Thinking Dancers with David Chawira

The #ThinkingDancers initiative aim was to give a platform for experienced Salsa dancers on the scene to give back to the Salsa scene. We can announce our second #ThinkingDancers workshops titled "Dance Once Think Twice" hosted by David Chawira. DAVID CHAWIRA was introduced to partner dancing through Ceroc in 1995, attending classes and socials by Lydia Maurer and the sadly late Viktor Andeke, in Fulham Broadway, London (UK). The appeal to David, of 'social' partner dancing grew enormously thanks to the eye-catching partner work of Lydia and Viktor. However, Ceroc was not David's calling. In 1997, a chance encounter with the Salsa Palladium in Leicester Square (London) during a Stag Night sealed the deal for David. He had caught the Salsa 'bug'. Cuban Salsa lessons started shortly thereafter at a small club in Crouch End (near. Alexandra Palace, London). Significant to that era of Salsa, was the texture of the lead/follow connection. Although predominantly Cuban and On1 Salsa, dancer’s sensitivity to this connection was more apparent than it is today. This was an important aspect of David’s tutored salsa education. On2 salsa quickly ensued, providing a new challenge for all Salseras/Salseros in the UK, thus began David’s On2 self-education which continues to this day. The influence of the New Yorkers (and Californians) also quickly descended onto the UK scene in the early noughties, thanks to the Paul Young’s UK International Salsa Congress. The most influential of the New Yorkers for David, was Frankie Martinez. The principles developed during this self-learning, is the basis for this ‘Dance Once, Think Twice’ workshop. …as you approach the venue of your beloved salsa social, what are your hopes for the evening? Pure joy and elation only, or joy, elation and personal development as a social salsa dancer? …now that you have arrived, do you try to contemplate what or when your most important dance of the evening will be, or do you simply dive in without a second thought? … following your first dance, is the social event starting to meet the expectations you had when you walked through the door? If not, what went wrong? Is there anything you could have done to make your ‘first dance’ better? …following an exciting evening of social dancing, do you remember your most important dance of the evening? What did you do about that dance? These are just a handful of questions and topics that this workshop will cover, that will help you to understand how an evening (or afternoon for that matter) of salsa dancing can help you to improve as a social dancer. This session will be hosted at The Office Studio from 5-7pm on Saturday 18th March. The price of attendance is £10.