Shaan

Shaan is an internationally respected and established Latin dance instructor, performer and DJ. He can be found regularly teaching in London, the U.K. and internationally. Affectionately known everywhere for his beautiful leading skills and for “London’s smooth moves”, he has been dancing Salsa, Cha Cha, Mambo, Bachata and other Latin dances for 28 years; teaching for more than 25 years, acquiring a vast knowledge and experience, equalled by very few, in the field of Latin dance in the UK. 

Shaan was the creator, originator of the concept and true founder of Latin Dance Academy. With the Caramelo Latin Dance, he is taking his concept of dance schools to another level and is excited to boldly go where no salsa and latin dance school has gone before. 

He is internationally renowned for his ‘light lead’ which has made him a favourite with ladies worldwide to dance with!

Shaan has performed at some of the biggest Salsa congresses and festivals in the world like Berlin, Athens and Amsterdam with Caramelo Dance. Its stylish, smooth and exciting choreographies had taken the international salsa scene by storm and firmly established Shaan as an internationally renowned performer and instructor.

Adding to his many abilities, Shaan is also a very popular and in-demand Salsa DJ, regularly playing sets in London, nationally and internationally. He has played at prestigious congresses all over the word, from the United States to Asia, in San Francisco, New York, Dubai, Mumbai, Cairo, Amsterdam, Zurich, Berlin, Vilnus, Tallin, Riga, Freiburg, Paris, Monaco, Zagreb, Sibenik, Rovinj, Chisinau to name a few.

Along with his friendly personality, this has made Shaan one of the most well-liked and internationally renowned performers, instructors, MCs & DJs in the ‘Salsa World’ today!

Dorian started dancing Salsa and Bachata in 2003 as a social hobby. In 2005 he was spotted & asked to join the

'Diablo Dance company' and soon after was performing in a sell-out musical in Hammersmith.

Since then he has performed in numerous venues and congresses throughout the U.K. as well as doing work dancing in music videos, adverts, films & game shows.

In 2006 he won the 1st place in the European Salsa team championships.

As well as dancing salsa for more than 10 years, Dorian studied various other dance styles including Lambada, Hiphop, Jazz, ChaCha, Ceroc & Bachata, and was also a Gold medal finalist at the 'Harrow School of Gymnastics'.

Aside from Salsa, Dorian is an extremely talented Bachata dancer and instructor. His creative turnpatterns and funky and original footwork made him one of the favourite Bachata instructors with Caramelo students and beyond. 

Dorian now teaches salsa and bachata in a number of venues throughout London, helping people to achieve their true potential in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. He has a keen desire in helping people to learn, and teaches at a pace that is 'right' for student, so that they master and experience the joy of dance.

Övgü was born and brought up in Cyprus but she has been living abroad for about 8 years. Dancing has always been one of her favourite hobbies. She has studied various styles of dancing when she was a teenager such as hiphop, ballet, salsa and cha cha cha. Övgü moved to Spain in 2009 where she began dancing salsa on1 and on2 as a social hobby. Soon after she fell in love with both of the styles and started taking salsa, cha cha cha and pachanga classes, as well as traveling to congresses to learn more from all the great dancers and performers all over the world.

Övgü moved back to London in 2013 to do her masters at Kings College. Soon after she arrived she met her bachata dance partner Angus who she became the BachataStars UK champions with in 3 months after they met. They also won the 4th place in BachataStars Europe finals.

Övgü has been performing with her group "Reyes del Ritmo", who have won Bachata Team Masters UK competition and got the chance to perform in Madrid World Bachata Team masters competition.

Övgü now teaches and performs with her partner and group throughout London, as well as internationally. 

Ovgu is part of the Caramelo core instructors team and you will find her teaching Salsa, Ladies Styling and Bachata every week at Paddington Academy. While she is focused on delivering all the detailed techniques and challenging her students, she never forgets to make sure that you are having a great time in her class.

More than anything she loves teaching, helping people express their feelings through dance and sharing her love and passion with her students. She believes that no matter where we get and how successful we are we should never stop learning and never forget where we have started in the first place! There is always more.

Gabriella first began dancing at age 3 when she begged her parents to take her to a ballet class. She spent her childhood in the dance studio as well as singing and acting. Salsa entered Gabriella's life at age 7 through her mum, being around her Colombian step father & family she was introduced to the Latin culture where her love for salsa music and dance began.

She trained in Latin and Ballroom where she achieved Silver medals from the ISTD, as well as studying Contemporary dance for many years and continuing with ballet. With Caramelo, Gabriella trained and performed with the Caramelo Student Teams after which she moved into assisting and teaching regular 4-week courses, and more recently began assisting in and choreographing the up and coming Caramelo student teams. In addition to Salsa and Mambo, Gabriella is also developing her skills in Samba No Pe, the Brazilian Carnival dance.

Gabriella loves all aspects of dance - performing on stage, sweating in the studio, social dancing the night away and of course teaching and sharing her experience with others.

Teresa comes from the tiny cluster of islands known as Bermuda, and relocated to London in December 2015 in search of an around-the-clock salsa community in which to grow as a dancer and teacher, as well as have easy access to Europe's many salsa festivals and congresses. In 2005 she uncovered her passion from salsa from her tennis instructor, who thought her agility would serve her well on the dance floor; he recommended she try a class of his (who coincidentally was one of the island's top instructors at the time), and from that day forward, it was love at first step!  Six months into classes, she had her first show with the school's pro team, and first international show three months later, as well as teaching her own classes. 

