Nicky - Director|Teacher|Performer

Salsa teacher, trainer, events manager, and spearhead of The Salsaholics. With over ten years experience in salsa and other teaching fields, she is renowned for her fun, approachable, yet still technically demanding approach to salsa. An avid social dancer who believes experimentation through social dancing is one of the best ways to improvement. Always striving to improve both her dancing skills as well as her teaching ones. With an energetic yet accessible persona, always making time to answer any technical details makes her classes among some of the most rewarding in the North.

It was 2000 when Nicky's humble beginnings dancing Cuban Style Salsa in Chichester spawned an instant bug for salsa dancing. Once bitten her hunger knew no bounds as she was soon travelling all across the south in order to learn as much as she could. It wasn't long before she was regularly being asked to assist in teaching at her local salsa club. 

Being previously a Fitness and IT instructor, teaching salsa became as addictive as the dancing itself, soon she became addicted to learning all she could about anything salsa. And so in 2001 after an unexpected redundancy she decided to move to London in order to pursue her passion and also learn more about the 'Cross Body Lead' styles, hearing so much about on1 and on2. She was fortunate enough to learn from arguably some of the best teachers in the UK; teachers such as Super Mario, Susanna Montero, Jason & Amanda (Manhattan Mambo), Irene Miguel & Edgard Rosario to name a few. Also London opened her eyes to the possibilities of salsa overseas, after attending guest classes from teachers such as Nelson Flores, Seaon Bristol & Frankie Martinez amongst many others. Her highlight however was going to New York and attending workshops with the infamous Eddie Torres – the Mambo King himself.

In addition to discovering and developing her dancing skills, by social dancing almost EVERY night!!! She also began to utilize her experience in events management, helping organize events such as the UK Salsa Club Championship in addition to many other weekend salsa festivals and events in London. Working closely with many companies and promoters such as; Latin8, Salsa UK, Mambocity, Louis St Clair and others she played an active role in bringing over a number of guest teachers from the US, Seaon Bristol and Francisco Vasquez being some of the most prominent.. Through this she started to build up a sound knowledge and experience in the UK & international salsa scene. This has lead to her being asked to help run many of the UK's biggest salsa events such as UK Congress, Britfest, Mambo City 5* Congress and The Great British Salsa Experience.

Gaining not only experience in dancing and teaching salsa but also events management, both in and out of the UK. It wasn't long before she was transferring those skills to her own projects, which soon resulted in a move back to her home town of Leeds, and so The Salsaholics was born. With the help of Gormack Dione, The Salsaholics quickly gained an excellent reputation, with a fun approach to teaching (smiling is mandatory!) and attention to technical detail. This has earned The Salsaholics respect as quality teachers both on1 and on2.

Nicky is still the spearhead of The Salsaholics and is regularly seen teaching in Leeds and some of Europe's biggest congresses (The Great British Salsa Experience, UK Congress, BritSalsa Fest, Cannes Salsa Festival, Berlin Congress, Mambo City 5* Congress, The Great British Salsa Experience) in addition to being asked to teach all across the UK - even back down in Portsmouth - near where she first started!

Ben Farman - Teacher|DJ

Ben started dancing with The Salsaholics when we first came to Leeds - and as Nicky's little brother - he did get slightly preferencial treatment!! For almost 2 years Ben came to all our classes and gradually progressed from just helping out to teaching his own classes. Not only is Ben a very highly respected salsa dancer and teacher, he has gained himself a reputation as one of the few successful Reggaeton DJ's in the UK, with a music library that many envy!

Lisa Pang - Teacher

Lisa has been a member of The Salsaholics for several years now. Starting as a student her potential was spotted very early on and Lisa was asked to train to be one of our teachers. Despite a year long break (whilst she became mother to the lovely Kaitlyn), her ability, passion and fun approach to dancing and teaching has developed rapidly - and she is now a very popular member of the team. Watch out for her laugh - its infectious!

Trevor 'Sweetlead' - Occasional Guest Teacher

Highly accomplished Martial Artist/teacher – not necessarily the kind of background you’d normally expect from a dancer/dance teacher but don’t let that put you off!  With over 25 years experience in coaching both Martial Arts and Salsa, Trevor has developed a way of teaching that combines good solid foundations and techniques without losing the essential elements of variety and fun.

Over 10 years ago,Trevor was dragged to a salsa club by his friends – and he’s been hooked ever since.  Coming from a Martial Arts background he’s always been aware of how important strong foundations are, and as such he applied this methodology to his dancing.  As time went on, Trevor was (and continues to be) fortunate enough to learn from some of the worlds best salsa teachers/dancers – such as Eddie Torres, Frankie Martinez, Homero Gonzales, Nelson Flores,  Cobo Bros,  Santo Rico and many many more.  Trevor was given the nickname ‘Sweetlead’ by some of his first students down to his unique ability to lead and inspire a distinctive effortless flow, loved by all the ladies and admired by many guys.  This name has now stuck and he can be seen on any dance floor with a queue of ladies waiting to enjoy the ‘sweetlead’ experience.

Trevor’s classes incorporate a mixture of dance styles primarily  New York .. Cross-Body On1 or On2, Cuban, Cha Cha and Bachata.   His lessons have a good balance of style (such as body movement and footwork) technique (such as lead and follow, connection) and most importantly, fun!

We've been very fortunate to have Trevor come up to Leeds to teach a special workshop on Leading & Following. It was such a success we are planning on bringing him up to teach regular specialist workshops including Musicality, ChaChaCha etc etc.

Shaan - Associate Teacher

Shaan is an established and respected dancer / teacher in London, the U.K. and internationally. Affectionately known as “London’s best kept secret”, he has been dancing salsa for 10 years, teaching 4 of those years with Super Mario and Susana Montero, acquiring a vast knowledge and experience of salsa dancing/teaching. Along with his friendly personality, this has made Shaan one of the most well-liked dancers/teachers today. Adding to his many abilities, Shaan is also a very popular and in-demand salsa DJ, regularly playing sets in London (Bar Salsa), nationally and overseas.