork and the Cha Cha Cha courses, assisted by Danie Street.
This is an exceptional opportunity to be trained by and learn from one of the top UK teachers and performers, whose experience spans 19 years, 15 of which Shaan has been teaching and raising several generations of dancers, many of which have gone on to become established performers and instructors themselves.
We are also proud to have Danie take the lead on the Ladies Styling course, it's going to be hot!!!
Being in a student dance team is a great way to take your dancing to the next level. Although it is hard work, benefits are enormous for those passionate about improving and developing on their dance journey. You will receive a lot of friendly feedback and support throughout the courses.