Teresa taught Salsa, Bachata, Casino de Rueda, Latin Hustle, Beginner Argentine Tango and Ladies’ Styling, as well choreography for performance teams in Bermuda for ten years, alongside overseeing the operations of Sabor Dance School and Salsa Friends (Latin dance schools) organising socials, and producing special events. Her classes are technically sound but also full of giggles and random jokes. She also loves to play with fire – quite literally. She was a fire performer for five years with Rockfire Productions Bermuda, and hopes to continue on in London.

With Caramelo Latin Dance Teresa performed in a number of choreographies, as well as travelled to international congresses to represent the school and the UK's talent. Teresa is regularly teaching Salsa, Mambo and Cha Cha Cha courses at Caramelo, more recently she has also been choreographing the Caramelo student Ladies Salsa Team.

She loves keep herself thoroughly challenged with ballet and other dance forms, and truly believes that dance is a metaphor for life. Dance has opened many doors and revealed many paths to herself and others, and she intends to continue to spread her passion as far and wide as she can. 

Gus, with his partner Grace, is the 2012 UK BachataStars Champion and has been teaching and performing Bachata and Salsa for the last 2 years. Gus is a natural dancer, but still had to be dragged to his first Salsa lesson by a close friend in 2007. It didn't take him long to catch the "Salsa bug" though. Keen to progress his dancing, Gus sought out the tuition of some of London's best Salsa teachers including Shaan, Dorian, Super Mario and Gil and Shelley.

Over the years he has spent many hours devoting himself to developing his dancing skills and this is evident in his smooth style. With the Pexava Dance Student Performance Group he has performed at events/venues such as Scala, SOS, Salsa Central and the Haarlem Salsa Congress.

Primarily a Salsa dancer, Gus' true passion is Bachata. As a keen musician his love for the rhythms of Bachata music came first, but it wasn't long before he fell in love with the sensual Bachata movements. Gus has dedicated numerous hours learning many different forms of Bachata, from the best teachers in the world In 2012 Gus and his dance partner Grace entered the UK's largest Bachata competition, the UK BachataStars Championships. After winning their semi final (judged by Bachata legends Ataca y la Alemana), they went on to become the UK BachataStars champions and earned the right to represent the UK at the European BachataStars Championships in Oslo Norway.

Gus' clear, enthusiastic and engaging teaching style has made him a very popular teacher on the scene. A kind and patient instructor, Gus also brings a lot of fun and laughter into his classes. Passionate about dance, Gus is very keen to help his students to realise their full potential and develop into strong, unique and confident dancers.

Fahim discovered Salsa and social dancing in 2013 and fell in love with the the dance and the change of lifestyle that this new passion brought about.

A dedicated dancer, who has strived to improve at every opportunity, Fahim started taking classes from Shaan at the Caramelo Latin Dance school, as well as attending classes with other UK instructors such as Gil & Shelly, Mauro and Jeff Tarpinian. In 2014 Fahim joined the Caramelo student performance teams and competed as part of the Caramelo Salsa student team in an international competition at the Salsa Convention Berlin in May 2014. The team finished an impressive third out of 12 European student teams which competed at the event. Subsequently, Fahim also trained and performed with the Caramelo student Salsa and Cha Cha Cha teams at the Salsa Beach Splash Festival in Croatia in July 2014.

Over the past year and half, Fahim has visited numerous International latin dance congresses, taking workshops from world famous teachers to help improve his overall dance level and technique. Additionally, he has taken a serious interest in Kizomba and has been learning from Nuno Campos, one of the best UK Kizomba instructors. Fahim's main passions are Salsa and Kizomba, as well as continuing his development in Bachata and Cha Cha Cha.

Fahim is now taking the next step in his development by joining the Caramelo teaching team. His bubbly personality and charming personality will hold him in good stead to develop as a teacher and help his students grow. 

From an early age, Petya practically grew up in the studio with ballet and gymnastics. This passion for expression through body movement & music, along withher supporttive family, allowed her to achieve an incredible career. She won the Bulgarian Championship 3 times in rhythmic gymnastics and was rewarded a special recognition by the city council as top 3 regional sports achievers. She also competed internationally and in the final of the World Championships in Finland.

She ammased more than 70 medals and trophies through her career but perhaps the most valuable takeaways were the lessons of determination, discipline, focus and hard work.

She went on to expand her dance vocabulary with lessons in Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballroom but really fell in love with the Latin dance styles at Caramelo.

Thanks to her diverse background, she has developed her dance & teaching style focusing on technique, connection and shared enjoyment of the music. Her ultimate goal is to empower people through dance and always leave them in a better mood and with a smile on their faces.

She has taught internationally at Crazy Lion events and across the UK in Reading, Kent, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool etc. She has also proudly been part of the Caramelo teaching team for many years and you can find her every Thursday at Caramelo for your Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba fix. 

Ema was born in Bulgaria, where she started dancing at the age of four and competed in both Ballroom and Latin American. She has a decorated junior career and achieved numerous titles of National and International level including being a Bulgarian Vice Champion twice.

After moving to London in 2014, Ema has been teaching students from beginner level to competitive level, as well as helping hundreds of wedding couples to master their first dance for their special day. She has been honoured to take her competitive students to some of the biggest student/teacher competitions across the UK and achieve great results.

Ema‘s constant desire to grow and develop as a dancer and teacher led her to explore many other dance styles such as Ballet, Salsa, Bachata and Argentine Tango. Having trained with internationally renowned instructors, Ema’s knowledge and principles constantly have evolved in regards to dance movement, technique, styling and choreographies.

As a teacher, she loves to share with students her passion for self-expression through dance and movement, to help them feel more comfortable and confident on the dance floor. She believes anyone can learn how to dance and that it opens doors to improved health, closer relationships with loved ones and produces a greater passion and joy for life.