Salsa Society: Bachata Team Captain

Since I have started Bachata I have absolutely fell in love with Bachata. I sit on a bench thinking of new Bachata moves, I wake up thinking of choreography, I walk down the street dancing to Bachata music in my Mind’s Eye.

I embody and bring a joy to the dance that I am absolutely sure is why the dance was made.

The bachata team was undeniably the highlight of my year in every respect, and I am standing in order to do my part in giving bachateros the same (or an even better!) experience next year. Throughout my two years in the Salsa society I have taken part in both the Bachata and Rueda teams and have developed a thorough understanding of the dance-learning process, in terms of both social dancing and team choreography. It’s almost entirely about having fun ; creating opportunities and leaving space for camaraderie to develop through group socials, dinners, dance events and more. That said, this has to be balanced with an emphasis on practise; knowing to lock in and get the moves just right before we can go to the pub. Through the combination of these two principles this year we stood outside the Birmingham stage as a team that enjoyed dancing cleanly, but more importantly, enjoyed dancing together. Riana was a stellar example of a team captain and I intend to follow in her footsteps in four key ways : offering moral support and a steadfast optimism, reining in tangents to get the team back on goal, taking the best from everyone’s individual stylings to craft a master choreography, and finally dealing with all the admin while taking and valuing suggestions from the team. I’m ready to kick some ass and laugh my way through rehearsals and shows next year, you ready to do it with me?