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Interview with Paul Briskham - SalsaDelic |
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Written by JoJo
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
How, why and when did you get into salsa?
I went on a package holiday to Lloret de Mar in Spain in 2002 and found an amazing salsa bar called Café Latino hidden away on a backstreet. I saw some great salsa and flamenco dancing and was immediately hooked. I looked up salsa classes as soon as I got home and started driving to Birmingham for classes with Latin Motion.
Who first taught you to dance salsa?
Graeme at Tiger Tiger and Rohan at G2.
Did you have any dance training prior to salsa?
No and starting to dance at 30 means I have a ton of catching up to do! I would love to learn some other styles such as rock n roll and rumba. ‘Salsa meets disco-fox’ nights are popular in Germany and I like disco-fox.
What’s the best thing that has happened to you in salsa?
The best thing that has happened to me in salsa was meeting my dance partner Ricarda in 2005. Ricarda has been dancing every week since the age of three and has competed at advanced level in a range of dance styles including hip-hop, cha-cha & rumba. She has really helped me to improve my dancing technique.
Tell me a little about SalsaDelic. When, why and how was it set up?
I was so impressed by the Spanish bar that first introduced me to salsa, that I wanted to take other people there. So I set-up a company called ‘Salsa Dance Holidays’ in 2003 with a wonderful guy called Nirmal, and we organised a small salsa holiday at a hotel near the bar. By the third trip in September 2004, word had spread and we had as many people in the holiday group as we could fit into one coach.
The idea behind the trips was to take smallish groups of people and give them a flavour of the way Spanish people enjoy salsa by working with the best local teachers from the salsa clubs and supporting them with additional classes by vibrant UK teachers. People enjoyed the trips so much that they set up their own salsa holiday companies.
I had a go at teaching a few beginners on the holidays and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to organise some salsa classes at Warwick University. I set up a company called SalsaDelic and concentrated on teaching friends and students for free to get some teaching experience. I also set up a salsa society for the students and by the end of the year more than one hundred students were coming to the free classes.
In Oct 2005 I started a weekly salsa night at the Fletch Pub in Coventry and this proved to be the perfect environment to improve my teaching skills. Conscious of the fact that I was still very much a learner teacher I only charged £1 each to cover the room hire. By September 2006 the Fletch had grown into a busy weekly salsa night and a keen Coventry dancer, Graham G, suggested working together to organise some Saturday salsa parties.
We ran a couple of small parties at the Fletch and then upscaled to a superb venue called the Canley Club. Organising big events requires a lot of hard work behind the scenes. There is always something else that needs doing and the reason the Canley Club parties have been so successful is that we both work really hard!
Our goal is to build a large community of salsa dancers in Coventry and we recently moved the weekly night at the Fletch to Bar Escape in the city centre to run more levels of classes and increase the size of the free party after the classes. The Canley Club parties attract high-level dancers from all over the Midlands and they are really inspiring the local dancers to improve.
Where do you get your inspiration?
People tend to be motivated by either money, power or recognition. I have been promoting salsa long enough to know it is difficult to make any money. For me the main motivation in salsa comes from the dancers who say thank you for organising events and come back every week because they like the way I teach.
What’s your favourite track at the moment?
Madonna ‘Like a Prayer’ - salsa remix. I enjoy classic salsa, but my favourite tracks are the modern fat and funky ones.
What’s your all time favourite track?
Smooth Criminal – can someone please do a wicked salsa remix of this!
What are your favourite albums?
Dirty Dancing II is fantastic: a different version of ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ can be found on this album along with several other great tracks.
What music is in your car/cd player/tape player at the moment?
Pussy Cat Dolls. I mainly listen to hip-hop or Spanish pop in the car.
Who are your favourite salsa artists?
Africando and Alex Wilson
If you were not a successful Promoter/Teacher/DJ, what would you be doing instead? Or if you also have a full-time job, what do you do?
Salsa is my hobby, I work as a lecturer in the daytime.
Tell me something most people wouldn’t know about you?
I have a pet crayfish.
What’s your all time favourite salsa event?
Agua de Luna in Barcelona, last year we took a holiday group there on a night when loads of locals were there and the atmosphere it was amazing. We were also lucky enough to get tickets for the whole holiday group to the opening night of a brand new salsa club in Barcelona last year. It was a great night with free champagne and loads of dance shows.
What has been your most memorable moment?
I was dancing with a Spanish girl in my favourite club in Terressa and suddenly found myself in the fastest rueda I have ever done with a small group of the local teachers.
What has been your most scary moment in salsa?
Standing in the wings just before dancing salsa on stage in the Warwick Arts Centre for a student dance show. It was my first dance show and there were 350 parents watching.
Have you had any embarrassing/nightmare-ish moments in salsa?
We were doing a salsa demo one lunchtime in the students union as a favour to advertise a salsa show we were doing at the law society ball, and my mind went totally blank when someone started filming us with a TV camera being projected onto a big screen.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Someone once told me that salsa can take over your life and they were right !
www.salsadelic.com
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