 Nicky - Director|Teacher|Performer
Salsa teacher, trainer, events manager, and spearhead of The Salsaholics. With over six 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.
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 (UK Congress, BritSalsa Fest, Cannes Salsa Festival, Berlin Congress, Mambo City 5* Congress) 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
 Islay Gordon - Teacher|Performer
Islay's interest in music and dance started pretty much as soon as she could walk, she also spent many of her younger years training as a gymnast. At school she was involved in numerous dance projects, heavily biased towards street and hip hop styles. Not only learning these styles, but performing and even producing and directing dance shows. Her passion for performing was born….
During her gap year at university she was fortunate enough to spend 6 months in Brazil – and the ‘Latin’ part of Islay’s story started here. She was introduced to Samba and Forro initially and was immediately hooked. Curiosity got the better of her and she went on to learn Pagode and Axe before returning to England.
Upon her return she was told about a local ‘Latin’ club so of course she had to try it out. It was there she experienced salsa for the first time as well as meeting a group of like minded people with a similar passion for dance. Her education continued as she started to learn another Brazilian dance called Bregge along with Reggaeton and of course Salsa.
Since then not only has she continued to further her knowledge of Brazilian dances (including another trip to Brazil to train with a major dance school inn Rio De Janero). She’s performed with Element Dance company and for the Luso-Brazilian Society. She now teaches, performs and choreographs for the society on a regular basis in addition to her own projects.
Islay joined The Salsaholics in 2006 as a trainee Salsa teacher, up until that point her salsa knowledge was all from the dance floor. It didn’t take long for her to master the technical side and start teaching. Her calm, fun yet technical approach to teaching has made her a very popular member of the team. In particular her expertise in body movement has had us all moving parts we didn’t think possible!!!!
A talented and accomplished dancer and teacher in both NY Style and Cuban Style, Islay is currently mastering Mambo (on2) – she’s always looking to increase her knowledge of dance.
Lisa Pang - Teaching Assistant
 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.
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