Salsa Rocks Wednesdays start tomorrow! I'm nervously excited about it and busy with last minute preparations. I can't help but smile that my wish for having Philip Charles teaching regularly in Leeds is finally coming true!!
I have known Philip Charles as a prolific dancer and an incredible teacher for more than three years now. I used to travel from Leeds to Bradford every week to attend his Salsa musicality and partnerwork classes.
It rarely ever happens that the teacher shows you an incredibly hard routine at the beginning that you know for sure you can't do, and by the end of the class you're sailing through it! It happened every week to me at his classes and made me come back for more! That says a lot about his skills as a teacher.
I recommended his classes to several people, all of whom absolutely loved his classes. In my personal opinion as a student, the quality of teaching and the level of commitment to the students far exceeded what I experienced in my city. A lot of us had been constantly badgering him for the last couple of years to start teaching regularly in Leeds and he finally decided it was time! Here are some his thoughts about teaching salsa:
"I like to try find a balance between providing a fun class and a technical class. Classes should be a bit of a laugh and give people a chance to unwind from the stresses of work. But people are also there to learn salsa - and I'm there to teach! For me, what you learn in Leeds should stand you in good stead for dancing anywhere else in the world. I strive to provide classes which enable participants to dance salsa anywhere, to learn cool, funky moves, getting to grips with how their bodies can be used to reflect the music. I work to help people unlock their personal potential as dancers, finding their own dancing voice to become solid dancers with good technical knowledge so that when they dance, they and their partners can have the best time possible."
"My philosophy to teaching is to challenge and push people to achieve things they didn't think possible - anything else is patronising! Teach people what they need, free the funk and let the funk flow! See you on the dance floor."
Philip will be teaching an Intermediates' class at 7pm, an Improvers' class at 8pm and we have plans to add another class at 9pm with him soon! Every Wednesday at San Lucus, Great George Street (behind Leeds town hall).
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